Person:Edward Clouston (3)

Edward Clouston’s origins have yet to be established. His first confirmed sighting is on 26th January 1782 when he married Isabella Knarston at Stenness in Orkney. They went on to have three children together: Henry (or Harry) later in 1782, Marjory in 1785 and John in 1789. Henry and Marjory were both baptised at Stenness, and their baptisms record that the family lived at a farm called Biggings in the Ireland area of Stenness parish. John was baptised in the neighbouring parish of Orphir, and the family was recorded as living at a place called Garsin in the Clestrain area of Orphir, which is a mile or two south of Biggings. They appear to have later returned to Stenness.

Edward’s son Harry died aged 39 in 1822 in Stenness, leaving a widow and young children. He had been a ship carpenter.

Edward and Isabella died just a few days apart. Edward was buried at Stenness on an unspecified date in March 1829. Isabella’s burial was then the next but one entry in the register; she was buried at Stenness on 28th March 1829. She and Edward had been married for 47 years. When Edward’s daughter Marjory died in 1857, her death certificate describes Edward as having been a farmer.

1. ↑ Scotland. Old Parish Registers, Deaths & Burials. (Edinburgh, Scotland: ScotlandsPeople (National Records of Scotland))
   017/20 197 Firth & Stenness.

   1829 / Mar[ch] [no day specified] / [No.] 2 Edward Clouston in Stenness
   [then an entry for someone else dated 25 March, then]
   M[a]r[ch] 28th / [No.] 4 Isaballa Knarston spous to Edward Clouston Eaged 60 [1768/9]

2.   There was an Edward Clouston baptised at Stromness, immediately west of Stenness, in 1759. However, that baptism is considered more likely to relate to the Edward Clouston of Stromness who worked for the Hudson’s Bay Company in Canada between 1779 and 1798.