Morgan John Thomas


Morgan John Thomas was born about 1843[4] in Merthyr Tydfel, Glamorgan, Wales. The name 'Morgan John' is given him by his grandniece, Blodwyn (Miles) Morgan, but it does not appear on the census records and we do not have his birth, marriage or death records.

The Two Families of Morgan Thomas

Morgan was married twice. By his first wife he had at least two children.

Children of Morgan John Thomas and his first wife Margaret Vaughan[1]

Name Date of birth Date/Place of Birth Married to Date of Death Place of Death
Morgan John[1,4] About 1866[4] Mountain Ash,  Glamorgan[4]


Lucy Ann(e)
 About 1868[4] Mountain Ash,  Glamorgan[1,4] Edmund Miles
 26 February 1930
  Mountain Ash
Note: Morgan John is remembered by that name by Blodwyn, his grandniece; in the census he is identified as 'John M' (1871) and 'John' (1881). There is a 'Morgan J' registered in Pontypridd in June 1866.

Children of Morgan John Thomas and his second wife Ann Miles[1]

Name Date of birth Date/Place of Birth Married to Date of Death Place of Death
Thomas About 1874[4] Mountain Ash,  Glamorgan[4]


Llewellyn
 About 1876[4] Mountain Ash,  Glamorgan[4]
Q1, 1882?[2] Pontypridd (Llanwanno?)
Mary Ann
 About 1879[4] Mountain Ash,  Glamorgan[4]



Census Records

It is next to impossible to find Morgan in the 1851 and 1861 census records without more information on the family. There are many people of this name and about the same age in Merthyr at this time. With the family knowledge provided by Blodwyn we can easily find the 1871 and 1881 census records which appear below.

1871

census 1871
census 1871
1871 census. The David Vaughan who is a lodger might well be a brother of Margaret Vaughan, Morgan's wife.


1881

20 Mount Pleasant Terrace

Household:

 Name  Relation Marital Status Gender Age Birthplace Occupation Disability
 Morgan THOMAS   Head   M   Male   38   Merthyr T, Glamorgan, Wales   Coal Miner    
 Ann THOMAS   Wife   M   Female   29   New Tredegar, Monmouth, England       
 John THOMAS   Son      Male   14   Llanwonno, Glamorgan, Wales   Coal Miner    
 Lucy THOMAS   Daur      Female   12   Llanwonno, Glamorgan, Wales   Scholar    
 Thomas THOMAS   Son      Male   7   Llanwonno, Glamorgan, Wales   Scholar    
 Llewellyn THOMAS   Son      Male   5   Llanwonno, Glamorgan, Wales   Scholar    
 Mary Ann THOMAS   Daur      Female   2   Llanwonno, Glamorgan, Wales       

We have so far been unable to locate the census records beyond this time for Morgan, Ann or the children other than Lucy.

Notes:

1. We need to obtain a copy of the birth registration for Morgan Thomas. this might not be as easy as one would hope. Morgan was 38 at the time of the 1881 census. That would hopefully mean that he was born between April 3 1842 and April 2 1843.  The FreeBMD site shows the following numbers of persons of name 'Morgan Thomas' born in Merthyr in that period:
Q2 1842   1
Q3 1842   1
Q4 1842   4
Q1 1843   1
Q1 1843   1
creating a  least 8 possibilities for our Thomas. Without some additional information we may not be able to determine which is ours.

2. We need to obtain a copy of a marriage registrations for Morgan Thomas. Blodwyn (Miles) Morgan, his granddaughter states that he was married first to Margaret Vaughan and then to Mary Miles. However the 1881 census show Thomas married to an Ann. We find (FreeBMD) a marriage of a Morgan Thomas to an Ann Miles in Q2 1873 in Mertyr Tydfil and it seems likely that this is the second marriage (and that Blodwyn had stated the first name incorrectly).  We note that Ann Miles was the sister of Edmund Miles who married Lucy Ann Thomas, the daughter of  this Morgan John Thomas, by which Lucy's father became her brother-in-law and Emund's wife became his sister-in-law. Blodwyn in her biographical notes discusses some of this.

3. We need to obtain census records for Morgan Thomas households (family members) in 1851, 1861, and 1901

Sources

[1] Notes of Blodwyn (Miles) Morgan
[2]  FreeBMD website. This website gives online access to the birth, marriage and death registrations in the U.K. These registrations are indexed by quarter from 1837 onwards. Not all records yet appear on the site.
[3]  IGI of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (available at http://www.familysearch.org/)
[4] Census of Wales

©Kenneth Scott and others

last modified 27 June 2008