Pringle, Elizabeth (Elezabeth) ^37,79

  General Notes:

Elezabeth was 23 years old when she married William Turner. He was a ploughman, and the young couple had less than a year together before the birth of their first child. Their second child followed soon after, so Elizabeth must have been very busy.

With their two young children they moved to Horselee where William had work on another farm. While her husband was working on the farm Elezabeth was busy looking after her growing family. Her husband was a good worker and must have impressed Mr. Fair, the tenant farmer, as the boss was called in those days. William and Elezabeth must have been very happy when he was promoted to Farm Steward (or "Hynd") at the farm. This meant that he was a kind of supervisor or foreman on the farm. Presumably it also meant that he was paid more than he had been previously. This was good because before too long they had 5 young children to look after.

Of course there was no electricity in those days, and no running water. Elezabeth had to do all of the washing by hand and she did not have a modern stove. This must have been very hard work. In 1800, at the start of the 19 th century her eldest son William (Billy) was 14 years old, and he was probably already working on the farm with his father. Robert was 13, and he may have been working as well. William probably took his two eldest boys to see the new thrashing machine which had been introduced at the farm. This would have been a very important invention and they would have expected it to make harvest time easier. As the Farm Steward, William may have been the one in charge of the new machine. The baby of the family, Alexander (Alex), was a year old in September, 1801. Did the family celebrate his birthday?

Imagine Elezabeth's horror only two weeks later when a messenger came from Mr. Fair to tell her of the terrible accident at the farm. William (her husband) had been killed in the new thrashing machine. He was only 37 years old!

How did she manage on her own? We may never know, but we can be sure that it was not easy for her. Luckily her two eldest boys were old enough to begin working. John and James were 6 and 5 years old and they must have helped with the younger ones. Margaret, the only daughter would have been busy helping her mother too. It must have been a terrible day for the whole family when their father was buried at the According Priory.

Anyway the family seems to have managed, and first young William and then Robert went away to work. As soon as John and James were old enough they too went off to work. John became a Blacksmith and James went to the nearby town of Duns as an apprentice joiner. Margaret must have been a great help to her mother, especially with young Alex.

In fact Margaret remained at home with her mother for many years. Alex also remained close to his mother. When Elezabeth was 66 years old she had the happy news that James (Jim) was planning to move back to the area. He had leased some land at Grantshouse and was planning to build a house there for his family. This would have been a happy time for her with her grandchildren around more. Alex joined Jim in building the house and working to improve the property at Grantshouse. He helped to drain an area of the property that was prone to flooding.

Two years after they leased the property, tragedy struck in Elezabeth's life again. Alex became ill with breathing problems, and died. The family thought that he had overheated and then become chilled whilst working in the wet conditions. Elezabeth was comforted by her daughter Margaret who continued to live with her mother.

Elezabeth lived until she was 72 years old. She was buried with her husband and her son in the Turner grave at According Priory.

  Birth Notes:

1766 according to George Turner's original notes.

Elizabeth married William Turner, son of William Turner and Unknown, on 14 Apr 1786 in Bunkle And Preston.⁷⁶ (William Turner was born in 1764,^37,57 died on 27 Sep 1801 in Horseley, Near Grantshouse, Berwickshire. ^37,57 and was buried in Coldingham Priory ³⁷.) The cause of his death was Accidentally killed in a thrashing machine, soon after its introduction.