Puzzled by the parentage of Elizabeth Coward born around 1823

I have Elizabeth Coward married to William ?Henry Mason from FreeBMD:

Mar 1847 • Scarborough, Yorkshire, England; V24 p518

I know she was born as Elizabeth Coward from her children's birth registrations in the GRO (mainly in Pickering, Yorkshire), but blowed if I can find a suitable set of parents for her. There are several marriages in FamilySearch and FreeReg:

William Cowart/Coward and Elizabeth Outhwaite (ma. 28 May 1804, Whitby, Yorkshire),

Peter Cowart/Coward and Elizabeth Williamson (ma. 23 Sep 1810, Whitby, Yorkshire),

William Coward and Frances Clarkson (ma. 03 Jan 1822, Farlington, Yorkshire).

There are several other Cowart/Coward marriages in Yorkshire around this time but most are too far West, South or North of Pickering for me to take them seriously.

Baptisms available give several sets of possible parents, among which are several William-Elizabeth combinations and a William-Sarah. Censuses all say she was born around 1822 in Pickering.

With the given data my logic tables are not full enough to make a decision! Also, some of these people lead to marriages with members of the Smailes family in Yorkshire who have been implicated as my relatives by DNA.

Help, please.

 

I’m not sure if the following will help or not.
GENUKI Pickering Board of Guardians Minute Book June 1844- 1850.
Marriage notice between William Mason and Elizabeth Coward read 1st time 8/2/1847..read 2nd time 22/2/1847.
Does this mean that they were in the Pickering Parish workhouse at that time?
They obviously were under guardianship.

 

No luck with Elizabeth but could this be William?
William Mason baptised Pickering 20/8/1826 father John Mason mother Ann

 

Pigots Directory of 1834 for Pickering, there is Richard Coward, Hunsgate blacksmith. GENUKI
The only Coward in the directory.

 

Perhaps they were both under age or orphans??

 

Richard Coward is there in Pickering in 1841, no wife. Children William Mary and Hannah. No Elizabeth but she could be working away.
1851 Richard is a blacksmith, has a wife Alice who was born in Flyingdales. With them is William Thomas and Mary.

 

Thank you but I am not exploring William Mason yet- it's a discrepancy with other trees and Elizabeth Coward that I'm chasing. Other people traced her as an Elizabeth Mason which she clearly wasn't.

 

A few thoughts on this:

The Pickering Board of Guardians at that time was, I think, the equivalent of a town council, and it won't necessarily mean one of them was in the workhouse. The early registration districts often covered the same areas as the poor law unions, with the same officials sometimes holding positions in both. So without further evidence, I suspect this may be a record of posting a notice of a forthcoming civil (register office) marriage, because one of the parties lived in the Pickering district.

The marriage took place in the Scarborough district, so one of the parties will have lived there, at least at the time of giving notice of the intended marriage.

Do you have William and Elizabeth on the 1851 census? That's going to be of some help in tracing their origins, but the marriage certificate will also help as it will (should) give the names of their fathers.

 

1851 census HO107/2373/114/9 in Pickering

First son b c1848 named Richard

 

FamilySearch has the baptism of Elizabeth d of Richard and Alice Cawood in Pickering on 3 Feb 1822. There are a few other baptisms with that spelling too, and since Richard is given as a blacksmith, I think this is probably her.

FindMyPast has images of the register.

(I'd have pronounced that as Kay-wood where I grew up in the West Riding, but some pronunciations vary quite a bit across the county.)

 

1851 Wiliam and Elizabeth are living in Pickering. She born Pickering. He born Sewerby. Son Richard 3, Mary 1 Esther 0. William is a grocer and tea dealer.
HO107 2373/114

 

SOunds quite logical- Cawood could easily be heard as Coward and written down by someone who had never met any Cawoods. I like it- I'm always keen on the idea of names being mis-heard, then mis-spelled! Just dealt with a Lewis Galeozzi who I assumed was a Luigi Galluzzi and was almost right! Galuizzi.

 

Good one! FamilySearch or FreeReg? I'll look in both anyway. Seems as though this side of the family is almost sorted!

 

Definately an error. I’ve only found one Richard in Pickering.

 

Yes, I think that must be a mistake as I've seen lots of mothers renamed as a generic Mary and often Richard and Robert are used interchangeably (most annoying when trying to be exact).