Isabella was born in Preston, Lancashire to Richard Cartmell and his wife Isabella. Richard Cartmell was a Master Carpenter/Joiner, who was born in Newburgh, Lancashire in 1799. Newburgh was a hamlet within Lathom, Lancashire, which in turn was part of the Parish of Ormskirk. I haven't been able to find any church records of Richard Cartmell, but I think he would have been christened in St. John's Church in Lathom.

Isabella was born in Preston, Lancashire to Richard Cartmell and his wife Isabella. Richard Cartmell was a Master Carpenter/Joiner and was born in Newburgh, Lancashire in 1799. Newburgh was a hamlet within Lathom, Lancashire, which in turn was part of the Parish of Ormskirk. Richard Carmell turned out to be one of the most elusive members of my family tree, and it was a long time before I was able to track down the missing pieces. This was largely because the information was in less known sources, including his birth, marriages and the births of his children.

I found the records of Richard's birth in the Lancashire Online Parish Clerk Program and found he was baptised in the tiny Douglas Chapel in Eccleston, Lancashire. This chapel no longer exists, but there is a history in the link above. Richard's parents were Anthony Cartmel and Mary Hartley and they had five sons and one daughter.

Isabella was born in Ambleside, Westmoreland around 1806. There are several conflicting years given for her birth year in the various Census reports, ranging from 1806 to 1816. Her age was reported as being 82 on her death certificate in 1888, which I think would be correct.

Isabella Cartmell - Death Certificate

I hadn't been able to find any marriage records for Richard and Isabella Cartmell, so I wasn't able to find Isabella's maiden name for a long time. Then I found that they were married July 31st 1836 in Penwortham, Lancashire. I also couldn't find the reference numbers for any of her children's birth certificates, although their birth's are entered in the St. John's Church, Preston records. But then I went to the LDS Family History Centre here in London, and went through the microfilms of Births in the UK and found the reference numbers of their eldest daughter, Agnes. On Agnes' birth certificate it said that her mother was Isabella, "late Atkinson". This was very frustrating, because it means that Isabella had married before and she was a widow when she married Richard Cartmell - but usually they report the maiden name of the mother as "formerly Smith" or whatever, but in this case there was nothing. After lots of fruitless searching for her earlier marriage, I began to think something was not quite right. Ambleside had a very small population in the early 1800's and I searched the IGI Batch Number for Ambleside and found that the only Isabella born there in that time period was Isabella Atkinson. I now think this was my Isabella and she hadn't been married before and it was just a mistake on Agnes' birth certificate.

The parents of this Isabella Atkinson were Thomas and Mary Atkinson and more information can be found about them on the ATKINSON PAGE.

Richard and Isabella had at least eight children. I originally thought that Ellen, born in 1829 was Isabella's daughter, but much later I found that Richard Cartmell had been married previously, and Isabella was his second wife. The children born to Richard and Isabella were Jane in 1838, Agnes in 1839, Joseph in 1841, Richard in 1843, another Agnes in 1847 (the elder Agnes died in the last months of of 1846 at the age of seven), Elizabeth was born in 1849, and Isabella in 1852. Their mother, Isabella had an elder sister called Agnes (Atkinson) and I think she must really have loved her and wanted to carry on that name within the family. Both their sons died young, Joseph in 1846 aged 5, and Richard in 1852, aged nine. It must have been heartbreaking to lose a daughter and both sons.

There are some other paintings of mid-19th Century Preston by E. Beattie at the following links:
Preston Market Place 1840
The Shambles, Preston 1848

The family lived at 9 Albert Street, Preston for quite a long time, as reported in:

Richard and Isabella Cartmell - 1851 Census**

Richard and Isabella Cartmell - 1861 Census**

Richard and Isabella Cartmell - 1871 Census**

Richard's first marriage was to Elizabeth Guy (b. 1793 in Halsall, Lancashire) in Blackburn, Lancashire, December 24th 1815. They had four children, John in 1817, Mary Ann in 1818, Richard in 1825, and Ellen in 1829. Ellen was still living with her father when he married Isabella and was still living with them in 1861 at age 32. Sadly, Richard and Elizabeth's son Richard also died young, aged only 17.

Of Richard and Isabella's children, the surviving Agnes married John Atherton at St. John's Church in Preston on August 10th 1872 and they had five sons and one daughter (named Isabella after Agnes' mother). In the 1861 Census, Richard and Isabella's granddaughter Anne appears. She was the (presumably) illegitimate daughter of their daughter Jane.

By 1881, Richard Cartmell had died and Isabella had moved to 35 Duckett Terrace, in the Habergham Eaves district of Burnley with her daughter, Isabella. As the younger Isabella was a cotton weaver, presumably she moved to Burnley because there was more work there in the burgeoning cotton industry. Later that year, Isabella married John Brooks and in 1888 their address was 66 Coal Clough Lane, Burnley. This is another family coincidence, because after my father retired, he and my mother moved from Piccadilly Road to 266 Coal Clough Lane.

Isabella nee Atkinson died July 15th 1888 aged 82. The cause of death was given as senile decay (Alzheimer's Disease?).

** Used with the permission of Ancestry.com

*Reprinted by permission. Copyright (c) 1999 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc.