Part of the Earley family tree
Family background and early life
Isabella Sinclair was born on 2 October 1852 at Auchterarder in Perthshire. She was the second of 14 children born to Alexander Sinclair (1829–1906), a weaver and wool-warper, and his wife, Janet née Imrie (1829–1902), who had married in December 1849.
At the 1861 census, Isabella was living with her parents and five siblings in Auchterarder. Ten years later, she had left home and was working as a servant in Perth in the home of Robert Pullar (a Master Dyer) and his wife Ellen and two children. Robert Pullar was later knighted and became the Liberal MP for Perth from 1907 to 1910.
Marriage and children
On 7 September 1877, 24-year old Isabella married 36-year old widower Robert Ewart, at Leith. Robert worked at Joppa Pans as a salt carter; his first wife, Beatrice had died on 9 September 1873, leaving Robert a widower at 32, with a 5-year old daughter, Alison.
Isabella and Robert had two children, both born at Joppa: John Ewart born on 20 August 1878 and Alexander Ewart born on 25 September 1880.
At the 1881 census, Robert (a salt carter) and Isabella were recorded at Joppa Pans, living with Alison, John and Alexander. Ten years later, Alison had now married (to Thomas Allan Rutherford), while the two sons were still living with their parents. Robert had now been promoted to be the salt works foreman.
By 1911, John and Alexander had left home but Robert and Isabella were still at Joppa Pans. Robert, aged 70 was the salt works foreman manager.
Isabella died at Chalmers Hospital, Edinburgh on 16 September 1913, aged 60. The cause of death was “Carcinoma of the Splenic flexure” [Bowel cancer].
Other family members
Robert and Isabella’s elder son, John Ewart married Jane Lloyd (1873–1944) at Portobello in June 1905, following which they had a daughter, Robina, born in March 1907 [died June 2011, aged 104]. The couple later moved to Tiverton, Devon; at the 1939 register, John was employed as the Chief Maintenance Engineer at a paper mill. He died in Devon on 26 October 1951.
Alexander Ewart married Ada Selina Lunn (1881–1956), from Winchester, in Hastings, Sussex on 25 December 1902. The couple appear to have had no children. They continued to live in the Joppa area, where at the 1911 census, Alexander was employed as a joiner by the North British Railway. He died, aged 46, in hospital at North Leith on 17 February 1927 from pulmonary tuberculosis.