Part of the Earley family tree
Family background and early life
Alison Ewart (sometimes referred to as “Alice”) was born at at Joppa Pans on the Firth of Forth, east of Edinburgh, on 21 July 1868 – her parents were Robert Ewart (1841–1919), a salt carter, and his wife Beatrice née Wallace (1840–1873), who had married at Joppa on 28 June 1867.
At the 1871 census, Alison was living with her parents at Joppa Pans where Robert was employed as a salt carter. Following the death of Beatrice in September 1873, Robert Ewart re-married to Isabella Sinclair, with whom he had two sons: John born in August 1878 and Alexander born in September 1880.
In 1881, the family were still living at Joppa, where Robert Ewart was to remain for the rest of his life.
Marriages and children
On 8 November 1885, aged 18, Alison married 23-year old Thomas Allan Rutherford, a foreman baker, at St Andrew’s Church, in New Town, Edinburgh.
The couple’s first child, Thomas Allan Rutherford, was born at 14 Dundonald Street, Edinburgh on 11 March 1886.
The couple then moved to Falkirk, and lived at 46 Grahams Road for several years, where their following three children were born:
Beatrice Wallace Rutherford, born on 23 January 1888,
Robert Ewart Rutherford, born on 6 July 1891, and
James Duff Rutherford, born on 11 May 1893.
Thomas Allan Rutherford died at Falkirk on 30 April 1896, aged only 33, from tuberculosis leaving Alison a widow at 27, with four children aged 11 or under.
On 3 July 1900, aged 31, she re-married to 22-year old John Robertson, at Arnothill parish church, Falkirk. Like Alison’s former husband, John Robertson was also a baker; he was born in Dunoon, Argyll on 27 August 1877. [Although the marriage register gives his age as 26, he was only 22.]. At this time, both were living at Kirk Wynd in Falkirk, about ¼ mile south of her former home at Grahams Road.
Six months later, on 29 January 1901, Alison’s fifth child, Margaret Dalgleish Robertson was born at Kirk Wynd. At the 1901 census, the family (excluding 15-year old Thomas) were living at Kirk Wynd. John Robertson now gave his age as 25, and was recorded as a “baker & confectioner”.
John Robertson died at Denny, Stirlingshire on 14 April 1918, aged 40. Like her first husband, the cause of death was tuberculosis.
On 23 August 1923, she married for the third time, to 30-year old Robert Jackson, a paper maker, at St Aidan’s Church, Benton, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. The marriage certificate gives her age as 46, whereas her correct age was 55. Her address is recorded as Elswick Road, Elswick, Newcastle.
Alison died, aged 69, at 14 Church Place, Dunipace in Stirlingshire on 1 August 1937; the cause of death was Myocarditis. At the time of death, her normal residential address was Holt Street, West Hartlepool. Robert Jackson was now an electrician; it has not been possible to identify any further details about him.