Biography

Elizabeth Gould. (-1799) (aka. Elizabeth (Betty) Cochrane)

Maiden name Cochrane. Youngest daughter of Col. James Cochrane of Ochiltree and Culross (1690-1758) and Margaret Hawkison. Boswell's mother's cousin. Married (1759) to Nathaniel Gould. Earlier marriage (1750) to Henry Carey Hamilton (b. ca. 1708) of Holycross.

Mrs. Gould's father, James Cochrane, was the brother of Boswell's mother's mother, Euphemia Cochrane.

Research info: According to FamilySearch, (Link) a Betty Cochrane, married to a Nathaniel Gould, died on February 11th, 1799. This person was supposedly born in Weston, Somerset (see Nathaniel Gould for more on this) in 1735. This doesn't fit in with other dates, such as her marriage in 1750 to Henry Hamilton, but information in the database sometimes is way off, and it does seem to fit the information I have about Mr. Gould, so I think it is very probable that Betty Cochrane, Mrs. Gould, the cousin of Euphemia Boswell, died in 1799.

Life with James Boswell:

Boswell first went to visit the Gould's on December 2, 1762. During the next months he often dines with them, and enjoys their company. Still, on January 6, 1763 Mrs. Gould (jokingly) blamed Boswell for not visiting them more often. Interestingly Lady Betty Macfarlane had, the day before, jokingly said of Boswell that "his weakness is that he would prefer Mrs. Gould's to this [the Kellie's]".

External links:

• Cochrane family tree - from Stirnet

This article was last updated at February 16 2008 21:08:22 CET

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