Elizabeth Shand died at Ironrieves, Belhelvie, Aberdeenshire on the 5th of December, 1872 and was the daughter of James Shand and Margaret Shand. Elizabeth's father James Shand was an agricultural labourer and he married Margaret Shand on the 11th of June 1780 in Mortlach, Banffshire. The marriage was also recorded on the 4th of July 1780 in the adjacent parish of Inveravon, Banffshire which is south-west of Dufftown and is where Margaret Shand was from.

James and Margaret Shand had at least 5 children at Mortlach as listed in the following table. It is still unclear whether the listed Elspet Shand baptised in 1783 is actually our Elizabeth Shand who died in Belhelvie in 1872, though she was recorded as Elspet at least once (in the 1871 census) her birth year is consistently later from census records.