Have been trying all day to figure out where my 2xGGF’s brother Joseph MORRAY / MURY / MORRIS went after 1881 or has he died and if so where and when? His 2nd wife is AWOL as well as is the mystery child Thomas MURY / MORRIS whose birth I cannot find - supposedly c.1850 Cromford, Derbyshire.
Here’s what I know about Joseph.
Born Nantwich, Cheshire 1827 Baptised 19 September 1827 parish of Nantwich to Thomas MORREY (c.1798 - 1871) and Ellen / Eleanor WHITTINGHAM (? - November 1836) who married 1823 St Mary, Acton by Nantwich, Cheshire.
Occupation 1849 labourer; 1851 - 1881 coal miner.
1841 at Wybunbury, Cheshire in the household of his widowed father Thomas and the housekeeper / “wife” Elizabeth MORREY or EDWARDS nee YOXALL (don’t ask, it’s a total nightmare!)
1849 residing Cromford, Derbyshire married the widow Mary EATON nee BRITLAND (1815 - 1881)
1851 at Holmegate Row, Clay Cross, Derbyshire with wife Mary and two children - Hannah born as EATON 1846 and the mystery Thomas born c.1850. Family name for all is MURY
Sometime between 1851 and 1858, Joseph and Mary part company.
1858 marries in Durham, County Durham (venue unknown) as Joseph MORRIS to the widow Hannah JORDAN nee JORDAN native of Gloucestershire born c1818-21. Baptised 12 August 1821 Chapelry of St John, Coleford, parish of Newland, Gloucestershire. Name at baptism Hannah Maria JURDEN.
1861 at Colliery Houses, Sherburn, County Durham as Joseph MORRIS with 2nd wife Hannah and a fair few of her JORDAN children from her first marriage (mistrabscribed as JORDING or FORDING) plus the mystery Thomas MORRIS born Cromford, Derbyshire.
1871 at Inkerman Cottages, Tow Law, County Durham. Family name MORRIS. This time both Joseph and Thomas were born Chester, Cheshire - the only occurrence of this. Also in the house is a 6 year old grandson James MORRIS born Tow Law, County Durham. Cannot find an exact birth match. (see below)
1881 at 34 Grahamsley, Crook, County Durham. Joseph and Hannah are still MORRIS with Joseph shown as born Cheshire but no place. Thomas is not there and the grandson is now 17 and a cosl miner but now with surname JORDAN and born with no county but place as Durham. Weirdly the image shows the name to be written “L Jordan, James”.
That’s the last I can find of any of them, anywhere. Even the JORDAN children who were with Joseph and Hannah in 1861 are missing beyond that year. There is a possible marriage 1868 for Harriet JORDAN to John CORNS in Stockton district.
As for Joseph’s first wife Mary, I have managed to establish that he did indeed leave her and her daughter from her first marriage as I have found the two women up to 1881 and Hannah up to 1891.
The daughter Hannah has had two illegitimate children in the mid 1870’s. In 1877 she marries James SELLORS, a widower twice her age and has a son to him in 1881 named Charles who died in 1899. James SELLORS dies in 1883 and in 1890 Hannah remarries to a bachelor John HARRISON, 17 years her junior.
The two illegitimate children went with her when she married for the first time and the 2nd husband also took them on. They appear in censuses as EATON or HEATON and SELLORS.
The girl marries as SELLORS but she reverses her forenames to Mary Elizabeth and it stays that way till she dies. Unusually in the father’s column of her marriage certificate both step fathers are named but no mention of their actual status. It says James SELLORS (deceased) and above that John HARRISON (labourer). John was one of the witnesses.
The son David is even worse. On his marriage certificate, he also uses the surname SELLORS and names James as his father BUT he is now calling himself George David. Where that came from is anybody’s guess! His bride was a widow called Mary Alice May TAYLOR. Her own name was HEAPPEY. I found a son called Maurice registered in 4Q 1894 as TAYLOR mms HEAPPEY but he had been baptised as HEAPPEY with his parents telling porkies that they were married. They did actually get married later that year. Maurice though was not brought up by his mother after she became Mrs SELLORS but by his HEAPPEY grandparents.
There must have been a very good relationship between Hannah’s two children and their first stepfather James SELLORS as on a later census, George David and Mary Alice May have an elderly man with them called Thomas SELLORS whom George David lists as his uncle. Hannah’s own mother Mary MORRAY / MERREY formerly EATON nee BRITLAND lives out her days with Hannah and her family. She died in Crich, Derbyshire in 1881.
1891 John and Hannah HARRISON are in Crich, Derbyshire but then they vanish as well. Ancestry transcription has everybody in the household as HARRISON but the image is clear. Young Charles is SELLORS and the older pair are HEATON.
All I will say us there must be something odd in the water in Derbyshire
Here’s what I know about Joseph.
Born Nantwich, Cheshire 1827 Baptised 19 September 1827 parish of Nantwich to Thomas MORREY (c.1798 - 1871) and Ellen / Eleanor WHITTINGHAM (? - November 1836) who married 1823 St Mary, Acton by Nantwich, Cheshire.
Occupation 1849 labourer; 1851 - 1881 coal miner.
1841 at Wybunbury, Cheshire in the household of his widowed father Thomas and the housekeeper / “wife” Elizabeth MORREY or EDWARDS nee YOXALL (don’t ask, it’s a total nightmare!)
1849 residing Cromford, Derbyshire married the widow Mary EATON nee BRITLAND (1815 - 1881)
1851 at Holmegate Row, Clay Cross, Derbyshire with wife Mary and two children - Hannah born as EATON 1846 and the mystery Thomas born c.1850. Family name for all is MURY
Sometime between 1851 and 1858, Joseph and Mary part company.
1858 marries in Durham, County Durham (venue unknown) as Joseph MORRIS to the widow Hannah JORDAN nee JORDAN native of Gloucestershire born c1818-21. Baptised 12 August 1821 Chapelry of St John, Coleford, parish of Newland, Gloucestershire. Name at baptism Hannah Maria JURDEN.
1861 at Colliery Houses, Sherburn, County Durham as Joseph MORRIS with 2nd wife Hannah and a fair few of her JORDAN children from her first marriage (mistrabscribed as JORDING or FORDING) plus the mystery Thomas MORRIS born Cromford, Derbyshire.
1871 at Inkerman Cottages, Tow Law, County Durham. Family name MORRIS. This time both Joseph and Thomas were born Chester, Cheshire - the only occurrence of this. Also in the house is a 6 year old grandson James MORRIS born Tow Law, County Durham. Cannot find an exact birth match. (see below)
1881 at 34 Grahamsley, Crook, County Durham. Joseph and Hannah are still MORRIS with Joseph shown as born Cheshire but no place. Thomas is not there and the grandson is now 17 and a cosl miner but now with surname JORDAN and born with no county but place as Durham. Weirdly the image shows the name to be written “L Jordan, James”.
That’s the last I can find of any of them, anywhere. Even the JORDAN children who were with Joseph and Hannah in 1861 are missing beyond that year. There is a possible marriage 1868 for Harriet JORDAN to John CORNS in Stockton district.
As for Joseph’s first wife Mary, I have managed to establish that he did indeed leave her and her daughter from her first marriage as I have found the two women up to 1881 and Hannah up to 1891.
The daughter Hannah has had two illegitimate children in the mid 1870’s. In 1877 she marries James SELLORS, a widower twice her age and has a son to him in 1881 named Charles who died in 1899. James SELLORS dies in 1883 and in 1890 Hannah remarries to a bachelor John HARRISON, 17 years her junior.
The two illegitimate children went with her when she married for the first time and the 2nd husband also took them on. They appear in censuses as EATON or HEATON and SELLORS.
The girl marries as SELLORS but she reverses her forenames to Mary Elizabeth and it stays that way till she dies. Unusually in the father’s column of her marriage certificate both step fathers are named but no mention of their actual status. It says James SELLORS (deceased) and above that John HARRISON (labourer). John was one of the witnesses.
The son David is even worse. On his marriage certificate, he also uses the surname SELLORS and names James as his father BUT he is now calling himself George David. Where that came from is anybody’s guess! His bride was a widow called Mary Alice May TAYLOR. Her own name was HEAPPEY. I found a son called Maurice registered in 4Q 1894 as TAYLOR mms HEAPPEY but he had been baptised as HEAPPEY with his parents telling porkies that they were married. They did actually get married later that year. Maurice though was not brought up by his mother after she became Mrs SELLORS but by his HEAPPEY grandparents.
There must have been a very good relationship between Hannah’s two children and their first stepfather James SELLORS as on a later census, George David and Mary Alice May have an elderly man with them called Thomas SELLORS whom George David lists as his uncle. Hannah’s own mother Mary MORRAY / MERREY formerly EATON nee BRITLAND lives out her days with Hannah and her family. She died in Crich, Derbyshire in 1881.
1891 John and Hannah HARRISON are in Crich, Derbyshire but then they vanish as well. Ancestry transcription has everybody in the household as HARRISON but the image is clear. Young Charles is SELLORS and the older pair are HEATON.
All I will say us there must be something odd in the water in Derbyshire
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