Person:Jessie Preston (2)

Jessie (or Janet) Preston was born around 1821 in Aberdeen, daughter of a sailor called John Preston and his wife Janet (or Jessie) Cromar. It is not clear exactly when her father died, but he died sometime before 1832. In that year Jessie’s mother married again, with her second husband being a merchant called John Leighton.

On 22nd September 1838 Jessie married a ship carpenter called John Knarston Clouston. He was originally from Stenness in Orkney, but appears to have moved to Aberdeen to work in the shipyards there. Jessie and John went on to have ten children in Aberdeen between 1841 and 1863, although three died young.

In the 1841 census the family was living in Aberdeen at Links Street. In 1851 they were in the St Clement area near the docks, after which they moved to nearby York Street, where they appear in both the 1861 and 1871 censuses. Jessie’s mother lived nearby on St Clement Street and sold bread and provisions.

Jessie’s daughter Jessie died in Aberdeen in 1879, aged about 29, leaving two small children. It would appear that Jessie and John then raised their two grandchildren.

Sometime between 1871 and 1881 the family left Scotland and moved a couple of hundred miles south to Jarrow in County Durham, in the north-east of England. Several of their adult children had already moved to that area. The 1881 census finds Jessie and John living at 45 Clayton Street in Jarrow with their youngest son, their late daughter Jessie’s two children, and three lodgers.

Back in Aberdeen, Jessie’s mother died in 1882.

Jessie died at home at 45 Clayton Street in Jarrow on 3rd April 1891, aged about seventy. John survived her by four years.

1. ↑ General Register Office for Scotland. 1841 Scotland Census. (Edinburgh)
   168/A 37/7, 6 Jun 1841.

   Address: Links Street, Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire
   John Clouston, male, 20 [1816-21], Ship Carp[en]ter, not born in county
   Janet Clouston, female, 19 [1821/2], born in county
   W[illia]m Clouston, 1 month [1841], born in county
   Alex[ande]r Aberdeen, male, 50 [1786-91], born in county

2. ↑ ^2.0 2.1 General Register Office for Scotland. 1851 Scotland Census. (Edinburgh)
   168/A 2/29, 30 Mar 1851.

   Address: St Clement, Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire
   John Clouston, head, married, male, 35 [1815/16], Jour[neyman] Ship Wright, b. Orkney
   Jessie Clouston, wife, married, female, 29 [1821/2], b. Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire
   William Clouston, son, male, 9 [1841/2], Scholar, b. Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire
   Isabella Clouston, daughter, female, 5 [1845/6], Scholar, b. Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire
   John Clouston, son, male, 7 [1843/4], Scholar, b. Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire
   Jessie Clouston, daughter, female, 11m [1850], b. Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire

3. ↑ General Register Office for Scotland. 1861 Scotland Census. (Edinburgh)
   168/1 60/6, 7 Apr 1861.

   Address: 34 York Street, Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire
   2 rooms with windows
   John Clouston, head, married, male, 45 [1815/16], Ship Carpenter, b. Stennis, Orkney
   Jessie Clouston, wife, married, female, 39 [1821/2], b. Aberdeen
   John Clouston, son, male, 17 [1843/4], Ship Carpenter, b. Aberdeen
   Isabella Clouston, daughter, 15 [1845/6], Envelope Maker, b. Aberdeen
   Jessie Clouston, daughter, female, 10 [1850/1], Scholar, b. Aberdeen
   Jean Clouston, daughter, female, 6 [1855/6], Scholar, b. Aberdeen
   Margaret Clouston, daughter, female, 3 [1857/8], Scholar, b. Aberdeen
   Jemima Clouston, daughter, female, 1 [1859/60], b. Aberdeen

4. ↑ General Register Office for Scotland. 1871 Scotland Census. (Edinburgh)
   168/1 60/9, 2 Apr 1871.

   Address: 33 York Street, Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire
   2 rooms with windows
   John K. Clouston, head, married, male, 55 [1815/16], Ship Carpenter, b. Stenness, Orkney
   Jessie Clouston, wife, married, female, 49 [1821/2], b. Aberdeen St Nicholas
   Jessie Clouston, daughter, unmarried, female, 20 [1850/1], Worker at paper mills, b. Aberdeen St Nicholas
   Jane Clouston, daughter, unmarried, female, 16 [1854/5], Worker at paper mills, b. Aberdeen St Nicholas
   Margaret Clouston, daughter, unmarried, female, 14 [1856/7], Worker at paper mills, b. Aberdeen St Nicholas
   George Clouston, son, male, 7 [1863/4], Scholar, b. Aberdeen St Nicholas
   James Tulloch, boarder, unmarried, male, 24 [1846/7], Printer (Compositor), b. Aberdeen St Nicholas

5. ↑ England. 1881 Census Schedules for England and Wales, Isle of Man and the Channel Islands: . (
   Kew, Richmond, Greater London TW9 4DU, United Kingdom:
   The National Archives (abbreviated TNA), formerly the UK General Register Office.)
   Class RG11; Piece 5024; Folio 41; Page 25, 3 Apr 1881.

   Address: 45 Clayton Street, Jarrow, Durham
   John Clouston, head, married, male, 64 [1816/17], Ship Carpenter in Shipy[ar]d, b. Orkney
   Jessey Clouston, wife, married, female, 59 [1821/2], b. Scotland
   George Clouston, son, unmarried, male, 17 [1863/4], Rivetter in Shipy[ar]d, b. Scotland
   James Tullouch, grandson, male, 7 [1883/4], b. Scotland
   Mary A. Tulloch, granddaughter, female, 5 [1885/6], b. Scotland
   John Stuart, lodger, unmarried, male, 30 [1850/1], Engine Pattern Maker in Shipy[ar]d, b. Scotland
   James Doran, lodger, married, male, 49 [1831/2], Mariner, b. Ireland
   Margaret Doran, lodger, married, female, 44 [1836/7], b. Ireland

6. ↑ Death register, in General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration. (London: General Register Office).

   Superintendent Registrar's District SOUTH SHIELDS / Registrar's Sub-District SOUTH SHIELDS
   1891. DEATHS in the Sub-District of SOUTH SHIELDS in the County of SOUTH SHIELDS & DURHAM
   No.	When and where died	Name and surname	Sex	Age	Occupation	Cause of death	Signature, description and residence of informant	When registered	Signature of registrar
   403	Third April 1891 45 Clayton Street Jarrow U.S.D.	Jessie Clouston	Female	70 years [1820/1]	Wife of John Clouston a Shipwright (Journeyman)	Broncho pneumonia Certified by M.M. Bradley M.D.	John Clouston Widower of deceased Present at the death 45 Clayton Street Jarrow	Third April 1891	Tho[ma]s Ramsey Registrar

7. ↑ Whilst no birth or baptism record has been found for Jessie, her marriage in 1838 records that she was the daughter of the late John Preston. The only John Preston who appears to have been having children in Aberdeen around that time was the one who married Janet Cromar in 1819, and also had a son called James baptised in 1824. This John was deceased by 1838 - his wife remarried as a widow in 1832. Moreover, John Preston and Janet Cromar’s son James went on to name one of his sons John Clouston Preston in 1855 - presumably in honour of this Jessie’s husband, John Clouston. James’s wife was an Isabella Preston from Dundee (perhaps a cousin based on her surname?), and Jessie and John Clouston returned the honour by naming one of their daughters Isabella Preston Clouston in 1867.