Elizabeth Taylor Wighton was born November 22 and baptized December 21, 1828. She was named after her paternal grandmother. It was very difficult to find information on Elizabeth. For example, Amy Louisa Hutcheon (John Murray Wighton's wife) made no reference to her whatsoever when she was telling her grandchildren about John Baxter Wighton's siblings. However, Margaret Serzans persevered and finally found the following information.

In the 1861 census, Elizabeth (aged 30 but really 32 or 33) was living at 174 Overgate in Dundee with her father John, her mother Ann, and her sister Mary Ann. Also present were two of John's grandchildren Louisa and Alfred. It was not immediately clear who their mother was - my first thought was that they belonged to Elizabeth but that was not the case.

Elizabeth's father, John, died in 1869, so it wasn't surprising to find his name missing in the 1871 census. But, Elizabeth was no longer living in Overgate either. (Her mother, her sister Mary Ann, and granddaughter Luise McPherson were still there though.) It's possible that Elizabeth died, got married, or just moved away. We couldn't find her in any 1871 Dundee location though.

Margaret found an 1871 census record though for an Elizabeth Wighton, aged 42, in Montrose. She was listed as an inmate, mill worker, lunatic. Dogged research revealed that Elizabeth had been admitted to the Sunnyside Lunatic Asylum in Montrose on the 10th of June, 1867. At that time, she was recorded as being 28 years old (but this is likely a transcription error) and the daughter of John Wighton, shoemaker, of Calender Close, 174 Overgate, Dundee. She was single, Presbyterian, and previously worked as a flax mill worker.

Elizabeth died of a brain disease (5 years duration) on December 30, 1872 at the age of 44 at Sunnyside. For more information on Sunnyside, and mental health in Scotland at the time, you can read the Sunnyside Lunatic Asylum essay.

Sources

Serzans, Margaret (generation 9)

ScotlandsPeople Database (http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/)

Scots Ancestry Research Society (March 26, 1971). Report to John L. Wighton

Letter by Amy Louisa Wighton (John Baxter's daughter-in law and John Murray Wighton's widow) to either her son Harry Latta Wighton and/or to her grandchildren (John Latta Wighton and Ella Wighton) around about 1939.

Letter from Kenneth Baxter, Archives Assistant, University of Dundee (re. Sunnyside residents).

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