Thomas Crosby was the sixth child of Mary Crosby christened October 12th, 1823 at Bishop Middleham.
In 1841 he was living with his mother Mary and sister Mary Anne Crosby at Bishop Middleham, and was a shoemaker.
Thomas married Maria (Mary Ann?) Elsbury (Ellesbury) on December 31st, 1841 at Kelloe. At the time of the wedding he gave his father’s name as Thomas Crosby. Maria was born January 26th, 1823 at Lambton, Co Durham, the daughter of Mary & Thomas Elsbury.
Thomas & Mary had 4 children – Alice, Mary Ann & 2 sons named Thomas, the first of whom died in infancy. Thomas continued to work as shoemaker & the family came to live in Thornley, Co Durham.
Sadly Thomas died in Jan-March 1849. Around this time an outbreak of cholera occurred in Thornley & nearby Ludworth where Thomas’s brother-in-law, George Matthews died of the illness also in 1849.
The 1851 census shows Mary & the 3 surviving children as being in receipt of parish relief & she was described as a cordwainer’s widow. They were living in Thornley.
The children of Thomas Crosby & Maria (Mary Ann) Elsbury were:
c.4.6.1 Alice Crosby born Coxhoe Square & christened Aug 27th, 1843 at Kelloe; buried August 25th, 1915 at Odd Fellows Cemetery, Schuylkill, USA
c.4.6.2 Mary Ann Crosby born c1845 at Kelloe
c.4.6.3 Thomas Crosby born July-September 1847 at Kelloe; died July-September 1847 at Kelloe
c.4.6.4 Thomas Crosby born 1849 at Kelloe; died March 7th, 1905 in Girardville, Schuylkill, Pennsylvania, USA & buried March 10th at Odd Fellows Cemetery, Girardville, USA
Mary married again in April-June 1851. Her second husband was John Mallams, a coal miner, born June 4th 1818 in Washington, Co Durham.
In 1853 Mary & John family emigrated to the US with Mary’s children Alice, Mary A & Thomas & their own infant son George Andrew.
In 1860 Mary & John, a coal miner, were living in Schuylkill, Pennsylvania with Mary’s children Alice (17) Mary A (15) & Thomas (11) & their children George (8) Jane (5) John (3) & Elizabeth (0)
They were still in Schuylkill, Pennsylvania, in Butler township, in 1870 with George, Jane, John, Elizabeth (5) & William (3). Both father John & son George worked in the mine. George married Mary Ellen C(K)ramer & had a number of children before his death in 1891.
John died on February 21st, 1875 & was buried at Odd Fellows Cemetery, Girardville, Schuylkill.
Mary Ann died December 22nd, 1879 & was buried at Odd Fellows Cemetery, Girardville, Schuylkill.
Sons William & John were labourers in the mine in 1880 & boarding with Alice & Samuel Slocum. Alice (nee Crosby) was their half-sister. William married in Schuylkill for the second time in 1922, his first wife having died in 1916. His second wife was Mary Templin (nee Davis), born in Wales who had had 4 previous husbands, all deceased. (His first marriage may have been in 1889 to Bessy Jones from Wales, but this has not been confirmed.)