Conclusions

A number of conclusions can be drawn from the research of James Morgan, Polly Rubery, and Leon Pitman. They are:

(1)

Our Thomas Morgan who came to America (Thomas Morgan III) gave his age as 20 in the 1841 census (taken two years before his marriage to Ann Watkins) and as 30 in the 1851 census. When Thomas left Liverpool for America on the ship Siddons on Feb. 27, 1855 he reported his age (to the Emigration Office of the LDS church in Liverpool) as 34. In the 1880 census in America Thomas listed his age as 60. So until the age of 60 he himself consistently indicated his birth date to be 1821. Thomas' younger brother Joseph was listed as living with the Thomas and Ann Morgan family in the 1851 census. They reported Thomas' age as 30 and Joseph's age as 28. Joseph's stated age agrees with his baptism which was recorded in 1823. Therefore Thomas indicates in this census that he knew he was two years older than Joseph, whose baptism date is documented. So, while we have no document to provide definitive proof of when Thomas was born, his own statements and other evidence, such as cited above, indicate Thomas was born in 1821. We can now have the year 1821 inscribed into his tombstone at the Shelton Cemetery in Idaho.

(2)

Thomas Morgan was not given the middle name William at birth. None of the primary documents from early in his life contain the name William or the initial "W." The middle name William was added to his name after his death, probably by someone in the downline of his son William Thomas. The fact that he named one of his sons William and had an older brother named William may have contributed to the confusion.

(3)

Thomas Morgan's father did not participate in the Battle of Waterloo, was not wounded during his army service, and returned home from his army service five years before Thomas was born. Thomas Morgan III (our Thomas Morgan who came to America) could not have remembered his father coming home from the Battle of Waterloo.

(4)

Thomas Morgan III's wife Ann Watkins was not given the name Ollen at birth. None of the primary documents from early in Ann's life contain the name Ollen. However, her mother's maiden name was Holland. The fact that Thomas and Ann's youngest son James John named a daughter Ollen suggests that Ann may have used some form of this name, or that an altered form of the name Holland found its way into the family history records and James John adopted it as a name for his daughter. The origin of the name Ollen is probably explained by the way it is pronounced in England, dropping the "H" at the beginning and the "d" at the end. An American hearing an Englishman say "Holland" could very easily hear "Ollen." Such changes in names are common through the passage of time.

(5)

In 1851 Thomas and Ann Watkins Morgan, their three children (Edward, Elizabeth and Eliza) and Thomas' younger brother Joseph were living together. Thomas converted to the Mormon Church in 1851 and Ann converted in 1852. On 15th Feb 1853, Joseph and Edward boarded the ship Elvira Owens in Liverpool and set sail for America. Joseph had just turned 30 years old and Edward was three months short of ten years old. They made the voyage to America in the company of John and Jane Weaver and Jane's sister Hannah, whom they may have known before they left since they were all residents of the same village in Herefordshire. They went through customs together in New Orleans and boarded a steamboat to Keakuk, Iowa. Joseph and Edward then traveled to Utah in a Joseph W. Young wagon train about a week ahead of the Weaver family but they all settled close together in Kaysville, Utah, and Joseph later married Hannah Weaver. On 27th February 1855, Thomas and Ann Morgan, and the other three children, Elizabeth, Eliza, and Priscilla (Priscilla was born in 1854, after Joseph and Edward left), boarded the wooden ship Siddons in Liverpool, sailed to America, and traveled to Utah with a Milo Andrus wagon train. The family members were reunited in Kaysville, Utah, in October, 1855.

Some descendants later felt this journey was an abandonment of the 9 year old Edward by his father. But it was not uncommon for Mormon emigrants of the time to send children ahead with other families or other family members. In James Morgan's family both the mother's side (Finn) and father's side (Morgan) joined the Mormon Church in England, came to America on wooden sailing ships and thence to Utah with wagon trains, and both families sent children ahead with others. In Herefordshire in 1851 Edward would have been working in the fields long before his 9th birthday, working hard at such tasks as weeding crops, carrying stones from the fields to repair roads, tending animals, and processing produce during the harvests. There was no "official" school in Herefordshire as education was not considered to be important for the laboring class. Edward's life in Herefordshire would have been hard and dreary with little opportunity for friendship with other children. He and his uncle Joseph were living in the same household, were likely working together in the fields, and may have been close. It is very possible that Edward wanted to go on a great adventure to America with his uncle and also that Thomas, who was himself orphaned at this age, felt Edward was old enough to travel with his uncle. Edward traveled with his uncle Joseph and the Weaver family and there are indications Jane Weaver may have looked after him. He was reunited with his family in America a little over two years later, spent his life close to his father, and is buried close to his father in the Shelton Cemetery. While there were hardships for everyone at the time, there is no evidence in the records to support the contention that Edward was in any way abandoned or abused by his father.

Thomas and Ann Morgan in Herefordshire page 12

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