My connection
to the Morgan family begins with Charles Edward Wilson Morgan
who married Mary Ann Best, the sister to my gg grandfather John
Henry Best. The Morgan family came to Adelaide South Australia
in 1853 aboard the Shackamaxon when Charles was only 3 years
of age. At the time of their marriage in 1872 Charles was a
baker residing at Glenelg and Mary Ann a tailoress living in
Adelaide. They had 9 children together, of which only 3 survived
(Charles Henry, Florence Louisa and George Frederick) and all
but the 9th were born in Adelaide as sometime between 1887 and
1891 they moved to Yarraville in Melbourne Victoria. Shortly
after 1891 it would appear they returned to South Australia,
perhaps the death of the last child Henry Bidmead prompted the
shift back home. The postal directory for Victoria only lists
them there for 2 years 1891-1892 which probably means they arrived
some time before 1891 and left soon after.
Yarraville holds
an interesting link to the Best family as Mary Ann's niece Mary
Agnes Wilson (nee Best) listed that suburb of Melbourne as her
fictitious place of marriage. Given the fact that Mary Agnes
was fond of her aunt, it's assumed this was in part some of
the reason for her using this place. It may also be possible
that she has stayed with her aunt in Yarraville for some period.
At the time of Charles's death (Christmas day 1918) aged 69
he was listed as a plasterer and was living at Mile End, where
Mary Ann also lived up until her death aged 76.
Their eldest child
Charles Henry first married Dorothy Elizabeth Obrien in 1896
and had one son Wilfred. Unfortunately Dorothy died after only
2 years of marriage and Wilfred was brought up by his Morgan
grandparents. Almost 5 years later Charles Henry re-married
Clara Margaret Tuckey in 1903 and had 2 children, Allan and
Edna.
The third child
to Charles and Mary Ann was Florence Louisa who married Edgar
Ernest Skewes in 1899 and had one daughter, Mavis Gertrude.
The seventh child
was George Frederick who married Marcella Blanche Moyle in 1906.
They had 2 sons, Frederick George and Alfred Leslie.
Much of the Morgan
research has been kindly supplied to me by Elizabeth Doyle,
Liz Willanski and from previous research by Margaret Livingstone.
