Hi, This is my first posting to the list.
I would like help to trace the birthplace and date of my maternal
grandfather William MORRIS and then his family. I remember as a child many
references to the Morris family in Abertillery and Newport. Hopefully SKS
will be able to point to areas for further research.
On 24 February 1890, aged 32, William MORRIS married my grandmother
Elizabeth Rosetta BLACKER at Holy Trinity Church in the district of
Nantyglo, Monmouthshire, and gave his occupation as miner.
On the 1891 census he stated he was born in 1858 at Machen, Glamorgan.
Although a search for a birth certificate at the Registry offices at Ystrad
Mynach and Newport produced nothing. I have also looked at Mathern near
Chepstow. I have discovered from the birth certificates of my aunts and
uncles that he lived at;
· Golden Field Terrace, Abertillery. from 1891 Census
· Harrison Houses, Penybont, Cwmtillery in July 1892
· Bryn Morgan Terrace, Cwmtillery 5 October 1901
· Newall Street, Abertillery from 15 July 1903 until his death on 16 October
1941
My grandfather, William MORRIS was a soldier (24th.Foot, South Wales
Borderers and Royal Engineers) as well as a miner.
[Information from the South Wales Borderers and Monmouthshire Regimental
Museum, Brecon:
· William Morris served as 225945 with the Royal Engineers and then as
324659 in the Labour Corps.
· In the Zulu War there was 1590 Pte W H Morris serving in the 2nd
Battalion, 24th. Regiment. He was with Lord Chelmsfords column but not at
Isandhlwana or Rorkes Drift. Promoted to Corporal after the campaign, he
was awarded the campaign medal with clasp 1877-8-9.
· In the Burma 1885-89 campaign, there were two soldiers named William
Morris serving the 2nd Battalion, South Wales Borderers -606 Pte William
Morris, Clasp 1887-89; 818 Pte William Morris, Clasps 1885-87, 1887-89.]
From my childhood memories of his tales of high adventure he also
possibly
served in the Boer War, and on the North West Frontier of India. During
his
service in the Great War he would have been 60 years old.
On his wedding certificate his father (my great-grand father) is given as
Thomas Morris, plate-layer. My great-grandmother is said to have worked at
or been the licensee of the Royal Oak, Chepstow Road, Newport at some time
in the period 1890 - 1920. I do not have a name for my great-grandmother,
although from the LDS Vital Records cd I have discovered the marriage of
Thomas Morris to Leah Boner on 26 December 1836, recorded in Trevethin,
Monmouth.(could this be the great grand parents)
Other family members remembered by my cousins are possible sisters or aunts
of my grandfather, Irene and Mary Morris (who visited Newall Street around
1926 - 33; they were then very sprightly despite being in their nineties and
always wore wide-brimmed straw hats and black taffeta costumes). They died
in the nineteen thirties aged 95 & 96, therefore born 1830 -1840.
My maternal grandmother Elizabeth Rosetta Blacker was born 12 October
1869,(at 46 High Street, Mountain Ash, Llanwonno Parish, sub-district of
Pontypridd, Glamorgan); my grand-mothers family originated in Clutton,
Somerset. My great-grand-father, George BLACKER was a miner, born in
Clutton, married Margaret BLACKER, also from Clutton and from the 1871
census lived in Mountain Ash and had many family connections in Cwmtillery.
Although I can trace the Blacker family in Somerset to 1750, through the
line to Margaret Blacker the family connection to George Blacker is not easy
to determine.
Apologies for the length of this submission but this search for the only
grandparent I knew well and who developed my imagination as a child has had
many false trails and the above is all the positive information that I have
been able to find.
Many thanks in anticipation.
Iorwerth