Elizabeth Hunter was from Paisley in Glagow and met her husband, James Goalen, at a church service when she was visiting Leith. This was in 1868 when she was 19 years old and he was 32. It was love at first sight and they married straight away.
She had 11 children but only 9 children survived into adulthood. They lived at 161 Constitution Street and later moved to Allerly, Russel Place, Trinity, Leith.
When James died in 1908, James Thomas Goalen took over the family home and she moved across the road to a different house in Russel Place. Towards the end of her life she was nursed by her unmarried daughters.