George Cross
(1812-1887)

George Cross was the thirteenth of the fourteen children of farmer Philip Cross and his wife Mary Ong of Ely, Cambridgeshire, England.

George married Frances Thompson and the couple had five children before Frances died in 1841. George promptly re-married the following year to Julia Thurlow of Ely and the couple went on to have another six children.

On the 1841 census, George appears with his first wife Frances. He is noted as a "Fishmonger".

George and Julia Cross emigrated their family over to Australia by boarding the "James Fernie" which left Liverpool on the 24th October 1855 and arrived Moreton Bay, Brisbane, Australia, on 24th January 1856. With them was George's brother Charles Cross and his family. Here they found a new start and prospered well in Goodna, Queensland where George became a brickmaker.

George died in 1887 in the company of his youngest daughter, Mary Ann Lucy, from a combination of "heart disease (valvular 2.5 days) and typhoid fever".

Life Events

Born

• circa 1812 in Ely, Cambridgeshire, England.

Baptised

• 16th August 1812 at Trinity Chapel, Ely Cathedral, Ely, Cambridgeshire, England.

Married

• Frances Thompson (18??-1841) on 23rd March 1832, at Holy Trinity Church, Ely, Cambridgeshire, England.
• Julia Thurlow (1818-1892) on 8th April 1842 at Holy Trinity Church, Ely, Cambridgeshire, England.

Children

• James Cross (183-1905) married Elizabeth Hollingworth Saunders (18??-1881)
• Matthew Thompson Cross (1834-1903) married Sarah Morrison (1846-1900)
• Elizabeth Thompson Cross (1837-1839)
• John Cross (1838)
• Croxford George Cross (1839-1925) married Ellen Ann Simpson (1847-1909)
• Emma Cross (1842-1927) married Henry Bache (1834-?)
• Walter Cross (1845-1933) married Harriet Davey (18??-1865), and later to Margaret Traynor (1848-1917)
• Elizabeth Cross (1848-1885) married Theodore Pitt (1835-1916)
• Ellen Cross (1852-1934) married William Hickey (1837-1880), and later to Albert Bullock (1865-1943)
• George Cross (1853-1943) married Martha Ann Law (1851-1942)
• Mary Ann Lucy Cross (1857-1946) married Alexander Taylor (1848-1906)

Census and Residence

• 1841: 30yrs, Padnal, Ely, Cambridgeshire, England.
• 1851: 38yrs, Windy Fen Cottage, Prickwillow, Cambridgeshire, England.

Death

• 5th January 1887 at Goodna, Queensland, Australia, aged 76 years.

Cause of Death

• 1. Heart disease (Valvular 2.5 days),
  2. Typhoid fever.

Burial

• 7th January 1887 in Goodna, Queensland, Australia.

Further Information

• A Fen family go down under (180kb)
  An article by Cambridgeshire historian, Mike Petty, regarding the Cross family emigration in the 1850s. Article dated 16th February 1994, Cambridge Weekly News.
• The Last Will and Testament of Mrs. Julia Cross of Goodna, Australia (11kb)
  The Last Will and Testament of Julia Cross (1820-1892, née Thurlow) of Goodna, Queensland, Australia. Julia was born in Ely and was George's second wife. They emigrated to Goodna during the 1850s (see above article)