The first information of Elizabeth Sutherland, the daughter of John Sutherland, a ploughman, and his wife Janet (m.s. Bain) is in the 1841 Census where she is shown as living and working at a farm named "Waterloo", which is on the North side of the Wick/Thurso road about two miles west of Wick.

In the 1841 Census there were three households shown as living on the farm;

John Clark - 30 - Farm Servant with his wife, Elizabeth, and their four young children, Margery, Janet, John & Elizabeth.

William Bain - 30 - Agricultural Labourer with his wife, Margaret, and their two young children, Margery & Elizabeth.

The third household consisted of;

John Auld - 20 - Agricultural Labourer
William Alexander - 15 - Agricultural Labourer
Donald Malcolm - 10 - Agricultural Labourer
Janet Williamson - 20 - Farm Servant
Elizabeth Sutherland - 20 - Farm Servant

In this census the ages for adults were rounded down by up to five years so tend to be very inaccurate - especially if they were unsure when they were born anyway.

Six weeks later on the 16th July 1841, John Auld and Elizabeth Sutherland were married (in Wick?). It appears to have been an “ Irregular Marriage” in the form of a declaration by the two parties before witnesses, but not before an established churchman. The witnesses were John Clark, farm servant of Waterloo Farm, “for the man” and Donald Aitken, labourer in Wick, “for the woman”.

In subsequent census Elizabeth states that she was born in Halkirk but there is no confirmation of this to date or when and where her parents were married.

John and Elizabeth had five children.

Alexander; Born 12th October 1841
John; Born 18th November 1843
Margaret; Born 1846
Janet; Born 1850
Catherine; Born 1853

No information either on birth, marriage etc. of Elizabeth Auld’s (m.s. Sutherland) parents, John and Janet except that the Old Parochial Register shows that a Janet Bain, daughter of William Bain and Janet Swanson, was born in Halkirk in 1779.

In the 1851 census Elizabeth's mother appears as Janet Henderson, the mother-in-law of John Oal(aka Auld), which seems to imply that she remarried sometime after John Sutherland died and before 1851.

At the time of her death on the 4th February 1855, Janet Henderson was living with her daughter and son-in-law at Milton, near Wick. The informant shown on her Death Certificate was John Oal, her son-in-law. Her parents were shown as William Henderson, a farmer, and Margaret Henderson (m.s. Bain). At the moment I am quite unable to make any sense of this confusing information.

In the 1871 census of the 2/3rd April, John, his wife Elizabeth with their unmarried daughter Margaret together with Janet's illegitimate 3 year old daughter, Margaret, were shown as living at Stemster, which appears to lie just behind Milton, near Wick.

John Oal (Auld) died on the 26th April 1871, aged 53, at his home in Stemster (Milton). His death certificate shows that he had a heart problem for several years. The informant was Alexander Gray, his brother-in-law.

Little is known of the whereabouts of Elizabeth Oal (Auld), his widow, after 1871 for about ten years. However, in the 1881 census there is the following entry for an unspecified address in Wick;

Elizabeth Auld - Widow - Head of House - 66 - Born in Halkirk
Margret Auld - Unmarried - Daughter - 32 - Born in Halkirk
Margret Melvile - G.Daughter - 13 - Born in Halkirk
John Auld- G.Son - 1 - Born in Halkirk

Elizabeth, with unmarried daughter, Margaret, and grandson, John, lived together in Wick for the next 20 years.

In the Valuation Roll for 1902/3, Item No. 833, Elizabeth Auld is shown as the Occupier/Tenant of a house in Janetstown owned by Magnus Sinclair of Clyth and she is paying a yearly rent of £3. 5. 0d.

Elizabeth died on the 19th July 1902. On the Death Certficate her parents were still shown as John Sutherland and Janet Bain.

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