CLANN
MORGAINN Editor: David Morgan, 11 Arden Drive, Dorridge, Solihull, West MidlandsUK B93 8LP
Phone and Fax: +44 (0)1564 774020
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Morgan Hall, Fairford St. John the Baptist, All Saints, Newland
Ruardean
Volume 10 Issue 2Spring 2006
Morgans in Gloucestershire
The Annual General Meeting of The Morgan Society is to be held in the Speech House Hotel, Coleford, Forest of Dean on Saturday 20th May comm. 10.00 am which will give us a chance to study the proliferation of Morgans in Gloucestershire.
The Norman conqueror of Glamorgan and South Wales was Robert Fitzhamon, Lord of Gloucester, and a cousin of William the Conqueror. He married Sybil, daughter of Robert of Montgomery, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury and his Estates became known as the Earldom of Gloucester ands Glamorgan, the first Earl being Robert, the first illegitimate son of King Henry I.
The proximity of Gloucestershire to Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, meant the obvious development of Morgan Families in Gloucestershire, and the only mention of Morgan in the Domesday Book relates to some Morgan land in Westbury on Severn.
The Morgans of Tredegar House, Newport developed strong connections through King Henry II who called an illegitimate son Morgan, later Provost of Beverley in Yorkshire, although the Earldom passed to the De Clare Family. Morgans expanded in Newland and Fairford where thre was a Morgan House, but the earliest Parish Register records were recorded in Ruardean.
Sir Thomas Morgan of Kinnersley Castle, Herefordshire was for a time, Governor of Gloucester and the development of iron and coal working in the Forest of Dean saw many Morgans involved. Some are still working coal today.
Bristol – there - but not very shipshape
One of the most remarkable gaps in genealogical study in the UK is the Absence of Bristol Parish Register information, which is sad indeed for South Wales and the Morgans of the West Country.
Only 3 out of 21 Parishes have information on the invaluable IGI, and the information is of very early entries only. The Parish Registers are held by the Bristol Record Office, but that means all research has to be done by personal visitation, a bit expensive if you live in America or Australia.
Bristol was a natural move for Welsh Morgans from Glamorgan and Monmouthshire but little is known of these migrants, nor indeed of their moves to emigrate. There are of course, other sources of information such as Census Records or Wills, but these are of later vintage and there is nothing to compare with listings from Parish Registers in chronological order to aid family research.
Thins may be happened to ease this problem but at the moment it is so frustrating to realise that such a big city is actually hindering full research.
245,000,000 Morgan Internet References
Yes, it is hard to believe, but there are now 245 million Morgan References in the Google Search Engine for the Internet.
The range is extraordinary- from a Chinese Artist on the Chinese mainland named Morgan to the Morgan Stanley Bank; Morgan Motor Cars; Morgan Horses; Morgan Computers; Morgan fashion from France; film stars; astronauts; Morgan Wines – just name something and you will find a Morgan version – but it may take a week on your computer.
But how about Morgan de Toi perfumes for men and women: the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York; the Captain Morgan Rum Co.; Morgan Creek Golf; the Morgan Street Brewery in Saint Louis, and you have only got to page 6.
Then baseball star Joe Morgan is followed by Professor John Morgan; Leah Morgan for music; Astronaut Barbara Morgan; Julia Morgan, Architect; Morgan’s Rock Hacienda in Nicaragua and you have staggered to page 12.
Darragh Morgan, violinist is followed by Tom Morgan’s jazz books; Dr. Siobhan M. Morgan’s astronomy pages; Mount Morgan in Queensland, Australia; David Morgan, photographer; Morgan City, Louisiana and there are still 245,000,000 more entries to search. So don’t just sit there, put your reading glasses on and go for it !
An unusual Morgan
When listing Gloucestershire-born Morgans recently, the name FRYDESWIDE MORGAN stood out as one of the most unusual names I have ever seen. Christened at Fairford on 11 Feb 1749, daughter of Charles Morgan and Elizabeth, she was revealed as perhaps our most unusual Christian name. Regrettably she died young on 2 June 1751, but perhaps she was named after Saint Frideswide (c650-19 Oct 735) daughter of King Dian and Safrida, who founded a church near Oxford. This Saint was buried in her monastery the present-day site of ChristChurch Cathedral and she is the Patron Saint of Oxford.
The Morgans of Fairford were a branch of the Morgans of Tredegar House. Charles died 1754 but had Robert Morgan – Charles Tyrell Morgan, a barrister in London who married a daughter of John Raymond, and four un-named daughters of whom Frydeswide must have been one.
The family group stemmed from the Morgans of Bassalleg, direct descendants of the main line of Morgan of Machen and Tredegar. Perhaps further research in Gloucestershire records will reveal the names of the other three daughters.
Pensioner Fleeced of £280,000
John Morgan, an ex-policeman who funded an extravagant lifestyle by conning an 89 year-old pensioner out of nearly £280,000 was jailed for four years at Basildon Crown Court on 11 April.
It is not a happy story to learn that in investigating allegations that “cowboy builders” were ripping off Joan Harpin by pretending that repairs were needed to her house in Palmers Green, North London, Morgan befreiended the pensioner but instead of helping her, he spent the nerxt three years systematically defrauding her by stealing her savings and selling her home.
When Miss Harpin went into hospital after suffering a stroke, 48 year-old Morgan of Frinton on Sea, Essex persuaded her to give him a power-of-attorney to look after her assets, but instead, he sold the house, bought a Rolex watch worth £2,350; high-powered cars, including a £26,000 Audi TT; and £18,000 Saab convertible; paid off a £10,000 credit card debt and had lavish holidays.
He gave her a lot of papers to sign, forged her signature, and further managed to buy two VW Golf GTi’s, a Land Rover, a computer and a gym membership, so that by May 2004, the pensioner had just £6,000 left.
The Detectives who led the investigation said that Morgan was “evil, motivated by greed”. His wife Eunice was also charged with a string of offences, but was cleared last month after a Judge rules there was insufficient evidence against her.
Thankfully not all Morgans behave like this, but do take note, and sign nothing until you consult a Solicitor or the Citizens Advice Bureau.
Captain Morgan and Jagielka
Sheffield United Football Club captain Chris Morgan and Phil Jagienka are friends again after a minor outbreak of road rage over the New Year Period.
Neither was very happy after Jagielka crashed his car into the gate at Morgan’s house. Morgan said “Jags owes me one because he ran into my gatepost when he picked me up to go to Southampton. He was upset because he thought I was more worried about my gate than his car.”
Fortunately, they were more profitably involved when Morgan headed in a stoppage-time winning goal from a Jagielka cross when they beat StokeCity 2 – 1 a week later. There are not many professional footballers in the UK named Morgan – or indeed Jagielka !
Genealogy on the Internet
The major UK Genealogical Federation, the Federation of Family history Societies, is conducting a Survey among affiliated Societies regarding future developments.
The astonishing developments on the Internet which started with now includes easy access to all Registration details by means of – and also details of the 1881 Census and the 1901 Census. The Federation itself has produced a fee-paying service that seems to be the way forward.
The National Burial Index on CD-ROM is always being up-dated and is almost certain to be made available on the Net in due course.
It seems that 1837online have purchased the National Archives files, and several American TV Companies seem intent on buying everything they can lay their hands on, using Ancestry.com as the main access address.
Stuart A. Raymond has written several books published by the Federation, listing pretty well everything on the Internet that will help researchers, although things change so quickly that these addresses soon become dated.
It is obvious that Family History Societies will not give up their information cheaply, but does this sound the death knell of all those amateur researchers who have compiled so much information for free over the years ? The Glamorgan FHS for example, has a vast amount of available information, which they have been putting on disc. Will they now be forced to put it on the Internet, plus all the other UK Counties ?
Clann Morgainn by E-mail
It is no longer economic to produce a paper “Clan Morgainn” even twice a year because of the cost of printing and postage so for the time being it is to be distributed by E-mail attachment. It is therefore imperative that you advise the Society Secretary of an e-mail address, either your own, or of someone else who will accept it on your behalf. As it is, we have now to print copies for a few members, plus the compulsory Libraries and the Media and other Journals who often give us good publicity. May I also ask these recipients to co-operate in this matter by providing a suitable e-mail address. Thanks in advance for your kind co-operation.
Could we cope with a DNA Project ?
More and more Family Groups are making a determined effort to develop the “new genealogy” of DNA testing and asking all family members to co-operate in the hope they can find more family members.
But could the new technique be used by a One-Name Society such as ours ? After all, we are the largest group affiliated to the Guild of One-Name Studies but will all Morgans throughout the world wish to take a DNA Test costing anything from £52 to £200 in an effort to trace relatives ?
Perhaps the State is going to insist on everyone giving a compulsory sample ? At present DNA is tested for criminal evidence and for Paternity suits, but will we be forced to take a test for identification purposes – a short step from the introduction of expensive Identity Cards.
And what would happen if the DNA tests reveal an incurable family genetic weakness ? Should all tests be done by busy Doctors or can we rely on self-testing ? Anyone can have my DNA for £100, any time. !
DNA Genealogy starts by joining a Test Group and giving samples to test the Y chromosome for men with the same surname. Early on there were two different tests – one fo 12 markers and one for 21 markers of similarity. Now the norm is a test for 37 markers from Males.
Whatever the questions, the fact is that a growing number of Families are now resorting to desperate measure because the official and/or church paper-work is just not available to prove a family line, and never will be.
So do we start a Morgan DNA Project ? Who would control the information if we did ?
Beam me up Scottie !
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