Elizabeth Masterton (1806-1903)
a Forfar Nonagenarian
Taken approx 1901. (image provided by David Milligan).
Elizabeth Masterton is one of the longest-lived of the Masterton family, reaching her 96th birthday before her death in 1903.
Genealogy
Elizabeth Masterton was the sixth child born to Robert Masterton, a shoemaker turned linen weaver, and Helen Samson, who had married in 1791 in Forfar, Scotland. Elizabeth Masterton belongs to the large group of Mastertons that flourished in the Forfar and Montrose area. She married James Samson, a cloth manufacturer, in 1829 in Forfar, and they had four children Isobel (pictured above), James, Helen and Margaret. Isobel's son Alan Reid (also pictured) wrote poetry. Fuller details of her extended family can be found at this link.
Unidentified Newspaper Clipping
DEATH OF NONAGENARIAN
On Thursday past, Mrs Samson died at her residence in Dishland Street at the advanced age of 97. Deceased was the eldest of five generations, and she leaves four children - three daughters and one son - fifteen grandchildren, twelve or thirteen great-grandchildren, and **** great-great-grandchildren. It may be stated that she was the grandmother of Mr Alan Reid, the Forfarshire poet, and that Mr Reid is the grandfather of Mrs Samson’s great-great grandchildren. Mrs Samson, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Masterton, was a native of Forfar. Her husband, who was a cloth manufacturer in Letham in the days of the hand-loom, predeceased her some twenty five years ago. On her removal from Letham she came to Arbroath, where she has resided for the last seventeen years. Mrs Samson retained all her faculties up to within a very short time of her death. She was a woman of strong personality, and was possessed of a large measure of that mother wit and shrewd common sense so characteristic of the motherhood of a bygone generation. She had a most retentive memory, and had many most interesting reminiscences of long ago, which she took great delight in retailing to a sympathetic listener. She was a staunch adherent of the Established Church, and up till a few years ago she unfailingly attended the communion services of Dunnichen Parish Church, of which she retained her membership to the last, although worshipping regularly in the Ladyloan United Free Church.
Unidentified Newspaper
Arbroath Local Press Area
1903