I decided to check out both Ancestry and the Scotlands People website to see what was held online. The initial Ancestry "hint" was basically Esther's name appearing in 20 other online family trees. Having looked at all this information, it was obvious that some researchers had just copied details direct from one another and even erroneously included information for another Esther Byers, born in the same month and the same year (this Esther being my first cousin, three times removed). Many of these other family trees also had different dates of death for Esther, so I decided to look for Esther's marriage and death certificates on the Scotlands People website.
Firstly though, I looked at Census information and in 1861, Esther (named after her grandmother, Esther Rae) was living with her mother, Janet and her half sister Fanny, aged 8, (Esther's mother Janet Bell, having given birth to Fanny in 1853 - whether James Byers was the father is not known, although obviously Fanny did take the Byers surname) and her brother, Richard, aged 2. The 1871 Census is confusing inasmuch as the Esther Byers I have found is probably my cousin, not my great great aunt.
So, onto 1877, when, as mentioned, Esther had given birth to a son, David Byers, with no information currently known of the father. This was on 13th May (Esther's 19th birthday). Three years later, on the 26th of November, 1880, Esther married James HUSBAND, an under gamekeeper, aged 23. They were married at Grahamshill Cottages in Kirkpatrick Fleming, which James also gave as his "usual residence" at the time of the marriage. Esther's residence at this time was Fairy Row, Kirkpatrick Fleming. The marriage was witnessed by Fanny Byers and a James Howden.
From what I can find online, Grahamshill Cottages lie about 1 mile east of the village of Kirkpatrick Fleming (near Junction 21 of the A74(M)), and Fairy Row lies about 1 mile south of Kirkpatrick Fleming. Per the Ordnance Survey Name Book at that time, it states that the name of this hamlet is HOLYLEE, not Fairy Row, as can be seen from this quote "this is a long range of one storey buildings with garden attached to back. This place is sometimes called Fairy Row, which is not proper. Colonel Graham states that there was an encampment of monks near this place - but the site cannot be pointed out - hence the name Holylee".
Per the 1881 Census, Esther and her husband, James were living with James' parents and three siblings in Old Engine (?), Lasswade, Midlothian. Between 1882 and 1888, Esther and James had three children, Archibald, Frances and Christina and by 1891, the family were living at 16 Market Place, Coldstream, Berwickshire. They certainly moved about, presumably with James' job as gamekeeper, as Archibald was born in Lasswade, Frances in Cockpen, Midlothian and Christina in Coldstream.
By 1901, James was a coal miner, and the family, now with James' mother, aged 86, lived at Waterside Cottage, Stobhill, Borthwick Parish, not far from Gorebridge. Ten years later, Esther and James were still at the same address.
Esther died on the 1st of March, 1928 (of mitral stenosis (heart disease)) at Waterside Cottage, Gorebridge, with Esther's husband present at the time of her death. So Esther and family had lived in the same cottage for the best part of 30 years. And she had outlived her brother, James, my great grandfather, by 8 years.
Esther died on the 1st of March, 1928 (of mitral stenosis (heart disease)) at Waterside Cottage, Gorebridge, with Esther's husband present at the time of her death. So Esther and family had lived in the same cottage for the best part of 30 years. And she had outlived her brother, James, my great grandfather, by 8 years.
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