Who was James Morris the plater's father

This from Geoffrey Morris

I'm beginning to think that our ancestor was not George Morris but Thomas. The only likely entry I've found (so far) in the 1841 Birmingham census is for a family in Pritchit (now Pritchett) Street, close to New John Street, where James Morris, father of James and Alfred (Alfred my Grandad), was born in September 1839. Ancestry lists them as Tomes and Rosina Morris, both aged 25, but someone has corrected this transcription to James, which clearly right (see the attached). Also there was their presumed son Jos or Jas, aged one, which (if he wasn't Joseph but James) could well be my great-grandfather. Rosina is a reasonable version of Rosanna(h), whose name gets spelt in several ways. Also here is the presumed father/grandfather, Thomas, aged 65, so born in about 1796. He was a brewer, and his son (presumably his son) a labourer. Where Thomas's wife, if any, was (dead? visiting?) I have no idea. I've tried to find her through the IGI, but there are at least half a dozen candidates. Pending further and better particulars, as the lawyers say, I'm assuming Thomas is our ancestor. Which means removing a large number of relatives from my tree!

 He has a point. James the plater and Rosehannah don’t show in the 1841 census separately, but the 1841 census isn’t very reliable. However I found George Morris as James the Plater’s father through IGI which is equally unreliable.

So what makes me think that it is George rather than Thomas.

·         George was a gunmaker, as was Rosehannah’s father, so they may have known each other.

·         There is no record of Thomas having a son called James in the IGI

·         In 1839 on James the chainmaker’s birth certificate the family were living in New John Street. Unfortunately we don’t know where they were living in 1849 when James the Plater died , as he died in hospital in Bath Row.

·         Thomas is given as a brewer in the 1841 census and James as a labourer but we know that james was a skilled man, a silver plater.

·         Even if James and Rosehannah were at the same address as Thomas in 1841, he could be some other relation, with whom they were staying temporarily .

The jury is still out and it will need some digging in the parish records of St George’s and St Philip’s, where James the son of George was christened according to IGI.

And the next Morris photograph is...

This is great grandfather James Morris the jeweller in his workshop. He looks to be in his early 60s to me so perhaps in the late 1920s. This fits with the date of the photograph of his father in my previous post and a lovely picture of Gladys Morris's wedding to William Rowlands, which was in 1926. Julia is busy trying to identify the bridesmaids, one of whom looks very like my cousin Geraldine, another great grandchild of James the Jeweller. it would make sense if the box of photographs that has been found all date to the same era. I'd love to know what Rosehannah looked like but I expect we never will.

James Morris the chainmaker

This is so exciting. Geoffrey Morris's nephew has found a box of family photos which his brother Noel seems to have collected. As he says, it's a real treasure trove. To start with he's sent us this photograph of James Morris the chainmaker at the age of 80 in 1920.