I at last got immersed in genealogy work once more setting up a family tree from scratch, on FindMyPast which I had just joined for a year. For now I was focusing on my Welsh people, getting back to my centenarian ancestresses of Wonastow, and finding new information, by grace of Findmypast, which was that my Molly Morgan, who had lived for 103 years had the maiden name of Elias (I had not known that). Molly had been born in 1763, in Wonastow, her parents being William and Ann Elias. I found her wedding at last, now that I knew her maiden name, it being in 1784 that Molly, with her official name of Mary Elias, married Thomas Morgan, on 29th December, at the church of St Winaloe in Wonastow. It was in contemplating this new information, that I wondered if Mollys grandmother would then be another aforementioned centenarian of Wonastow, written of in the papers, even from one of the same articles in which Molly's story was shared, this older ladies name being Ann Watkins. And so what connections may I find out in regard to this? Well, Molly's mother, Ann Elias, someone had transcribed her own maiden name to be Haskins, upon her marriage to William Ellis in 1762, and one could not see the original from which this had been taken, but this was similar enough to Watkins, which in the rough handwriting of the time may have looked the same. And the paper had mentioned Ann Watkins being buried with another related centenarian, a Mrs James, so was this her mother or a sister? Even I see from church records that Molly herself had a sister, known as Mrs James, she being Elizabeth Elias, born in Wonastow in 1770 who married a Richard James in 1794. Although we would be looking at an older Mrs James here. Molly Morgan of Wonastow, known now to have been born and raised as Mary Elias, there had been plenty of newspapers about her great age, as I have written of before. I'd found her home even, Gorse Cottage at Treowen, this being the cottage she had been born in, and would later die in, working even when old from there as a midwife. Now, suppose Molly's granny was indeed the written of Ann Watkins. Well, her life story was written of in that same newspaper article, stating that she had died in 1823 at the age of 104, meaning she would have been born in 1719. As the paper had also shared, she had spent her married life in England, at Brinsop in Herefordshire, on account of this being where her husband was from, and not until she was a widow did she return to Wonastow, her son William Watkins being close by, he being the miller of the Wonastow Corn Mill. I found that indeed there was a William Watkins, born in Brinsop to a Thomas and Ann Watkins, in 1763. During her life she'd had nine children and had long been a tenant to the family at the grand Wonastow House. Her 'relative' with whom she was buried, Mrs James, was said to have already died at the age of 101. With my own Welsh grandfather, their descendant, having lived till 100, this was an interesting long life phenomenon worth looking into. As for Molly's daughter, Ann Morgan, also my ancestress, her married surname being Thomas, she herself lived for 104 years, and I was now finding out about her grown up daughter's families, all living in and out of one another's houses, swapping their children and grandchildren around. In 1851, according to the census of the time, when Molly Morgan and her daughter Ann Thomas were widowed and elderly, living with one another, they were residing next to other close family members, the Matthews and the Potter families, which Ann's daughters had married into, with a related Jones connection showing up as well. The present miller at this time, on account of William Watkins having having long died, was Thomas Potter, the husband of Molly Morgans granddaughter, Esther. I now found a newspaper article I'd not seen before for the death of Ann Watkins in 1823. An interesting note is made of a strange coincidence for both the burials of Mrs James and Ann Watkins, it being that the river Trothy both times had flooded its banks so that the procession with the bodies to the place of burial was not an easy task. Ah, yes, I was once more immersed on genealogy, my favourite hobby.
0 Comments
I've been considering my food sensitivities and how this is genetically inherited via my father and my nanny Eileen, both of whom, in sticking to commonly accepted foods ultimately deteriorated health wise. I've had to eliminate so much of traditional food, to the point of being a fussy eater no-one can entertain. But that seems to be working for me. And, yes, I've said it before, that I tend to think it's the Cheddar caveman's own genes, very primitive and ancient, , which I appear to share to quite some extent, restricting what I can eat and handle. On the other side of my dads family are Pop's long life genes, he being a centenarian, and my having discovered that his Wonastow ancestresses lived even beyond 100. Myself, arriving at the age of 61, I look some ten years younger, which I'm hoping is because I've inherited that same long life gene. Sussing out what foods and substances are as if poisons to me, I free up the path for the long life gene to dominate. I actually watched a documentary about centenarian 'blue spots' around the world, which focused on Okinawa in Japan, Ikaria a Greek island and the ancients of Sardinia. It's so that the ancient Balari of Sardinia shows up in my archeogenetic dna, so has this originated there? Or Greece? Or the Caucasus? But, yes, maybe the Balari. Or maybe Wonastow has its own blue magic going on. I have never yet been to that village, whereas I have experienced a whole month of exploring Sardinia. Looking up about Sardinia I see that the people genetically closest to them are the Basque, which I also have genetic links to.
In genealogy I got to looking at my Welsh ancestry of Wonastowe. I knew my pop's ancestress Mary Ann Thomas had lived like him to a ripe old age, she having died at the age of 104 and he nearly aged 101. Well, now I discovered Mary Ann Thomas's mother, Mary Morgan of Treowen Gorse, was also a centenarian, she having lived till 103. This had been written of in the papers: 'Mary Morgan, aged 103, at Wonastowe. Though having reached an advanced age, she retained her faculties nearly to the last. During her long life she was actively employed in doing good, and after passing her 100th year, she was carried to the cottage of a neighbour and by her timely aid saved the life of the mother and child.' It did say on one of the census's that Mary Morgan was a nurse aged as late as 99 even, which appeared to have covered being the village midwife. 1861 Census Wonastow, Monmouthshire Treowens Gorse Mary Morgan, age 99, widow, nurse, born Wonastow Mary Thomas, daughter, age 76, widow, born Wonastow And here they were ten years earlier in the 1851 census: 1851 Census Wonastow, Monmouthshire Mary Morgan, age 88, widow, annuitant, born Wonastow Mary Morgan, daughter, age 65, widow, agricultural labourer, born Wonastow And ten years earlier still in the 1841 census: 1841 Census Wonastow, Monmouthshire Gorse Mary Morgan, age 75 Ann Thomas, age 55, and her husband, John Thomas, age 60, carpenter, he being born outside of Wales and their daughter, Esther Thomas, age 20, born outside of Wales Certainly there was a long life gene in my Welsh lineage. And there was another article I found about Mary Morgan; 'A Centanarian - Our obituary records the death of Mary Morgan of Wonastowe, better known as Molly Morgan, who has been borne to her sepulchre after an extended pilgrimage of 103 years. It is said that she was born in the house in which she died. ' This house would be Treowen Gorse in the grounds of a mansion farmhouse Treowen House. 'Certain it is, she was never known to live in any other (house). She had been a widow beyond the memory of most of us and had led a blameless and religious life. Her faculties were preserved to the last and within these three weeks she was carried to a neighbouring cottage to see a poor woman in her confinement. her memory was particularly tenacious, she would converse about even trifling incidents which had happened in former years, as well as remember circumstances of very remote occurrence. She was always cheerful and grateful for the visits of any who felt interested in her. A daughter who lived with the venerable matron' (this being Mary Ann Thomas) 'and who survives her is 79 years of age.' When Mary Ann Thomas herself died (1885 Abergavenny Chronicle): 'Death on 15th October at Wonastowe, near Monmouth, Mrs Ann Thomas, aged 104 years. Mrs Thomas's mother died in the same house at the age of 103 years.' There were other examples previously of women living till over 100 in this village. For example Ann Watkins born in 1719, she died in 1823 aged 104, being a native of Brinsop in Herefordshire, she having married and settled there, only returning to Wonastow for the last thirty years of her life to live with her son William Watkins of the Wonastow Corn Mill. She was for long a tenant to the family at Wonastow House. She had nine children.
And a relative of hers, Mrs James, had died previously at the age of 101, Ann Watkins remains being put in the same tomb as Mrs James in the Wonastow churchyard. I do so wonder if these ladies were also Ann Morgans relatives! |
AuthorSusie Harrison and her hobby of genealogy, always looking into her own and her friends family trees. Categories
All
|