George Harrison of Llanthony
(1790-1872)
George Harrison is as far back as we know on our Harrison line. Family spoke of him being the miller of Llanthony and that was all anyone knew of him. Even now, having lived in Llanthony a while and researched him, I still feel I know so little. Variously he reported himself to have been born in either Neath or Llangattock, which inclines me to think he was born in the former and when older moved to the latter, Llangattock being the place where he married his bride Margaret Jones, the daughter of a miller from Llanbedr. Having gathered census reports, a couple of newspaper articles and death certificates, the family comes to life all the more. They didn't settle in Llanthony right away. For many years they lived in Llangattock and the nearby village of Llanbedr, which is shown by the places given for their children's births. These three environments, Llangattock, Llanbedr and Llanthony (all double L's) are stunningly beautiful places.
George Harrison has said within all censuses, but one, that he was born in the Welsh seaside town of Neath, beyond which his origins are obscure, as there is no baptism record for him. From one abbey ruins to another, Neath to Llanthony, his entry into life and his ultimate resting place.
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The question of George's origins remains unsolved though online I have seen it proposed that his family was of English derivation, coming from Yorkshire, where indeed there were Harrison's in abundance, but I have not as yet seen any credible link to prove this. There was a Townsend Harrison (1751-1818) in the same broader area of Wales who had indeed left his home at Tong in Yorkshire to move to Wales, first living at Kidwelly in Carmarthen, and then Swansea, not so far from Neath, where he settled with his bride Elizabeth Maliphant. And yet there had already been a presence of Harrison's at that time in both Carmarthen and the Neath area. the closest possibility for George's parents so far, according to place and time period, is George Harrison and Ann Morgan who married in Neath in 1785.
George was thirty years old when he fell in love with and married Margaret Jones, a Welsh girl who was eight years younger than him. George was already following the trade of a miller, as is recorded in his marriage registration, and Margaret herself was the daughter of a local miller. The marriage took place on 23rd August 1820 at Llangattock Crickhowell. The witnesses to the marriage were Jane Evans and Jenkin Jenkins.
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Margaret Jones was from a well established milling family, born to Jeffrey Jones the miller of Llangenny and Elizabeth Evans of Lanbedr. Both of Margarets parents were of propertied families, Elizabeth's own mother being from the well to do Adams family of Crickhowell. Elizabeths brothers, Jeffrey the younger and William, were both millers, based in Govilon, one at the Upper Mill and the other at the Lower Mill. Elizabeth's sister, Ann, and her husband John Jones, lived in Crickhowell. It was the tiny village of Llangenny where Margaret and her siblings had been raised. This was anciently a sacred place, with a famed spring, St Ceneu's Well, in woodland on the other side of the river Grwyne Fawr. Two standing stones were (and still are) in the environs of the village, such old relics influencing names the local cottages adopted such as Druids Altar and Golden Grove. Llanbedr, on the same river, which was where Margaret's mother Elizabeth was from, also had sacred ancient associations, for having been a vale of yew trees, this being the meaning of its old name Ystradwy. These trees can be thousands of years old and were planted by the Druids to mark places of sacred energy. Llanbedr was set under the imposing Sugarloaf Hill, which I remember walking upon as a child with my Welsh grandfather.
George Harrison would have arrived as a young man to help in one of the family mills, in this way meeting and romancing Margaret, the millers daughter. Once they were married he was assimilated into her family and given the responsibility of overseeing the Llanbedr mill. For the next ten or eleven years, George and Margaret lived in Llanbedr, where they had their first three children, Sophia, Lewis and Elizabeth.
In 1832 the Harrison family upped and moved to another beautiful location, the hamlet of Llanthony, at about ten miles distant, where they went on to have three more children, William, Margaret and Martha. It can be seen from later census details, regarding the children, that no Welsh was spoken in the family, only English.
The move to Llanthony, alias Upper Cwmyoy (as distinct from the hamlet of Lower Cwmyoy further down the valley), was made possible through William Jones, maybe an uncle of Margaret's, who owned the entire estate which the mill was on. The miller of Llanthony, up until then, had been George Lewis, until in the summer of 1832 George Lewis was caught out stealing a black horse from Penalt and attempting to sell it at the Talgarth fair. For this he lost the mill, besides getting imprisoned, and so the position of village miller was free for George Harrison to take on.
And so it was in this picturesque and olde worlde hamlet of Llanthony, set in the Black Mountains, that George and Margaret settled once and for all and raised their family. George worked there in a three storey corn mill while they all lived in the neighbouring Mill Cottage (still standing to this day, though not the mill which had since burnt down).
Llanthony was a place which had for some time attracted artists. JM Turner visited Llanthony and painted the old Abbey there in 1794. John Sell Cotman painted the Abbey in 1801. Walter Savage Landor had great visions for llanthony and lived there on and off with his projects from 1808 to 1814. The aristocrat endeavoured to be the model country gentleman improving the soil, planting trees, and importing sheep from Spain. He improved the roads and began building a new house, while living in the Prior's Lodge. He did not get on well with the Welsh locals though 'for whose nationality he bore an ill disguised disgust' and had to abandon the project and move abroad, finally meeting his death in Florence, Italy, in 1864 at the age of 90.
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One visitor to the valley was the Reverend Francis Kilvert, who lived just outside Hay-on-Wye (today the great second-hand book Mecca), and whose marvelous Kilvert's Diary gives us an unforgettable snapshot of rural 19th century Wales. Kilvert, as was his wont, kept an eye out for female talent on his 25-mile hike to Llanthony. "Before the chapel house, beside the brookside, a buxom, comely, wholesome girl with fair hair, rosy face, blue eyes and fair, clear skin stood washing at a tub in the sunshine, up to the elbows of her round, white, lusty arms in soapsuds," he salivated.
1834 - The first newspaper article George Harrison is mentioned in is the Monmouthshire Merlin of 7th June, in which it was reported that he had caught one of the locals, Richard Price, setting fire to the furze and heath on the hill. The article says that George was a gamekeeper for Llanthony Manor. Maybe he did do extra work in this regard or maybe the paper simply got his occupation wrong.
The Harrison family can be seen together in the 1841 census:
1841 Census Upper Cwmyoy (Llanthony) The Mill George Harrison, age 50, miller, and Margaret Harrison, age 41 Children: Elizabeth, 10; William, 9; Margaret, 5; Martha, 1 Jeff Jones, age 3, born outside of Wales (Margarets nephew) Sophia, then aged 15, was living at the nearby Llanthony Abbey working in service for the local agent John Webb and his wife Dorothy. Lewis was off somewhere else, I don't know where. |
In between the censuses of 1841 and 1851 Sophia had married, in 1847, George Watkins, with whom she went to make a new life in Llanelli, recycling family names for her children, as was often the way, calling them George, Lewis, Margaret and William.
In the following year Elizabeth gave birth to her illegitimate daughter, also named Elizabeth. George and Margaret welcomed this granddaughter into their home and helped raise her.
1851 Census Upper Cwmyoy,
Mill House, Llanthony
George Harrison, age 55, miller, born in Glamorgan
Margaret Harrison, wife, age 53, born in Breconshire
Children:
Lewis, 28, agricultural labourer; Margaret, 16; Martha, 11 - all born Upper Cwmyoy
Elizabeth Harrison, granddaughter, age 2, born Upper Cwmyoy (this would be Elizabeth's illegitimate daughter)
William Parry, visitor, age 45, unmarried, carpenter, born Upper Cwmyoy
1851 Census Upper Cwmyoy,
Mill House, Llanthony
George Harrison, age 55, miller, born in Glamorgan
Margaret Harrison, wife, age 53, born in Breconshire
Children:
Lewis, 28, agricultural labourer; Margaret, 16; Martha, 11 - all born Upper Cwmyoy
Elizabeth Harrison, granddaughter, age 2, born Upper Cwmyoy (this would be Elizabeth's illegitimate daughter)
William Parry, visitor, age 45, unmarried, carpenter, born Upper Cwmyoy
In 1853 an auction was held at Llanthony Abbey, by the announcement of land agent William Davis, offering to any buyer masses of local mature larch trees. Out of 1,135 of these trees, 156 were on George Harrison's mill land, numbered with red paint, as well as on the roadsides leading from Llanthony abbey to Henlan farm.
In that same year Lewis got married in Abergavenny to Elizabeth Rosser, and following in the example of his father, set up as a miller further down the valley in the village of Llanvihangel Crucorney. Lewis did well in his work as a miller, at least initially (later he became bankrupt), and he employed family members, a brother in law, his brother William, and sister Martha. William would even marry Elizabeth's niece Ann. So family connections remained close with the Harrisons.
I hesitate to think well of Lewis, regardless, as in newspapers two negative write-ups exposed a darker side to his character. Firstly, egged on by his wife Elizabeth to budge a pig blocking their pathway, as witnessed by a local girl, Lewis kicked it so roughly that it not only bled from it's nose but could hardly breathe for which it had to be put down. Secondly, when his father George was a widower, struggling to survive with both his mentally impaired daughter and her child, the courts had to force a reluctant Lewis, the oldest son and most prosperous of the family, to give financial support to them, and even then he haggled down the amount the courts asked for. Whether he then obeyed this order for long is to be questioned as by the following census both father and daughter were to be seen incarcerated in the local workhouse.
George and Margaret's son William had a more spiritual nature and had an adult baptism in his enthusiasm to be righteous and godly. It is William who is my ancestor, my great great grandfather.
In that same year Lewis got married in Abergavenny to Elizabeth Rosser, and following in the example of his father, set up as a miller further down the valley in the village of Llanvihangel Crucorney. Lewis did well in his work as a miller, at least initially (later he became bankrupt), and he employed family members, a brother in law, his brother William, and sister Martha. William would even marry Elizabeth's niece Ann. So family connections remained close with the Harrisons.
I hesitate to think well of Lewis, regardless, as in newspapers two negative write-ups exposed a darker side to his character. Firstly, egged on by his wife Elizabeth to budge a pig blocking their pathway, as witnessed by a local girl, Lewis kicked it so roughly that it not only bled from it's nose but could hardly breathe for which it had to be put down. Secondly, when his father George was a widower, struggling to survive with both his mentally impaired daughter and her child, the courts had to force a reluctant Lewis, the oldest son and most prosperous of the family, to give financial support to them, and even then he haggled down the amount the courts asked for. Whether he then obeyed this order for long is to be questioned as by the following census both father and daughter were to be seen incarcerated in the local workhouse.
George and Margaret's son William had a more spiritual nature and had an adult baptism in his enthusiasm to be righteous and godly. It is William who is my ancestor, my great great grandfather.
George Harrison's personality, I suspect, was somewhere between the crudeness and saintliness of his sons. I think both he and Margaret liked their beer. I say this for two reason, not only for Margaret's health, with her death certificate later revealing her to have had liver disease, but also because I discovered a newspaper article about one of George's wild escapades while on a trip to the closest town of Abergavenny. In the autumn of 1855, as revealed in the Monmouthshire Advertiser, George Harrison, miller of Cwmyoy, and one of his friends, William Jenkins of Abergavenny, indecently exposed themselves in the public streets. This leaves much to the imagination and no further detail is forthcoming. They were caught out by a policeman, Superintendent Lipscombe, and fined 5 shillings each plus court costs.
The year of 1858 began badly, George losing his wife, Margaret, the youngsters losing their mother.
Margaret died on February 16th at the age of 65. She had a liver problem, which had not been certified by a doctor, but was obvious to the family. Daughter Elizabeth was with Margaret when she died.
Margaret died on February 16th at the age of 65. She had a liver problem, which had not been certified by a doctor, but was obvious to the family. Daughter Elizabeth was with Margaret when she died.
1858 picked up with some marriages of the children.
William Harrison married Ann Thomas, whose mother Ann was sister to Lewis's wife, Elizabeth. They began life together at Bridge End Cottage next to Lewis's mill in Llanvihangel Crucorney, and later moved south to the industrial regions, where William took up work as an ostler looking after pit ponies.
In that same year Margaret married Alfred Randall. Alfred only lived long enough to give her two sons, after which she married Daniel Nichols. Margaret lived long in Llanthony, though eventually moved away to Blaenavon, as did her other sisters.
William Harrison married Ann Thomas, whose mother Ann was sister to Lewis's wife, Elizabeth. They began life together at Bridge End Cottage next to Lewis's mill in Llanvihangel Crucorney, and later moved south to the industrial regions, where William took up work as an ostler looking after pit ponies.
In that same year Margaret married Alfred Randall. Alfred only lived long enough to give her two sons, after which she married Daniel Nichols. Margaret lived long in Llanthony, though eventually moved away to Blaenavon, as did her other sisters.
In the 1860's by which time George was an elderly widower, Father Ignatius arrived in the area with the ambition to rebuild Llanthony Priory and operate it once more as a monastery. The locals objected (was George one of them??) saying they didn't want any monks 'skulking around the property', so Father Ignatius had to move four miles up the valley instead to Capel-Y-Fin where he set up his 'Llanthony monastery', continuing the monastic life there until his death in 1908. It was not so surprising that Ignatius was a controversial figure, due to his hellfire sermons and habit of walking up and down the aisles, pointing a finger and crying: "I see him now (the Devil)!"
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By 1861 George was struggling to survive and the parish, which had the duty to relieve paupers in their area, had to help him out. Elizabeth, his daughter, kept house for him and looked after his practical needs. She and her illegitimate daughter Elizabeth lived with him at the Mill Cottage. Next door to them was George's daughter, Margaret, with her labourer husband and baby son, Alfred. Martha had left home to live at son Lewis's mill in Llanvihangel Crucorney further down the valley, working as his domestic help. Just like her sister, Elizabeth, Martha would also have an illegitimate child, a son George, whom she named after her father, and she would never marry, whereas Elizabeth found a husband for a while, only for him to die. In middle age both sisters, Elizabeth and Martha, lived with one another in Blaenavon.
1861 Census Upper Cwmyoy
Mill Cottage, Llanthony
George Harrison, age 70, widower, corn miller, born Neath, Glamorgan
Elizabeth Harrison, daughter, age 35, housekeeper, born Llanbedr, and granddaughter Elizabeth Lewis, aged 12, born Llanthony
(the new surname adopted by granddaughter Elizabeth would be a clue as to who was her father)
Daughter Margaret, age 25, is with her husband Alfred Randel, a carpenter, and their baby son, also called Alfred
1861 Census Upper Cwmyoy
Mill Cottage, Llanthony
George Harrison, age 70, widower, corn miller, born Neath, Glamorgan
Elizabeth Harrison, daughter, age 35, housekeeper, born Llanbedr, and granddaughter Elizabeth Lewis, aged 12, born Llanthony
(the new surname adopted by granddaughter Elizabeth would be a clue as to who was her father)
Daughter Margaret, age 25, is with her husband Alfred Randel, a carpenter, and their baby son, also called Alfred
In the winter of 1861, as is recorded in the Monmouthshire Central Advisor, Lewis was summoned to the police court
Police Court to show cause why he should not contribute to the support of his father, George. Lewis said he was willing to allow his father 2 shillings a week, but the overseer wished him to pay more, expressly 3 shillings 6 pennies. As a compromise Lewis agreed to 'endeavour' to pay 2 shillings 6 pennies a week.
Police Court to show cause why he should not contribute to the support of his father, George. Lewis said he was willing to allow his father 2 shillings a week, but the overseer wished him to pay more, expressly 3 shillings 6 pennies. As a compromise Lewis agreed to 'endeavour' to pay 2 shillings 6 pennies a week.
In 1865 and 1866 two of George's children, already widowed, remarried, one being the son reluctant to care sufficiently for him, Lewis Harrison, who was the miller of Llanfihangel Crucorney, the other being his daughter Margaret who still lived with him at the Mill Cottage in Llanthony.
Some time between 1861 and 1871, but likely after daughter Margarets remarriage in 1866, George and his daughter Elizabeth were both put into the Abergavenny union workhouse. Elizabeth only stayed temporarily in the institution, but not so George, who spent his last years there. His children appear to have abandoned him, or at least Lewis had, who was his next of kin.
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This did surprise me as I can see that George's children had respected him well enough to give his first name in turn to their own children, and yet in old age there he was in the workhouse. The elderly section of the old workhouses evolved over time into our modern old people's homes, before which families would have always, by tradition, looked out for one another. George, as an old pauper, unable to keep working and to maintain rent of his cottage, had only the workhouse for refuge. Maybe the family had thought this the best place for him, where he could have the camaraderie of other old fellows and nurses on hand to care for him. He had developed bronchitis so must have been having bad coughing episodes. It may be that this was not brought about by smoking, but rather his constant exposure to flour dust in his occupation as miller. Still, George had reached a good age regardless of the occupational hazards he was exposed to.
1871 Census Abergavenny, Monmouthshire
George Harrison, age 83, inmate of the Union Workhouse, widower, miller
Elizabeth Price (his daughter), age 33, domestic servant, born Cwmyoy, idiot
Looking through the census of the workhouse it can be seen that four other inmates were blind and five were categorised as 'idiots', one of these people being none other than George's unmarried daughter Elizabeth. It may be that she'd had a psychotic episode.
George Harrison, age 83, inmate of the Union Workhouse, widower, miller
Elizabeth Price (his daughter), age 33, domestic servant, born Cwmyoy, idiot
Looking through the census of the workhouse it can be seen that four other inmates were blind and five were categorised as 'idiots', one of these people being none other than George's unmarried daughter Elizabeth. It may be that she'd had a psychotic episode.
Bronchitis was given as the cause of death when George Harrison died in the workhouse on September 3rd 1872 at the age of 82.
There would come a later George Harrison, who was George's great grandson and my grandfather, who left Wales when a young man to make a new life in England and who remarkably lived for 100 years. I in turn named one of my own sons George Harrison. I even went to live for a while at Llanthony and so much loved the place, not that any of our relatives remained there, for they'd headed south to the coal valleys and to Cardiff city. But there surely is something special about Llanthony and the place intrigued me. A leyline is said to run through an ancient chapel, there where St David himself once lived. High above Llanthony is a ridge dividing Wales and England, wild and beautiful and an adventure to roam. A fair share of the locals I came to know there were eccentrics. I imagine George Harrison shared some of this eccentricity, a little raw maybe, cheeky and amused, with good tales to tell, merry on beer and not giving a damn about the way things are done in other places.
George Harrison----------John Harrison----------William Harrison----------George Harrison & Margaret Jones