>1850 Lancaster family of Thomas Morris (aka Morrissey or Morrison)and Catherine Mitchell

+2 votes
186 views

The Morris (aka Morrissey & Morrison)) family appears on the census records up until 1911 (Lancaster) thereafter I can find no trace of any of them.

Parents: Thomas Morris/Morrissey and Catherine (Mitchell).

Children: Michael P Morris, Thomas Morris, Maria Morris, James E Morris, Mary Ellen Morris, Joseph Albert Morris and Charles Sidney Morris

Looking for the birth registrations for the parents and further details and descendants of all the children.

My grandfather was Joseph Albert Morrison/Morris born April 1893 in Warrington, Rixton, Poulton, Lancaster.  He left the UK after being honorably discharged from the army after serving in WW1.  He was living in the Borough of Leigh at that time but then moved to South Africa (date unknown) and died in Welkom, South Africa in 1954.

I have no further details of any of the other family members and have been searching with no luck so far.

Please can someone help with this - it really would be greatly appreciated?

Thank you.

in Genealogy Help by Tracey Morris G2G Crew (520 points)
retagged by Susie MacLeod

2 Answers

+4 votes
Hi Tracey.

I have added sources with clickable links for the censuses of 1881-1911 to the profiles of Thomas and Catherine, to make it easier for anyone who may wish to help with this to satisfy themselves as to the accuracy of what has been put together about them so far.  I was uncertain for some time as to whether the censuses of 1881-1891 were the same family as those of 1901-1911, because of the change in the birthplaces and in the parents' ages between 1881 and 1891; but having looked at birth registrations and looked in vain for alternative matches for the family in 1881, I think you had the right 1881 and 1891 censuses in your FamilySearch tree.

I have added to both profiles details of the 1871 marriage which appears to be the only plausible match for this couple, which you also had already attached on the FamilySearch tree.

I have altered the birth years of Thomas and Catherine to conform to the earliest census they are together in - the 1881.  Their ages there are consistent with an 1871 marriage, which the ages in the 1891 census are not.

If you are unhappy with what I've done, there is an Undo button in the Changes tab and you can easily restore the profiles to how they were.

I also think the 1861 and 1871 censuses you have listed on Thomas' profile are not the right person.  They would make him 15 when he married in 1871, which was technically legal but it would have been extremely unusual to marry so young then.  I propose that this is Thomas and Catherine in 1871: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VBNK-LRM - they are living in the town where the older children were said in 1881 to have been born, and Thomas is a boarder with Catherine's family.

This looks like the same family in 1861 (split over 2 pages):

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M746-JYT & https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M746-JYG

The corresponding birth registration is for Catherine Mitchell, mother's maiden name Burke, first quarter of 1853 in Warrington district.

I hope some of that is helpful.  Thomas' birth registration would be Ireland, and I'm not as familiar with the records there, but irishgenealogy.ie may be a useful website for finding it.
by Corinne Morris G2G6 Mach 2 (25.8k points)
edited by Corinne Morris
Corinne Morris, you are an absolute STAR !!

Thank you so very much for your help, really, really appreciated!!

By any chance are you able to get me an image of Catherine's birth registration?

With your help I can now get a bit further with my research.
+2 votes
by Jerry Turner G2G Rookie (260 points)

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