Frank Charles Morris (1884-1950) and his Story

Frank Charles Morris was my mom's mom's father. Born in North Attleboro, Massachusetts on April 26, 1884, Frank was the fifth and youngest child born to Henry and Susan (Bennett) Morris. He and his siblings (George, Fredrick, Herbert, and Elizabeth) were members of the first generation born in the United States. His parents and prior ancestors on both sides, going back numerous generations were all born and raised in or near Somerset county in southern England.
Frank Morris, approximately 1906, age 22. This photo was taken around the time he married Maud Louisa Barnes.

Frank's Home in North Attleboro

The census data of 1890 and 1900 indicate that Frank (age 16 in 1900) and his family (parents and brothers) were living at 20 Stanley Street, North Attleboro, Bristol County, Mass. Frank's uncle Samuel was living with them as a border. By time of the 1910 census, Uncle Samuel had died (1908) at home on Stanley St, due to complications related to tuberculosis, and the family had moved one block north to 53 Stanley St. (I am not sure whether the family moved to a new location or whether their house was rebuilt and street numbers changed.)
I found an old map from 1895 (right), which shows very few houses in the area. But if you look closely, you will see Frank's family home on the corner of Stanley and Ivy Streets. Ivy St was later renamed South St, but Frank's family home at 53 Stanley St remains.
According to Zillow, the house at 53 Stanley St was built in 1910. Here you can see the current version of the house, which I found using Google Maps. The 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom house, which faces west, is still standing and looking absolutely beautiful. Stanley is a small road that goes north and south. There are lots of mature trees in the area. 

​Frank's Childhood

Frank was the youngest of five children. Here are a couple photos of Frank when he was a teenager. The first photo is a cabinet card, probably dating back to approximately 1898 when Frank was 14. The second photo is probably from about 1900, when Frank was 16. I could be off by a couple years. Perhaps these photos are a little bit older, and maybe they show him at ages 12 and 14, for example. 

​The Death of Frank's Mother

Frank's mother Susan (Bennett) Morris died at the age of 54 on June 7, 1904, when Frank was just 20 years old. Here is a cabinet card photograph showing Susan sometime in the ballpark of 1880 or 1890. Unfortunately, I don't have a photograph of Frank's father.
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After seven years as a widower, Frank's father Henry remarried in 1911. His second wife was a widow named Carrie (Snow) Smith. Henry and Carrie (along with two of Carrie's grandchildren) lived in Morris family home at 53 Stanley St. until Henry's death in 1923.

​Introducing Maud Louisa Barnes

The youngest of three children (who survived to adulthood), Maud Louisa Barnes (1887-1962) was born and raised in North Attleboro, Mass., just a couple miles north and west of Stanley St where Frank Morris grew up. See modern map for details.
​Census data indicates that Maud and her parents William Henry Barnes and Caddie Eva (Porter) Barnes first lived at 29 Division Street (in a small residence) but then moved to larger house at 103 Division Street sometime between 1900 and 1910. For more information about Maud and her family, please see the Caddie Porter page, which continues to be another work in progress. Even my own mother remembers the house at 103 Division Street, including an extension that was built sometime after the original structure.
Once Frank and Maud were married, they moved to the house on Division Street, while Maud's mother and older sister Alice lived with them, at least for a while. 

​Frank and Maud got Married

Frank and Maud got married on August 21, 1906. They lived in Maud's family home at 103 Division Street, along with Maud's mother Caddie and older sister Alice (who never married). See photo below. Alice eventually moved out on her own, but that's a story for another time.
​Altogether, Frank and Maud had three children. The first child, Donald Henry, born in December 1908 only survived a couple days. On June 3, 1910, they welcomed a daughter named Isabelle Louise (my grandmother). On March 10, 1912, they welcomed a son Everett Gordon. Maud continued living at 103 Division Street even after she was widowed in 1950. She later married a widower named Walter Gay, a fellow who had actually known her and liked her when they were growing up, had planned to ask for her hand in marriage, but before he gathered up the courage, she became engaged to Frank. 
Here is the wedding certificate and most likely a photograph of Maud in her wedding dress. Shortly after their wedding, census data from 1910 indicate that both Frank and Maud worked as clerks at a local store. 

Massachusetts Marriage Record

Marriage records provide a wonderful way of confirming, not only when and where a marriage took place and who got married, but also the identity of the happy couple's parents. Some records are better than others. Back in the early 1900s, Massachusetts did a good job in including such relevant information as the maiden name of the mother. So you can see here in the record of Frank's and Maud's wedding, Frank's mother's maiden name was Susan Bennett and Maud's mother's maiden name was Caddie Porter. I already knew this information from conversations with my mom. After all, Frank and Maud were her grandparents. Even though Frank died in 1950, Maud lived until 1962. In fact, Maud lived long enough to meet me, though I cannot say I remember her. Maud died when I was just one year old.

​​Current View of 103 Division Street

Here is a Google Map street view of 103 Division St. According to a realtor's website, this house was built in 1900. This matches my discovery from census data, indicating that the Barnes family started out at 29 Division St but later moved to 103 Division Street shortly after 1900. My mom says she believes that her mother was born in this house. My mom says she remembers visiting her grandparents here, and later visiting her widowed grandmother. The family retained ownership of this home until Maud's death in 1962. Check out the tree in the front right part of this photo, and compare it to the tiny sapling in the photo from about 1900.

​​Census Data 1910 and 1920

Census data can be surprisingly useful, not simply to show where people lived along with their ages, places of birth, and immediate family members. Sometimes the data can also tell us about more extended family connections. In some cases, census data confirms information that we already know, as is the case below (1910 showing Caddie and Alice Barnes as part of the Morris household). But in other cases (see later on this page, to be continued...), census data helps us figure such things as a married woman's maiden name because, for example, the "mother in law" (who might have been widowed) was living with her daughter and family. Furthermore, other family connections can be discovered by identifying relationships in a given household like grandparents, grandchildren, sisters, and brothers.
The 1910 census shows that Caddie and Alice Barnes were living with Frank and Maud Morris. Caddie was Maud's mother and Alice was her older sister. The 1920 census shows that Alice was still living with Frank and Maud.

​​Frank's World War 1 Registration Card 

Though he was already 34 years old at the time, Frank was one of many older gentlemen expected to register for the draft. A draft registration card can be a useful source of information, apart from simply the man's name, age, date of birth, and address. This card identifies Frank's wife Maud and his occupation as Store Manager of Liberty Store Company. Occupation information can also be found in some census data, but census data does not usually identify the actual name of the company for which someone works. (Incidentally, thanks mostly to census data, I was able to learn a lot about Frank's siblings, including the fact that one was a jeweler for many years.)

​​The Morris Family

Here are a few photos, showing Frank and Maud with their children. In the first photo, dated approximately 1914, you can see Frank, Maud, Everett, and Isabelle. In the second photo, dated approximately 1918, you can see Isabelle and Everett. Isabelle is my maternal grandmother.

Meeting of the Morris Family and Knudson Family

In the summer of 1934, Frank and Maud's daughter Isabelle was preparing to marry Thomas Knudson, Jr. This provided a perfect occasion for the parents of the happy couple to meet and snap a few photos. From the left, you can see Chrissy and Thomas R Knudson Sr, the parents of the soon-to-be-groom, Caddie (Porter) Barnes, the grandmother of the bride to be, then in the back, you can see Tom and Isabelle, the happy young couple peeking over shoulders. Finally on the right, you can see Maud and Frank Morris. And yes, there is a rather strange distance between Frank and the rest. If you look closely, you can see that Frank was added post-production, not quite so elegant as we might do today using photoshop. But here was a case where some members of the group took turns photographing the others. The only way to combine them all was using a pair of scissors and glue! I am guessing nobody thought to bring a tripod with a timer to this event! 

The Wedding: December 29, 1934

Tom and Isabelle got married in the living room at Frank's and Maud's house at 103 Division Street, in North Attleboro, Mass. Remember, this is the same house where Isabelle was born!
Since I have a little extra space on the page, I decided to add a photograph of Isabelle, probably slightly pre-dating the time of her wedding to Tom. Prior to her marriage, she was a school teacher. But once she got married, she had to give up the profession because, after all, we cannot allow a married woman to teach our children. I don't really agree with that perspective, but that was the perspective in the 1930s. Years later, when her two children reached school age, society had become a little bit more lenient, and Isabelle returned to the classroom. I remember the year that she retired (sometime in the early 1970s) because she gave me all kinds of fun worksheets and workbooks for me to use when playing "school." My neighbor Jill (a couple years younger than I was) seemed much less excited about the math worksheets than I was! But I did my best to TRY and convince her that learning want FUN. 

Introducing Frank's Granddaughter Ebba

This was an occasion to celebrate! During the spring of 1936, the Knudson and Morris families got together to celebrate the birth of the first grandchild, who happens to be my mom! See below.
​On the left, you can see the proud father, Thomas Knudson, Jr. Continuing along the back row, you can see Chrissie and Thomas Knudson Sr, Isabelle (Morris) Knudson, the proud mother, Frank Morris, Christian Gehrken on the groom's side. Then sitting in front, you can see Caddie (Porter) Barnes, and Maud (Barnes) Morris holding the cute little baby Ebba Liguori.  
Sometime during the summer of 1936, Frank had the opportunity to spend time with his cute little granddaughter (right). This is one of my favorite photos of Frank. He is a handsome fellow and appears to be happy and proud. And yes, the granddaughter is extremely cute!

Frank's World War 2 Registration Card 

Here is a copy of Frank's registration for World War 2, which he filled out when he was 58 years old. This card is intended for, "Men born after April 28, 1877 or before Feb 16, 1897." This includes Frank, since he was born in 1884. 
As with the World War 1 registration card, this card includes Frank's name, age, birthdate, address, and occupation. It says he works for West Mansfield, which is also the name of the town located about six miles east of his home. 
There is another piece of useful information. Based on this information, I can verify that the spelling of his wife's name is Maud rather than Maude. When searching through various old records, I found both spellings of Maud's name. However, this spelling appears in several official documents and confirms the spelling that I have found in the most "important" places, including their wedding certificate. 

Frank and Maud in the 1940s

The holiday photo was probably taken in the early 1940s and the second photo was probably taken toward the end of the 1940s. Both photos have to predate 1950 because that is the year that Frank died (at the age of 65). I have numerous photographs of Frank, Maud, and their family. But this sample provides a nice introduction to Frank and his family.

The Family Tree: Frank's Parents, Grandparents, Etc. 

For the next part of the story, I will be tracing both sides of Frank's family back into southern England through as many directions and generations as possible (so far). In some cases, I have been able to go back several generations, but in other cases, just a few. Along the journey, I had to change paths a few times, trading one name for another, matching people as best as I could, tracing through the generations, doing my best even though the data occasionally forced me to discover some surprises! 

As for the other side of my mom's mom's family, including Maud (Barnes) Morris and her parents Caddie (Porter) and William Henry Barnes, I will be tracing them, first through New England (a couple generations) and then later (earlier generations) back to their homeland of England. I am curious to find out locations in England from which they came. All I can say at this point is that at least part of this other side of my mom's family traces back to locations slightly north of London... stay tuned. 

​--Sept 6, 2021

Frank's Family Tree: Parents, Grandparents, and Great Grandparents​

I have been doing most of my research through Ancestry.com, which allows me access to all kinds of data bases, including census data, birth records, marriage records, military records, naturalization documents, etc. It also allows me to build a family tree. Here (below) you can see a screen shot of the tree, focusing on Frank Morris, showing his and Maud's children as well as Frank's parents (yellow outline), grandparents, and great-grandparents. I have pretty much filled in all the names for each of these generations. I edited the screenshot to remove siblings, simply for the sake of making it easier to focus on the direct lines. In the version of the tree shown below, I highlighted Frank's parents because I plan to talk about them first. I plan to use this same tree as a quick "reference" as I go back through time to each new set of ancestors.

Frank's Parents: Henry Morris and Susan Bennett

As you can see in the tree (above), Frank's parents were Henry Morris (1849-1923) and Susan Bennett (1850-1904). Both Frank and Susan were born in Somerset, England and moved to the United States shortly after their marriage in 1875. Unfortunately, Susan died in 1904, when her son Frank was only 20 years old. Seven years later, Henry married a widow whose maiden name was Carrie Snow. Carrie was from Pawtucket, Rhode Island.

The Story of Henry Morris

I found several official records that confirm Henry's birthplace and birthdate and provide information about his parents (Mary Ann (Webber) and Isaac Morris) and siblings. The firstborn child, Henry was born on February 13, 1849 in Chaffcombe, Chard, Somerset, England, a small town in southern England. After tracking down all sorts of census data and naturalization records (see below), I finally found his baptism record, which surprised me because his Christian name is listed as John. So I am going to guess that his full name was John Henry Morris, and that he went by the name of Henry. In any case, this baptism record (shown here) matches all the other demographic information I have about Henry. So from this point forward, I will call him Henry Morris.
As we will later see, Henry's wife Mary Ann Webber was born in Taunton, just a few miles north and west of Chaffcombe. 

England Census Data from 1851, 1861, and 1871

Census data can be extremely helpful in figuring out all kinds of things about an ancestor. Using this type of data, I can not only figure out where someone lived and when they lived there, but also (sometimes) other interesting information like where and when they were born, their occupation, and the names, ages, and relationships of other people with whom they lived. Sometimes I find interesting surprises, like than name of a mother in law, which can then provide a clue into the maiden name of the wife. Other times I find that the person of interest is being raised by their grandparents, which leads me to dig deeper to find out what might have happened to parents. 
As you can see from the census data below, Henry's parents were named Isaac and Mary Ann. He had several siblings, all of whom were born in Chaffcombe just like him. Sadly, Henry's father "disappears" by the time of the 1871 census, which leads me to wonder why. Sometimes the father lives somewhere else for the purpose of his employment. But in this case, sadly, Henry's father Isaac died in 1866. 
There is the raw data, as shown below, which can be easy to read or almost impossible, depending on the handwriting and quality of the copy. Fortunately, the ancestry.com website also provides transcriptions of the data, which makes it much easier to figure out. Also, when looking at transcriptions, I can click on other names and get more information about other members of the household.
The 1851 data indicate that Henry was 2 years old and living with his parents Isaac Morris (age 27) and Mary Ann (age 25). He also had a younger sister named Amelia (age 1). In addition to this, the family was housing a border named James Cook (age 33). The census data also indicates that Isaac was employed as an agricultural laborer. If you look at other entries on the same page, you can see that at least one member of the community is listed as a pauper. I was surprised at how many paupers are listed in the census records. 
By 1861, Henry was 12 y ears old. The 1861 data is difficult to read. In cases like this, I usually rely on a transcript. I have included only a portion of this page. If you look closely, you can see that some of the children's occupations are listed as "scholar." I believe this means that the children were students at school. It is a noteworthy achievement because, around this time, many of the community members were unable to write. Many original records indicate the "mark" of someone rather than an actual signature. When a person is unable to sign their name, they are asked to simply make an "X."
The 1871 census provides a lovely record, one of the nicest ones I have seen. By 1871, Henry was 22 years old. Sadly, if you look closely, you will see that Henry's mother Mary is listed as the head of the household because Henry's father Isaac had already died (1866). Henry himself was employed doing agricultural labor. His younger brothers were also agricultural laborers (ages 13, 14, 18, and 20), and his younger sisters were scholars (ages 6 and 10). 
Here (above), I have placed two census data transcripts side by side for the purpose of showing the type of information I am able to find through the ancestry.com website. It is much easier to review transcripts than original records, but I enjoy seeing the original records and using them whenever I can. I think it is important to check the original records when possible to verify that transcriptions were done properly.

Henry's Migration to the United States

According to naturalization records, Henry Morris arrived in Portland, Maine, United States on or about April 27, 1872. (Document appears later on this page.) I am guessing that Henry decided that the US offered the best opportunity for him to change professions and make a secure and comfortable life for himself (and future wife and family). Somehow he found his way to Attleboro, Mass., a town where jewelry making was a common profession. Henry began his career as a jeweler, most likely starting off as an apprentice as he learned the trade. 
Sometime in 1875, Henry must have returned to England. At this point, he had probably established himself as a capable jeweler and was in the early stages of what would become a successful career. So it was time to get married and return with his wife to the US. Perhaps he already knew Susan Bennett. Perhaps they were already engaged. I don't know the details of how they met, but I know they married in England in January 1875.

Henry Morris and Susan Bennett got Married

Whenever possible, I try to find primary sources like original certificates showing the details of a birth, marriage, death, etc. These documents often include more information than just the name(s) and date(s) of relevant people and events, but also names of parents, and often the mother's maiden name.
Sometimes, however, I need to rely on secondary sources, like annual indices instead. You can see an example of one such index here (right). It is a bit overwhelming, and it can be difficult to know whether or not the person listed is definitely the person of interest, especially when searching for a name like Henry Morris.
In the case of a marriage, it helps to have some idea of the most likely location of the wedding. Even then, I double check to make sure that BOTH the groom's and bride's names are listed during the same year and that the details of WHERE to find the original certificate (even if I cannot access it) are the same. 
If you look at the index page shown here, you can see that there are three grooms with the name Henry Morris, but only one of them got married in Chard. That is reassuring, since Henry was from Chard. But then again, what about the bride? What if she was from another town, and what if they had the wedding in her hometown instead of his?
That's when I look up the bride's name in the same year, and (if I am lucky) can verify that, indeed, the correct name is listed, along with identical reference information indicating the volume (5c) and page number (663). In this case, it appears that Henry and Susan got married in Chard (his hometown, and also hers).
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Here is a closeup (compiled screen shots), showing that both Henry's and Susan's wedding information matches up. Seeing this, I feel confident this is accurate. I wish I had a copy of the certificate. Ill keep trying.

Who is Susan Bennett?

I WILL ADD THIS SOON.

Henry becomes a Naturalized US Citizen

This Naturalization record for Henry Morris has a lot of interesting information, including his date and location of birth (to confirm he is the correct person) of February 13, 1849.
According to this document, Henry first arrived in the US, landing at Portland, Maine on or about April 27, 1872. 
On November 5, 1883, at a court in Rhode Island, Henry first declared his intention renounce his citizenship to Great Brittan, reside in the US, and to become a US citizen. Then finally nearly five years later in the Circuit Court of Boston Mass, Henry's request was approved and he became a legal naturalized citizen of the US on October 29, 1888.
Also according to this document, Henry was employed as a jeweler and living in North Attleboro, Mass. This is supported by census data of 1880. 
Here is another legal record that confirms the date of Henry's naturalization. This is just an index entry, so it lacks all the interesting information found on the original certificate.

​1880 Census and other Information about the Morris Residence

I WILL ADD THIS INFORMATION SOON.