Elizabeth (Clezie) Clasey (abt. 1825 - 1902)

Born about Jul 1825 in Watten, Caithness, Scotland

Ancestors

Wife of Lewis Beaton — married 19 Nov 1849 in Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland

Descendants

Died 5 Jun 1902 at about age 76 in Tara, Ontario, Canada

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Biography

This profile is part of the Clezie  Name Study.

Betsy (Clezie) Clasey was born in Scotland.

This profile is part of the Watten, Caithness One Place Study.

Note: Spelling varied wildly before the 20th century. Anyone searching for ancestors in this family should consider alternative spellings: Clazey, Clazie, Clazy, Clezie, Clezy, even Claisye, Claise, Clasey, Clasie, Clisy, Clizzee.

Betsy was baptized as "Elizabeth Clezie", on 7 August 1825 at Watten, a small village in the Highlands of northern Scotland.^[1] She was the eldest child of James Clezie and Catherine Greenlaw, who were married at Berwick-upon-Tweed, England, in 1823.

Spelling was flexible; there was no right or wrong way to spell names. Her surname was variously found as Clezie, Clazie, Clezy, Clazey, Clasey, Classey, etc. Later in life, her name was usually written "Betsy Clasey" - but I'm uncertain whether she herself could read and write, or relied on others. The Clasey spelling was later given as a middle name to one of her sons, William Clasey Henderson, born in 1858.

Betsy first married Lewis Beaton in 1849 at Edinburgh. Church records showed her name as "Elizabeth Clazy". Their son, John Beaton, was born in 1850. Two years later the family emigrated to the New World on the ship "Cora Linn", arrived at New York on 7 June 1852. Either aboard the crowded ship, or in the crowded city, Lewis Beaton contracted cholera. He died at Bellevue Hospital, New York, on 27 Sep 1853, age just 32.

Betsy, widowed at 28, remarried to William Henderson in about 1855, exact date not found. This couple moved to Canada West (now Ontario), where they settled at the town of Derby. They were listed in 1861-1891 censuses, with Betsy’s son, John Beaton, plus 5 more children named Henderson.

William Henderson died in 1897. Betsy was listed in the 1901 Canada census at Derby, Ontario. She died, age 76, in June 1902 at the nearby town of Tara, home of her son, John Beaton. (Another son, David Henderson, married Annie MacArthur and they had a child, named "Betsy Clasey Henderson", born in 1905.)

Betsy's sister, Euphemia, married and stayed in Scotland; her surname was written "Clazy" and sometimes "Clazie". Brothers William and John emigrated to the United States, settled in Ohio, and mostly used the "Clasey" spelling, but were shown at their burials as "Clazy". Betsy herself was baptized "Clezie" but later it was written "Clasey." There was no consistency.

^[2]

Do you have information about Betsy Clasey? Please contribute to her biography. Everything on WikiTree is a collaborative work-in-progress.

Sources

1. ↑ "Scotland Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XBM2-PZT : 12 February 2020), Elizabeth Clezie, 1825.
2. ↑ Entered by Rick Heiser, Feb 20, 2013

See also:

• 1841 UK census, Latheron, Caithness
• 1851 UK census, Wick, Caithness
• 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891, 1901 Canada censuses, Derby, Ontario
• Death certificate, 5 June 1902, Tara, Ontario
• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/191401617/elizabeth-henderson
• https://billiongraves.com/grave/person/6236131
• http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Clezie_Name_Study

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Rick Heiser for starting this profile.