Isaac CROSBY had at least 19 children

From Fanny J. Crosby, "Memories of Eighty Years" (James H. Earle & Company, Boston: 1906), p. 2 #21 http://www.disabilitymuseum.org/lib/docs/1653.htm?page=2#21 Disability History Museum, www.disabilitymuseum.org,

"My great-grandfather, Isaac Crosby, was noted for his wit. While in the Revolutionary War, wishing a furlough that he might visit his home to see a child born during his absence, he told his general that he had nineteen children at home and had never seen one of them. Of course his request was granted. He was the son of Eleazer Crosby and Patience Freeman, the grand-daughter of Elder William Brewster; and through Zachariah Paddock, another ancestor on my mother's side, we are also descended from Thomas Prence and Major John Freeman." (Fanny's mother's maiden name was CROSBY.)

If Isaac's wife was still of childbearing age following the incident related above, it is possible that he had even more children than nineteen. One problem with this recollection is that no Isaac CROSBY is listed in the Dutchess County revolutionary war militia records in print. Perhaps it was another conflict?

Isaac CROSBY's last marriage

The Settlers of the Beekman Patent, Dutchess County, New York by Frank J. Doherty, 2:357-358, states that Thankful BANGS, widow of Samuel BANGS, was married after Samuel's death to "Isaac Crosby 11 Nov. 1799 at South East. They were both reported by the newspaper to be over 80 years of age. Thankful Crosby, wife of Isaac d. 19 Feb. 1815 in 87th year. Isaac Crosby died 17 Feb. 1815 in 97thyear. [MDDC 3, OGPC 329]." See http://www.newenglandancestors.org/research/database/beekman/default.asp?file=RESEARCH\DATABASE\BEEKMAN\CONTENT\VOL.02.358.HTM

MDDC = Notices of Marriages and Deaths Published in Newspapers printed at Poughkeepsie, New York 1778-1825 in Volume IV of the Collections of the Dutchess County Historical Society

OGPC = Old Gravestones of Putnam Co. NY. By BarbaraSmith Buys, Gateway Press 1975

If Isaac really had 19 children, he probably had at least one other wife, whose name is unknown, between Mercy FOSTER and his marriage to Mrs. Thankful BANGS in 1799.