Welcome
to the Morgan (Cwmbran) website
___________________
For many
years a number of family member's have been searching for any relevant
information about Penry Morgan and Elizabeth Thomas (Nana and Dada
Morgan) such as their birth and marriage dates.
There have
been a number of false trails followed as with most families researching
their family history but information was obtained and retained in case
it became useful at a later time.
From a number
of birth certificates that have been obtained of their children, 22 in
total although only 16 survived, we know, at least thought we knew Nana
Morgan's maiden name which was Thomas
Records were
obtained of a marriage between a Pendry Morgan and a Elizabeth
Brigs at Pontypool on October 17, 1882. Although Pendry could be
Penry we knew from the birth certificates of their children that
Elizabeth's maiden name was Thomas and so that this was not their
marriage. This marriage certificate also gives the ages of Pendry as 21
and Elizabeth as 19.
Click here
Another
document that was looked into was the 1881 census for the Cwmbran area
and in this, one family in particular was looked at closely. These were
the Thomas's living at 26, Springvale, Upper Llanfrechva and consisted
of.....
Henry Thomas
widower aged born Newbridge, Glamorgan
Elizabeth
Thomas Daughter age 16
born Cardiff, Glamorgan
Henry
Thomas Son
age 14 born Cardiff, Glamorgan
Phillip
Thomas Son
age 10 born Cardiff, Glamorgan
Rhoda Thomas
Daughter age 8,
born Cardiff, Glamorgan
Mary Smith
married age 47
born Ireland
Hannah Lundy
age 16 born Cardiff,
Glamorgan
It is also
known that Elizabeth Thomas did have a brother named Harry (Henry) who
was a merchant seaman and was possibly an officer of some kind.
Click here
A birth
certificate was obtained for a Pendry Morgan who was born on February 2,
1861. His mother's name was Jermima Morgan and he was born in the Union
Workhouse, Pontypool now the Panteg Hospital at Griffithstown.
Click here
The
information about the dates of marriage, births from the above documents
tallied with the dates that we expected to find about our Penry and
Elizabeth but unfortunately we were unable to link these other people to
ours. The birth certificate for Pendry gives his mother's name as
Jermima and that name is the name that Nana and Dada gave to their first
child. Another document, the 1891 census where our family is now listed
gives the place of birth for Elizabeth Morgan (nee Thomas) as
Portsmouth, a considerable distance from where our family are now living
Click here
As said
earlier a number of birth certificate's were obtained. These were
Frances, Ernest, Philip, Arthur, Penry and Ethel's and the mother on
these certificate's gave her maiden name as Thomas. In the last year
another member of the family has been contacted. His name is Allen
Morgan and he has his father's George's birth certificate. This now
gives his mother's maiden name as Briggs and a check on George's twin
brother James birth certificate gives the same maiden name. James died
at a very early age.
Click here
The birth
certificate of Catherine Morgan was obtained and this also gave the
mother's maiden name as Briggs. The situation was getting confusing.
Click here
The
Breakthrough
The
breakthrough came when Maud's birth certificate was obtained. On this
certificate the person that registered the birth was Henry Thomas,
grandfather, present at birth. We now knew who Elizabeth Morgan's father
was and this tied in with the family that we had been looking at in the
1881 census.
Click here
As can
be seen in the 1881 census above, Nana Morgan if this was her family,
had a sister Rhoda Sarah Thomas and so, Wendy Conroy (nee McGuire)
living in Chicago sent for this birth certificate. It answered the
questions that were perplexing us.
It gave
Rhoda's mother's name as Frances Thomas, formerly Briggs, nee Holland
and so the information we had came together. Nana Morgan was born Briggs
but when her mother remarried after the death of her first husband
David Briggs, the children of Briggs started to use their step fathers
surname.
Click here
Frances was
the name Nana and Dada Morgan chose for their second child and she was
my grandmother.
And so the
mystery of the Morgan's marriage and Elizabeth's maiden name has been
solved, we hope!
Nana and Dada
Morgan have left a legacy of many family names that are linked to them
through their children and grandchildren, the Pearsons, Petersons, Sly,
Cameron, Thomas, Morgan, Jones, Worsdell, Meredith, Chaney, Gillard,
McGuire, Purcell, Phillips, Tamplin, Day, the majority still
common names in the Cwmbran area today.
...............
To view a street map
of Cwmbran....
Click
Here
Contact Shaun...
Click Here
You are
the
visitor to my site
|