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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.
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.
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.
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 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. The birth certificate of Catherine Morgan was obtained and this also gave the mother's maiden name as Briggs. The situation was getting confusing.
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. 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. 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. ...............
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