The Cuthbertsons of Northumberland

Jane Cuthbertson, a great grandmother on my mother's side, was the wife of George Askew. She was born in Jarrow, County Durham on 30th November 1856. Since I found her birth certificate, I had always thought the Cuthbertsons were from Durham, especially when I found her father Thomas was born in Easington which is also in that county. But as my searches became deeper, especially the Census information from 1841 to 1901, I found that the family actually came from Northumberland. And from the north of the county in what is Berwickshire, halfway between Alnwick and Berwick itself.

Thomas' father was James Cuthbertson (my great great great grandfather) and he was born in Ancroft, Northumberland (closer to Berwick) in 1809. He married Isabella who was born in 1808 in Lucker, Northumberland in the Parish of Bamburgh (famous for it's castle). James was a master joiner and probably met Isabella on his travels for work. They set up home in the tiny hamlet of Easington in the parish of Belford in Northumberland. It was here that their first son Thomas was born in 1833.

However, finding work in such a rural community must have been hard, and by the time their second child (Mary) was born in 1835, James and Isabella had moved to Hartlepool in Durham. Their children Margaret, George and Ellen were born there in 1838, 1840 and 1845. At the 1841 Census the family was living at Gate Street North in Hartlepool. But after ten years or so, they moved back to Easington. They were certainly there in 1847 and 1850 when their last two children, James and Isabella were born. And the 1851, 61, 71 and 81 Census records the family living in the same tiny village.

By 1851, their eldest child Thomas (my great great grandfather) was 18 years old and an apprentice Joiner working with his father, but during the next few years he met and married Eleanor who came from Lowick, again maybe through his travels for work. However Thomas decided to move back, first to Jarrow (where Jane my great grandmother was born) and then to Hartlepool where Thomas had grown up. It was there that their children James and Charles were born.

But back to James and Isabella. By the 1871 Census, they were both 61 years old. And three of their children were still living at home. Margaret was 33, George 31 and James 24, the two men presumably both joiners. Ten years later James at 70 was still a joiner and employer, and Margaret was still living there, working as an agricultural labourer. James died sometime between 1881 and 1891, but Isabella (at 82) and daughter Margaret still lived in Easington in 1891, 45 years after they moved back there. The Census of that year records they were living on their own means, which means that James must have done pretty well at his job.

The nearest town to Easington is Belford. In 1879 it is described as both a township and union town and head of the county court district. It grew during the time the Cuthbertsons lived in the nearby village to 1,226 in 1851, although Easington maybe had half a dozen houses. Belford has the Anglican church of St Mary but also had three Presbyterian churches. West Street was founded in 1771, became a Church of Scotland in 1849 and closed in 1902. Erskine Street was founded in 1777 and continues to this day having become Erskine United Reformed Church in 1972. And St Columba which was formed in 1849 (from congregation that had left West Street when it had changed to Church of Scotland) but closed in 1893. All three Presbyterian and the one Anglican were in existence during the time James and Isabella were close by. So my next task is to determine which, if any, they may have attended. All the records are at Berwick-Upon-Tweed Record Office, so I shall be contacting them shortly.

The map above shows Ancroft in the north where James was born, Lucker in the south where Isabella was born, Easington and Belford where Thomas was born and Lowick between Belford and Ancroft where Eleanor was born.