James and the North sea

James Creek was born in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1797. At some point in time before 1825 he travelled from Newcastle to Hull by ship

In Hull James met a 17 year old girl called Mary Crane. They married in 1825 and travelled back to Newcastle where James worked as a slater. Here they started a family having a daughter, Isabella, and two sons, John and Stephen. Whether Mary was not settled in Newcastle is not clear but sometime between 1830 and 1834 the family upped sticks and moved to Hull. Here they had two more children before upping sticks again and moving, by boat , to Boston in Lincolnshire. in 1839 when Jane was expecting their sixth child.

Custom House Quay in Boston where the Creeks landed.

The family lived in small houses in Boston including cottages on Liquorpond Street and White Horse Lane.

Liquorpond Street.

Another dughter arrived before son James died, aged 7. Two years later 17 year old son Stephen was drowned when his small boat capsized in rough seas.

His headstone, which he shares with his parents, depicts a scene of an upturned boat in rough seas. Both James and his son John were slaters by trade. The slate headstone is one of only 4 in Boston cemetery. It is possible that James or John acquired it through their work. James died in 1866, 28 years before his wife. He is buried in a grave without a headstone about 200 yards from Mary and Stephen but is remembered on the headstone of the grave where his wife and son are interred.