Philip Cross
(1798-1866)
Philip Cross was the fifth of the fourteen children of farmer Philip Cross and his wife Mary Ong of Ely, Cambridgeshire, England.
He married Sarah Freeman in 1820, but by the time of the baptism of the second Ephriam Cross and his brother George in 1835, Sarah had died and Philip has re-married to widow Ellen (née Wayman, formerly Saberton).
Philip and Ellen appear together in Ely on the 1841 census, joined by a family of seven children at Cuckold's Haven, Ely.
In January 1850, the Public Health Board published a report of Ely, written by William Lee Esq. where he describes Cuckold's Haven as being 'a cluster of houses west of the town, and is a place where cholera lingered longer in 1832 than in any other; there has also been much ague and intermittent fever there. I found several offensive open ditches where the privies emptying into one of them'. He goes on to add that the 'people are generally as wretched as in any part of the parish'. The quality of life was clearly tough here, and 3-4 of Philip's children failed to survive infancy.
Two of Philip's brothers (Charles Cross and George Cross) emigrated to Australia. They were joined later by two of Philip and Ellen's sons - Ephriam and Eli.
Philip fathered at least 13 children.
Life Events
Born
- circa 1798 in Ely, Cambridgeshire, England.
Baptised
- 4th December 1798 at Holy Trinity Church, Ely, Cambridgeshire, England.
Married
- Sarah Freeman (1802-1829) on 17th January 1820 at Holy Trinity Church, Ely, Cambridgeshire, England.
- Ellen Wayman (1806-18??) on 29th August 1829 at Holy Trinity Church, Ely, Cambridgeshire, England.
Children
- Philip Cross (1821)
- Philip Cross (1822-1912)
- Jacob Cross (1824-1897) married Mary Ann Newell (1829-1868), and later to Elizabeth Reeve (1824-1910)
- Ephraim Cross (1829-18??)
- Peter Cross (1831-1884) married Rachel Wisbey (1835-1866), and later to Ann Newton (1839-?)
- Ephraim Cross (1833)
- Ephraim Cross (1834-1919) married Fanny Foreman (1836-1923)
- George Cross (1835-183?)
- Sarah Cross (1837-?)
- George Cross (1838-?)
- Mary Cross (1840-?)
- Samson Cross (1842-1916) married Sarah Fisher (1841-?)
- Eli Cross (1845-?) married Ann Emily Willson (1845-?)
Census and Residence
- 1841: 40yrs, Cuckold's Haven, Ely, Cambridgeshire, England.
- 1851: 50yrs, Downham Road, Ely, Cambridgeshire, England.
- 1861: Ely census destroyed
- 1866: 68yrs, Cuckold's Haven, Ely, Cambridgeshire, England.
Employment
- 1821, 1842: Labourer
- 1851: Hackney Carter
Death
- April 1866 at Cuckold's Haven, Ely, Cambridgeshire, England, aged 68 years.
Burial
- 26th April 1866 in grave B344[U] at Ely City Cemetery, Ely, Cambridgeshire, England.