Elisabeth Telfer

Role: English-born Telfer resident at Newcastleton, Castleton parish — sister and housekeeper to John Telfer (b. ~1791, England)

Born: ~1806 — ENGLAND
Died: unknown
Occupation: Housekeeper (1851)
Residence: Newcastleton, Castleton parish, Roxburghshire (1851)
Sibling: John Telfer (b. ~1791, England) — shepherd, head of the household she kept

⚠️ Not proven to be a relative of the main Telfer line. Recorded because she is a sourced, documented Telfer born outside Scotland, resident in the parish. No record links her to any Castleton Telfer family.

---

The record — 1851 census (`784/12/12`)

Purchased from ScotlandsPeople, read, and saved to the vault on 11 Sep 2026. Castleton parish, taken on the night of 30 March 1851, at Newcastletown, schedule 49:

Name	Relation	Condition	Age	Occupation	Where Born
John Telfer	Head	Unmarried	56	Shepherd	ENGLAND
Elisabeth Telfer	Sister	Unmarried	45	Housekeeper	ENGLAND
Margaret Wilson	Visitor	Unmarried	75	Scholar	Roxburgh Castleton

She appears in the 1851 census only. She is not present in the 1841 returns for Castleton under this spelling — the 1841 page (`784/13/3`) that carries John Telfer lists only William, Violet, and an infant John alongside him.

Note on the name: the census enumerator wrote "Elisabeth" with an s — the older Scottish spelling. She should not be confused with Elizabeth Hutton Telfer (1774–1853), who is a different woman entirely: Betty Hutton was born in Castleton in 1774, was widowed by 1851, and was recorded aged 77 at Newcastleton in a separate household (`784/10/13`) headed by her son William.

Age check against the two Elizabeth records in 1851 — they are cleanly distinct:

Person	Reference	Age 1851	Born
Elisabeth Telfer (this page)	`784/12/12`	45	~1806, England
Elizabeth Hutton Telfer (1774–1853)	`784/10/13`	77	1774, Castleton

---

Why this matters

Elisabeth Telfer strengthens the same finding her brother carries: there were Telfer people in Castleton parish who were born in England, and the parish's Old Parish Register — which runs from 1697 — does not record them.

A shepherd and his unmarried sister, both English-born, living together at Newcastleton, is the profile of a family that moved across the border. It is direct, documented evidence that the Liddesdale Telfer population was not closed to incomers, and that the registers are an incomplete map of who bore the name.

The honest limits

• ❌ No English parish of origin is recorded — the census gives country only.
• ❌ No kinship to the main line is established on present evidence.
• ❌ No birth, marriage, or death record for her has been found.

Status: sourced research lead, not a verified family connection.

---

Sources

• ScotlandsPeople — 1851 census, ref `784/12/12`, Castleton, Roxburghshire. Image purchased and read 11 Sep 2026. Vault: `Family History/Records/Telfer_John_census_1851-03-30_Castleton_784-12-12.png` (2,592 × 1,777, 2.65 MB, sha256 `d61cde8083a06e70d596ec55efc0991e382a7d962d842fd727df5c`). Google Drive: `Photos/John Telfer/`.
• Corroborating: ScotlandsPeople — 1841 census, ref `784/13/3` (her brother John, recorded "born outside Scotland"). Vault: `Family History/Records/Telfer_James_census_1841-06-06_Castleton_784-13-3.png`.