Rose Hannah Morgan (Week 4 - MMMFM)

[Merry]

Name - "official" name and what they were known as

Rose Hannah or Roseanna (etc etc) Morgan

Date and place of birth

About 1790 at Shiplake, Oxfordshire

Names of parents

William Morgan (labourer) and unknown

Date and place of baptism - if applicable

Unknown

Details of each of his or her marriages - if any

1) 21st July 1811 at St Peter's, Caversham, Oxfordshire to John Wells, labourer (my 3xg-gf)

2) 11th Nov 1849 at St Mary's, Reading, Berkshire to John Harris, brewer

Occupation(s) - if any

None

Addresses where they lived (including county if in UK) - and please list which censuses you have or haven't found him/her on (if s/he lived in census times!).

1841: Warren Place, Reading, Berkshire

1851: 2 Early Yard, Reading, Berkshire

1861: 89 Chatham Street, Reading, Berkshire

Date, place and cause of death

9th March 1862 at 89 Chatham Street, Reading, Berkshire of apoplexy (11 days)

Date and place of burial.

Unknown

Details of will / administration of their estate - if applicable

Not likely

Memorial inscription - if any

Unknown

[Jill]

This looks like her burial at St Peter Caversham (though the age is a bit out), Roseanna Harris age 75 bur 16 Mar 1862 abode St Mary, Reading.

[Merry]

Thanks very much, Jill. Perhaps she was buried with her first husband as he was interred there about 20 years earlier.

[kiterunner]

Do you have the names of the witnesses from her marriages, particularly the first one?

[Merry]

I got the first marriage from a CD of PR transcripts sold by the Oxon FHS. Sadly, there are no details of any marriage witnesses for the time period in question.

The witnesses to the second marriage are Thomas and Rebecca Allaway. Rebecca was Rose Hannah's daughter and Thomas was Rebecca's husband.

[Merry]

Oooh, I've just found that all the marriages are listed twice on the CD! The first time they give all the info except the witnesses and the second time all the same info again, with the witnesses!

So, they are Richard Titcomb(e) and James Swain. James Swain is a serial witness.

[Merry]

This is the only ref to anyone called Titcomb(e) in the whole of the Caversham PRs up to 1890 (I just checked all the indexes)

[kiterunner]

Hmm, there aren't many Richard Titcomb(e)s around, but on the 1851 census there is one in Reading who is age 66 born Cholsey Berks, with a wife Jane also 66 born Oxon Binfield. And Wikipedia says there is a village called Binfield Heath in the civil parish of Shiplake! Do you think Jane could be Rose Hannah's sister?

(Edit - if you want to find those Titcombs in 1841 ancestry has them as Witcomb.)

[kiterunner]

Bother, I found their marriage on the pilot site and she was Jane Sexton and they got married in 1814, years after Rose Hannah's wedding, anyway!

[Merry]

Thanks for trying Kate. It's really annoying when you feel certain something is going to turn out to be connected, but it doesn't!

[Merry]

Oooh, there's a marriage for a William Morgan in Caversham two years before Rose Hannah's supposed birth date......

21st July 1788

William Morgan (his mark), widower, of Shiplake and Elizabeth Perryn (her mark), widow, OTP. Witnessed by John Pearson and William Wright (Wm Wright is a serial witness)

Surely they must be RH's parents?

There is a marriage of a Thomas Perryn (b) to an Elizabeth Rivers (sp), but it's back in 1767.

Hmmm......there is a burial for a Thomas Perryn in June 1781......

Drat, there's no Elizabeth Rivers baptism.

There are baps for children of Thomas and Elizabeth Perryn from 1768 to 1780. Then a bap for a James Perryn son of Elizabeth (no father) in 1785. After her name there's an abbreviation - PX - I can't think what that could stand for?

[kiterunner]

1785 would be at the time when they had to pay a duty for each baptism, burial or marriage, so the P could mean she was too poor to pay it?

[Merry]

That's possible, though over about five years hers is the only one. I will have to see if I can find a key to the abreviations somewhere.

[Merry]

Hmmm......I just looked at burials in Shiplake. There are entries for a William and an Elizabeth, but if their ages are correct then they are borderline too old (or she is).

1831 Elizabeth Morgan aged 88 (so b abt 1743)

1816 William Morgan aged 78 (so b abt 1738)

It does potentially fit I guess.

Eliz b 1743 married the first time aged 24 and has these children, bap in Caversham:

Mary bap 2nd Oct 1767 poss burial 28th Jan 1770
Thomas bap 6th May 1770
William bap 5th April 1772
Robert bap 26th Jan 1774
Anne bap 31st March 1776
John bap 7th June 1778
Mary bap 27th Aug 1780

She is then widowed aged 38, has another child aged 42 who is bap in Caversham

James bap 2nd Jan 1785

Remarries aged 45 (thinking she won't have more children??!) and then aged 48, has another child, Rose Hannah, in Shiplake.

I guess there's a chance by the time Elizabeth reached her 80s she started to gain years more quickly (!) so had she married the first time aged 21ish then the chances of a late baby aged about 45 is probably more likely than 48. Or, maybe Rose Hannah was born slightly earlier than I think, or both!

Another option is a burial for an Elizabeth Morgan in 1789 in Shiplake (no age).

Now, how to go about trying to either eliminate these people or prove they are Rose Hannah's parents/relatives?......

First off, I don't know that I want to spend £17.50 for the transcripts of the PRs for Shiplake to (hopefully) see Rose Hannah's baptism. :( Why is everything to do with Oxfordshire so expensive?

[kiterunner]

I don't suppose there's an Oxfordshire Will Index?

[Merry]

I'm not sure. I've not found one.

[Merry]

It seems there's an index on British Origins (or whatever it's called now)