If bearing 13 children doesn't qualify Emma as a tough woman, wait until you hear the rest of her story. In 1878, her husband died at the age of 48. Suddenly, she was a widow with 5 children under the age of 10! By the 1881 census, Emma's first as a widow and head of the household, her mother-in-law had moved in, her 19-yr-old daughter was still at home as a "scholar", as were the 5 youngest children, and her older sons seemed... reluctant to move out. The house at 225 High Street, Mile Town had 13 inhabitants! At least her 4 older boys were gainfully employed at the Dockyard, so Emma wasn't trying to support everyone on her dressmakers' earnings.
In the early 1900s, Emma's hearing started to fail. By the time she was 75, she was officially "deaf" and she had (finally) retired from dressmaking. Of her 11 children, 6 were unmarried and still living with her in a 6-room house at 4 Oakley Terrace in Sheerness.
Emma lived to be 77. Not very old, by today's standards, but quite a respectable age back then. She is one of the many Tuckers and Brisleys buried at Halfway Cemetary in Sheerness. When I finally make my way over to England and Scotland for a genealogy research trip, I shall be sure to stop by and pay my respects to a woman who was surely one of the tougher ancestors in my tree.