Hello, All!
I've been working on this mystery for about a decade - my main search is for the family of Isabella Gibson-Fisher Born between 1860-63 in Staffordshire UK (I'm fairly certain) her mother is listed on her death certificate (Isabella Fisher's) as being "Isabella Gibson Hill" - in looking up this "Isabella Gibson" I've come across an "Isabella Ann Hill" - whose father was a "Thomas Gibson" - occupation "Butcher"
Isabella Fisher's parents - I believe - were Isabella Ann Gibson, who married a William Hill. Isabella's mother would have been born between 1839-1843.
I'm trying to unravel this knot because Isabella Ann Hill-Fisher married an exceedingly wealthy man, Captain Basil John Fisher in Baltimore MD, in 1903, although - here in the US, either he, she or both promoted the appearance of having been married around 1884 - though this is not true. Captain Basil John Fisher had been married at least once (the rake!!!) and over the decades developed something of an unsavoury reputation for acquiring further wealth by 'hook or crook' - there is some evidence that he married 1st around 1870 to a Mary Gammie Maitland, daughter of an extremely wealthy gentleman with ties to both Australia and the UK - this 'Basil Fisher" died - very suddenly and mysteriously - not two weeks after this wedding, to the then 12-14 year old Mary Gammie Maitland.
Good Old "Basil Fisher" is buried in Aberdeen, listed only as a 'near relation' to the Fisher family members he is interred with......are you all still with me?......fast forward 38 years - "my" Basil Fisher" dies in NY, NY in 1903 - and before he is cold, the lawsuits begin - including - a lawsuit against his estate by one "Mary Gammie Maitland"!!!!! Apparently, she felt she had been defrauded out of life rent! - but hold on - there's more - Captain Basil Fisher, than marries Anne Jenny Simpson Oslear in 1872 or 73 - Anne Jenny Simpson is also a woman of some means - She and Basil have two children, Ina May Constance and Lillian Brenda - by 1883, Basil's roving eye apparently lands on yet another woman, (back to the start of this thread ) Isabella Gibson Hill - and they have a child in 1884 (unbeknownst to Anne Jenny Simpson Oslear).
Long story - somewhat shortened - from what I've learned - Captain Basil John Fisher (originally from Aberdeen) retires from military service around 1885 - and between 1886-1888, establishes himself in North Carolina - exceedingly well-to-do - and begins having a new family with his 'wife' Isabella Fisher - he pays one last visit to his legal wife, Anne Jenny Simpson Oslear in 1889 - and before he has set foot back in the states - she commits suicide in Kensington, leaving their daughter, Lillian Brenda Fisher, an orphan to be raised in the home of her uncle, the Reverend W. Hurst Simpson - (this daughter, upon attaining her majority - also begins suing the daylights out of her father's estate when he dies in NYC) - and Basil John Fisher and Isabella do NOT legally tie the knot until 1900 in Baltimore MD....
- So - the part of the mystery I'm trying to solve now - is - who was this "Isabella Gibson Hill" before she meets our Basil John Fisher?? - he apparently had an eye for the ladies but an even sharper eye for finance - the only thing I've been able to find is this "Isabella Gibson" who states her father was a "butcher" and William Hill, her husband, who lists his father's occupation as a "farmer" - this does NOT sound like the type of family Captain Basil John Fisher would have aligned himself with -
If you've not lost patience with this thread yet, any replies would be appreciated - I literally have lost sleep over the past ten years, trying to untangle THIS one - and this is only one of about half a dozen 'mysteries' associated with Basil John Fisher AND Isabella - I've roughly eight hundred pages of family history on Basil John Fisher alone - (one of his grandfathers was William Black of Devanha - owned a famous distillery there) - but this Isabella has become the main mystery for now. Any sleuths have any ideas?
?
