Isabella Crosby [c.4.4]

Isabella Crosby was the fourth child of Mary Crosby christened October 4th, 1815 at Bishop Middleham. The entry on the Bishops transcripts of the parish show her as Isable.

Isabella married Thomas Ducker Taylor at Sunderland on March 23rd, 1839. Thomas was born March 31st, 1814 & christened Thomas Taylor Ducker on April 24th, 1814 at Thorne, Yorkshire, the son of Hannah & George Ducker, a labourer. (Thomas appears to have changed his surname to Taylor, a family name which came from his grandfather John Ducker who married Betty Taylor.) Thomas first went to sea as an apprentice in 1828, aged just 14.

In 1841 Isabella was living at Church Street, Dawdon with husband Thomas who was a master mariner, and son George Crosby Taylor (1). Visiting them was Elizabeth Earnshaw (4) daughter of Isabella’s sister Elizabeth (nee Crosby) & her husband Thomas Earnshaw.

In 1851 Isabella (noted in census as Sarah Isabella) had moved to William St, Dawdon. Thomas was not present at the time of the census. They had a son George (12) and 3 daughters Rebecca (8), Elizabeth (6) and Isabella (4) living at home.

Thomas’ Master’s Cerificate issued in 1856 at Hartlepool states that he had been employed for 22 years in the British Merchant Service in coasting & foreign trade.

At the time of the 1861 census Isabella was recorded at the home of her sister Elizabeth (Earnshaw) at William St, Dawdon with her son George (20), a shipsmith. The remainder of her family, Rebecca (18) a dress maker, Elizabeth (16), Thomas Ducker a telegraph messenger (14), Isabella (12) & Eliza Jane (8) were living at California, Hartlepool. Thomas is again not recorded. California was an area to the north of West Hartlepool built to accommodate navvies & their families who dug out the new docks in the 1830s. It was comprised of streets of very badly built houses that were built of poor materials & was very badly hit when cholera struck the town in 1832 & 1849.

Daughter Rebecca married William Holdforth, a journeyman joiner, in 1865 at Hartlepool. Rebecca & William had 2 children, Thomas Henry in 1865 & Mary in 1866 both of whom sadly died in infancy. Tragically both William & Rebecca died in 1867, William on January 6th & Rebecca in July-September.

Son George married Maria Victoria Day on March 6th, 1866 at Hartlepool. Maria was the youngest daughter of Thomas Day, shipowner of Hartlepool. An article in the Sunderland Daily Echo & Shipping Gazette of November 15th, 1887 stated that George C Taylor, native of Seaham Harbour, who emigrated to Sydney, NSW, Australia 17 years ago (with an infant son George Crosby Taylor) had been made Justice of the Peace for that colony. He had formerly been a working blacksmith. He was son-in-law of the late Mr Day, shipowner. The electoral register of 1913 lists George, a teacher, & Maria living at 20 Tebbutt St, Leichhardt. George wrote a will in 1915 in which he was stated to be a shorthand teacher.

George Crosby Taylor & wife Maria & son

(Photo courtesy of Janelle Carley)

Daughter Isabella married Samuel Walton in July-September 1867 at Hartlepool. Sadly Isabella died in Jan-March 1869, aged 20, her death being registered at Weardale. Samuel, born c1846 at St Helens Auckland, was the nephew of Robert Walton (born c1821) who had married Mary Anne Crosby (born 1818), Isabella’s aunt.

In 1871 Thomas, now a retired master mariner, & Isabella were living at William St, Dawdon with their daughter Eliza Jane (19). By this time daughter (Mary) Elizabeth had married John G Miller, an insurance agent born c1831 at Sunderland, which is where they were living.

Daughter Eliza Jane married Thomas Walter Sherry in 1872. Thomas & Eliza also emigrated to Sydney, NSW, Australia in 1888.

It appears that son Thomas Ducker also travelled to Australia & there he married Mary Liddell of Sunderland. The marriage took place at Port Darwin, South Australia in August 1873 & Thomas, of Seaham Harbour, was described as chief operator to the British Australian Telegraph Company. Thomas & family had returned to England by 1901 when they were living in Penzance, Cornwall.

In 1881 Isabella (66) & Thomas (67) were still living at William St and all the children had left home. Living with them was Isabella’s sister Elizabeth Earnshaw (77), now widowed, and Elizabeth’s granddaughter Mary Hall (10). Isabella’s daughter (Mary) Elizabeth & husband John Miller, now an engine blacksmith, had moved south & were living in Woolston, Hampshire by this time. (Visiting Mary Elizabeth & family at this time was Sarah Jane Walton, born c1850 in Seaham. Sarah Jane Walton was listed in the 1871 census in Plumstead, Greenwich, Kent with husband Samuel Walton, an engine fitter, born c1846 in Auckland. This would appear to be the Samuel Walton who had married Sarah Jane’s sister Isabella. Perhaps Sarah Jane married Samuel after Isabella’s death, but no marriage record has been found.)

Thomas died on November 9th, 1890, aged 76, at Sea View Villas, Masonic Hall, Seaham. His death notification described Thomas as Captain.

In 1891 Isabella (75) was living at Tyne Street, Bishop Wearmouth with daughter Mary Elizabeth Miller & her husband & family. Isabella was described as ‘living on her means’. Living with them was the grandson of Mary Elizabeth & John Miller - Robert Petrie (7), son of Mary Hannah Miller who had married Robert Muir Petrie in 1883. It appears that this grandson lived with the Millers as he appears again in the 1901 census with widowed Mary Elizabeth.

There is a death for Isabella Taylor of 83 Tyne Street in Oct-December 1891.

The children of Isabella Crosby and Thomas Ducker Taylor were:

c.4.4.1 George Crosby Taylor born June 4th, 1840 at Dawdon Hall & christened October 4th at Dalton-le-Dale, Co Durham; died March 29th, 1921 at Leichhardt, NSW, Australia & buried at Rookwood Cemetery, Sydney
c.4.4.2 Rebecca Taylor born April-June 1842 at Dawdon Hall, & christened October 2nd, 1842 at Dalton-le-Dale, Co Durham; died July-September 1867 at Hartlepool
c.4.4.3 Mary Elizabeth Taylor born July-September 1844 in Seaham, Co. Durham & christened January 12th, 1845 at Dalton-le-Dale, Co. Durham
c.4.4.4 Thomas Ducker Taylor born Oct-December 1846 in Seaham, Co Durham; died March 21st, 1935 at Pembroke, & buried March 23rd at Pembroke Dock, Wales
c.4.4.5 Isabella Taylor born Oct-December 1848 in Seaham, Co Durham; died Jan-March 1869 in Weardale, Co Durham

c.4.4.6 Sarah Jane Taylor born Oct-December 1850 at Seaham, Co Durham; died Jan-March 1851 at Seaham ?
c.4.4.7 Eliza Jane Taylor born Jan-March 1852 in Seaham, Co Durham; died July 11th, 1946 in Sydney, Australia