On 25 July 1843, when he was eighteen, Thomas EATHER 1824-1909 married Eliza CROWLEY in St. Peter's Church at Richmond. Eliza was nearly twenty-one and was the third daughter and fifth child of John CROWLEY 1775-1833 and his wife, Jane Charlotte, nee BRYANT 1796-1869.

Eliza's maternal grandmother, Jane ISON/LLOYD 1770-1823, had arrived at Sydney on the ship "Surprize" in 1794 and found a husband in William BRYANT 1776-1857, who had arrived on the ship "Pitt" in 1792. Jane Charlotte, born on 17 May 1796, was the first of two daughters born to them. In 1800 Jane ISON had married William EATON, and in 1804 they had taken up farming on a block of land near the confluence of Grose and Nepean Rivers near North Richmond. There Eliza had spent her childhood. Eliza's father, John CROWLEY, born at Millbrook in England, arrived in the colony in 1803 on the ship "Glatton", and married Jane Charlotte on 4 March 1811 when she was nearly fifteen. From 1820 they had farmed a grant of land on the Grose River adjoining the farm of William EATON. Eliza had been born on 30 August 1822 and the farm had been her childhood home.

The children of Thomas EATHER 1824-1909 and Eliza CROWLEY 1822-1897
John William EATHER 1845 ? 1915 married Harriet CLARK 1849-1928
Mary Jane EATHER 1847 ? 1847
Peter M EATHER 1849 ? 1851
Jane Charlotte EATHER 1851 ? 1897 married Samuel PARTRIDGE 1850-1928
Alexander George EATHER 1859 ? 1859
Sarah Elizabeth EATHER 1861-1923 married Ashton CLARK 1844-1925