M - Morrison's Meat Pies

Morrison’s Meat Pies were an institution in Salt Lake City for 133 years.

By the time the business closed, it was no longer in the hands of the family who started it all, but people still reminisce about those pies today.

Thomas Henry Morrison was born in Wellington, New Zealand in 1847, six years after his mother had arrived from England with her parents and siblings and shortly after his parents married. His father was a sea captain and mariner. There were eight children, not all who survived infancy, over the next 10 years before his father Daniel sadly died from injuries sustained when his ship was wrecked. Betsy remarried quickly, as you would expect a young widow with at least six children under 11 to do. Thomas had about 10 half siblings from his mother’s second marriage.

At some time around 1870, the family moved south to Hokitika and later to Kaikoura where other members of Betsy’s family had moved earlier. Whether the older children moved with them at the time is unclear. Thomas would have been in his early twenties. His sisters Elizabeth and Mary had married in 1869 (in Wellington) and 1870 (in Kaikoura).

By the late 1870’s Thomas was living in Christchurch. Around this time he joined the Mormon Church. Since the mid 1870’s missionaries from Utah had travelled to New Zealand and other countries around the world to share their story and grow the numbers of their congregation. He also met his first wife Emily and they reputedly married in 1878. No marriage record can be found in New Zealand though, and their two daughters were registered in 1879 and 1880 with Emily’s surname. Perhaps they delayed their marriage because there was no-one from the church available to officiate. There is a possible listing for him on the electoral rolls in 1880/1881 as a fish hawker in Montreal Street.

In March 1882 the small family boarded the City of Sydney bound for San Francisco with a number of other “converts” to make a new life in Utah. Another group had left the year before on the Hawea. Their arrival in Salt Lake City would have been tinged with mixed emotions. Their 19 month old second daughter died just three weeks after they arrived in San Francisco, their marriage was sealed six weeks later and two weeks afterward they welcomed their third child, another daughter.  

Thomas had brought with him a recipe for a “Scottish” meat pie. He and his wife founded a business in 1883, making the pies themselves in their home kitchen. Thomas then took the pies in a cart, heated by coal, and sold them to the citizens of Salt Lake City near Temple Square. He may have been the first food cart operator in Main Street. This business set up when Utah was still a Territory, not yet a State, survived for 133 years. It was the fifth oldest food company in the USA, older than Campbells Soup, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Coca-Cola and Heinz Ketchup.

In 1884, Thomas married a second time, which at that time was an accepted practice in the church. His two families lived amicably in separate but adjoining houses. Thomas sold his business to his sons – was that where the trouble began ? At one point the business was known as Dan Morrison’s Meat Pies. Dan was a son from the second marriage, perhaps there was some rivalry between the brothers.

Family squabbles, changes in ownership and economic downturns all took their toll. By the time it closed in 2016 it was not owned by any of the Morrison family. It was reported in 2012 that the new factory in West Jordan was producing 5,000 pies a day, but not much later expansion plans were derailed by finances and the business closed forever.

Thomas died in 1910. His second wife Susanna, died in California in 1921 where three of her children had settled. Emily, his first wife died in Salt Lake City in 1944. Some of their descendants can be found amongst our DNA match lists still living in Salt Lake City and the surrounding area.

 

 

L - Llanymynech

Don’t step inside a fairy ring.

Because why ? You might disappear ? Get taken by the fairies ? End up in a parallel dimension ?

There is something magical about a ring of toadstools. They are tantalising, irresistible – to step or not to step. It isn’t only toadstool rings that have this fascination for me.

The meridian line at Greenwich, one foot in the western hemisphere, one in the east.

Land borders between states or countries – such a foreign concept growing up in an island nation – always give me a little thrill when crossing those invisible lines.

What was it like for my ancestors living in times where borders moved frequently ? Was it an instant thing ? Was there a schedule ? What was it like to go to bed one night in Somerset and wake up in Devon ?

Nowadays, borders don’t change so much – at least not in Great Britain where there are no feudal disagreements. The lines are drawn, set in place on maps for all to see. Squiggly lines, not always straight ones, following natural boundaries, streams, valley floors, back and forth, this way and that.

My great-great-great-grandmother was born in the Marches, that area of moving boundaries between Wales and England, near Llanymynech; a town divided. Part in Wales and part in England. The border runs down the centre of the main street, you can park the car in one country and cross the road to another; the pub actually straddles the border.

The village is nestled on the Montgomery Canal (Camlas Trefaldwyn). “The Monty” is a partially restored canal running 53 kilometres from the Llangollen Canal at Frankton Junction to Newtown, passing through Welshpool. Currently only 11 kilometres is navigable and connected to the national Canal & River Trust network, from Frankton Junction to Gronwyn Wharf. Separately a short stretch at Llanymynech and a central section around Welshpool are navigable, but isolated and not connected to the national canal network. At Llanymynech you can take a walk along the towpath starting in one country and ending in another. The walk is just 4 kilometres long and takes a circular route, returning across fields. You will see the Locks at Carreghofa and walk a little further to the Vyrnwy Aqueduct and marvel at the engineering feats of days gone by. You can follow Offa’s Dyke part of which runs alongside the canal. It is a defensive earthwork built in the 8^th century by Offa, King of Mercia. 1300 years ago ! Definitely a structure which Ann Thomas, her siblings and parents would have been familiar with. The area surrounding Llanymynech is rich in limestone and the village developed as a mining settlement in early times. One chimney survives from a Hoffman lime kiln and can be seen when walking. Lime was transported on canal boats from the wharf in the village to be used as fertiliser in surrounding farms.

Originally the canal was known as the Montgomeryshire Canal, at Carreghofa Locks it connected to the Llanymynech Branch of the Ellesmere Canal. These elements of the present day Montgomery Canal where unified when each section became part of the Shropshire Union system between 1846-1850.

The canal was first proposed in 1792 and the first parts were completed by early 1796.

So there you have it, a brief history of Llanymynech. Step over the line – I dare you !

K - Kiwi

Kia Ora

It doesn’t matter where I live, I’ll always be a Kiwi. Even if one day I do become a citizen of another nation, I will still support the All Blacks, the Silver Ferns and celebrate our unique two degrees of separation uniqueness. Despite starting my life in the Waikato, I will always be a Hurricanes, Lions, Pulse and Saints supporter. 

I feel at home where I live right now, but I miss the little things. News broadcasts which are actually news, not tabloid misinformation constantly creating a mood of impending disaster. People who tell it like it is, without making it all about them. Watching rugby instead of league and AFL with over excited commentators. Spontaneous roadtrips and changing scenery.

It is funny, looking in from the outside to be able to see that all the things that felt like they were being done the wrong way, were actually world leading. Great ideas and models, just hindered by an economy which hadn’t invested in the areas of need for a long time. A strong economy striving to be a free market but not looking after the basics; a strong economy but still a tiny country not paying the people a compelling salary to stay and follow their passion.

Anyway, this isn’t meant to be political. It's about that Kiwi essence, that pride we all take in our country. The team of 5 million who can do anything if we put out minds to it. The team who collectively hold their breath in the last minutes of a Rugby World Cup Final, or Bledisloe Cup match and particularly anytime we play Australia. The way we embrace other cultures, how we immerse ourselves in Tikanga and respect each other and our differences. That doesn’t happen in other countries, well not in the same way.

It got me thinking. You can take the Kiwi out of the country, but you can’t take it out of the person. Where did it come from, that sense of belonging ? How long did it take for our ancestors (and here I am talking about those of us whose ancestors came on sailing ships and airplanes, more than the Tangata Whenua) to feel they were New Zealanders rather than English, Scots, Irish etc. What contributed to build that fierce pride, that Kiwi ingenuity ? It was definitely strong when our ANZACs joined WW1. Was it already building in 1905 when the Originals toured England and beat Devon in their first match 55-4 ? Did it begin even earlier, borne out of disasters or through the sheer determination of those early settlers to build a new life in a far flung colony ?

Wherever it started, and however it started, it has become part of us all. Right now we all need to remember we have it, we are all on the same team – even if we aren’t all on the same part of the planet.

Kia kaha Kiwis.

J - James Hogg

Families all come with stories. Some have their origins in fact, and some do not.

One which I haven’t yet been able to prove right or wrong yet, is whether there is in fact a connection in my daughter’s paternal grandmother’s family to James Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd. Fact or fabrication, who knows ?

I have done a bit of searching sporadically over the years, collaborating with other people around the world who can trace their family lines back to the same Hogg ancestors as my daughter.

James Hogg was the second son of Robert Hogg and Margaret Laidlaw, he was born at Ettrickhall Farm, Ettrick, Selkirkshire towards the end of 1770 and baptised at the parish church on 9 December. His family had been farming in the area for generations.

His formal education lasted not much more than a year, when he was 7 his father became bankrupt and James began work as a cowherd and later a shepherd. In his late teens/early twenties he was employed as a shepherd by a relative of his mother; James Laidlaw of Blackhouse Farm in Yarrow. Here he had access to a good collection of books and taught himself to read and write. He also taught himself to play fiddle and began to make a name for himself as Jamie the Poeter, singing traditional ballads and reciting the rich folklore of the Scottish Borders.

The Laidlaw family were acquainted with Sir Walter Scott and introduced James to him in 1802. Laidlaw’s son William became Scott’s close friend and amanuensis. At this time, in 1802, Scott was collecting ballads for his Border Minstrelsy and William Laidlaw, James Hogg and his mother, who had a large store of her own, all contributed. James had printed his own “Scottish Pastorals, Poems, Songs &C.,” in Edinburgh in 1801.

He divided his time between farming and writing and in 1813 wrote his most picturesque and imaginative work, “The Queens Wake”, which was at once a great poetical if not financial success. He was friends with Wordsworth and knew Byron.

James Hogg’s most known work today is “The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner” said to have been an inspiration for Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella “The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.”

James Hogg died 21 Nov 1835 and was buried at Ettick Church. At his death Wordsworth wrote “Exemptore Effusion upon the Death of James Hogg.”

But is there a connection to my daughter’s family ? I am thinking, after trying to follow the lines of James’ family and of his brothers, that like my daughter’s line of descent from the Lochiel in the Cameron family, this line too might be through a daughter rather than a son.

There is a Laidlaw connection in her tree. Could Margaret Laidlaw, her 5 x great-grandmother who married Thomas Watson be the key ? Could Margaret’s father Walter be a brother of James Hogg’s mother ? Was James Laidlaw of Blackhouse his uncle ? I’m still waiting on DNA matches to help make that decision, but here’s another story to add to the mix.

James Hogg’s grandfather William O’Phawhope Laidlaw is said to have been the last man in the Border country to speak with the fairies. I know someone who will claim this fact as the evidence that holds the key.

 

 

I - Ireland

We all have some Irish in our families don’t we ? It certainly seems that way. The Famine was certainly a catalyst, but not the only reason. They left their native country in droves and went to every corner of the world.

My great-great-grandfather Edward Vose and at least two of his siblings were born in Ireland. His father was with the Royal Sappers and Miners and posted to Ireland to carry out the Ordinance Survey of Ireland. As was often the way then, the entire family travelled with the Army – even the families of Privates. Apparently though the topic of being born in Ireland was a touchy one, his grand-daughter in a letter to my parents said that although it was true that he was born there – he made sure everyone knew that he wasn’t actually Irish.

But there are Irish in my family on my Dad’s side.

Dad’s grandmother Sarah Hall came to New Zealand with her parents and siblings in 1877. They were from near Cootehill in Cavan. One of Sarah’s aunts, a sister of her mother Anne, also emigrated to New Zealand in the 1880s. Another of her mother’s sisters emigrated to New York in the 1850’s and a brother and some their cousins followed in the 1870’s and 1880’s. One of Sarah’s cousins founded the Californian Perfume Company which would later become Avon.

Sarah’s mother was a Hall too – coincidence ? I used to think so. Then along came DNA.

Some years ago, I had made contact with a cousin in New York and he sent me a lot of research from a fellow cousin in New Zealand. None of which I had seen before, but when a DNA match appeared in our lists of matches for the mother of the author of the research, I reasoned I could attribute our match (and shared matches) to Sarah’s mother’s family.

There were many other matches though who appeared to be in Ireland, or to have roots there. None of the names in their trees were familiar to me, but I did notice commonalities across some of their trees. I put it in the too hard basket for quite a while.

Then one day, I decided that I need to make a start to try to unravel it all and so I messaged a few of the larger matches. Some replied and were as baffled as me, but one was the key to it all. It seemed most of these people were connected through Sarah’s father William. My new DNA matched cousins had the names of a couple who turned out to be the likely great-grandparents of Sarah. They had had a large family and as with Sarah’s mother’s family, many of her father’s had also emigrated to the US and even New Zealand.

A lot of information was shared across the interweb. They had some children in their tree who they didn’t know too much about, so it seemed that Sarah’s paternal grandfather fitted in there. What a surprise to learn that Sarah had relatives on her father’s side who had also emigrated to New Zealand, this time settling in Canterbury, rather than Auckland and the Waikato. All of the common names I had seen in the trees for the mystery DNA matches fell into place amongst the descendants of siblings of Sarah’s grandfather.

Solved, I thought.

But then, my original DNA match, the one I had been using as a control for Sarah’s mother’s side of the family appeared to have shared matches to Sarah’s father’s side of the tree too.  As I see it the only way that can be, is if Sarah’s parents were related… I went back and looked at the new tree from those new Irish relatives and what did I see ? Another son in the family they had pieced together where they didn’t have information going forward – and his name ? David…the same as Sarah’s grandfather.

From email discussions with a couple of others it seems that it is highly likely that Anne and William Hall were first cousins. The community they came from was a close one, they were Presbyterian and there seems to have been a lot of intermarriage between local families through the generations.

Being Presbyterian as well seems to point back to Scotland; perhaps it is true that these families were part of the Ulster Plantation settlement in Ireland in the 17^th century. They all do seem to have more Anglo sounding surnames than what are normally thought of as being typically Irish. (Bailey, Hall, Pritchard, Reilly, Moncrieff, Livingstone, Montgomery et. al.,)

There is still a lot of unravelling to do, and it still seems quite overwhelming. But I will get there in the end.

H - Hammond

Mary Hammond was my great-great-great grandmother. She was born in Andover, Hampshire on 8 June 1808 and baptised three weeks later at St Mary’s church. She was the fourth child in her family and the first daughter. Three more sons were born before another daughter, Elizabeth in 1819.

Her father John had been married before he married her mother Sarah Knight in 1800 and had two children from that marriage, a son & a daughter before his first wife had died.

Mary married George White on 24 June 1827 in Andover and they had two children Ann and Henry before George’s death on 20 April 1834. At the time of the 1841 census, Mary was living with her widowed mother and both were described as Silk Weavers. Her children were also there in New Street, Andover now aged 8 & 10 and a Confectioner named Edward Laney also lived at the address. Possibly as a lodger – the 1841 census doesn’t identify relationships in the same way that later census’ do. (A confectioner makes fancy cakes not sweets, as I always thought.)

Five months later, Mary remarried, to Edward Laney. Their first child had been born four months earlier. Just nine months later the little blended family was on board the Olympus, bound for Nelson, New Zealand.

But, Mary wasn’t the only member of her family to take the opportunity to leave England and emigrate to the colonies. I was vaguely aware that some of her brothers had emigrated to New Zealand as well, but I have never really looked at them to piece it all together. DNA matches are making me do that.

Three of her brothers came to New Zealand as well. Although one later settled in Auckland, all three emigrated to Nelson like she did, Two of them, David and James travelled with their wives and children on the Lord Auckland arriving on 23 February 1842.

Her brother Joseph followed with his family a few years later in 1852 on The Rapid arriving in Auckland and making their way to Nelson. Or did they ? The Rapid is mentioned in the obituary for Joseph’s daughter Rose which also mentions her surviving sister in Nelson. However articles reporting on the 100^th birthday of that sister in 1938 say the family arrived on the Lord William Bentinck. Some investigating to be done here I feel.

DNA matches have identified other emigrating family members too. A cousin of Sarah and her brothers who emigrated to Utah and her sister who went with her husband and children to Launceston, Tasmania in about 1853 and lived in Deloraine before moving on to Melbourne.

 

G - Germany

Germany doesn’t really feature in my tree. Although there have been discussions about the brickwall great-great grandfather who “could” have come from there and anglicised his name. Until more convincing evidence is found I think that is as much conjecture as my daughter’s theory that he was from gypsy stock.

Germany though does feature in her paternal tree.

Her great-great-great grandparents emigrated to Australia in 1852. The Germany that they left was not the Germany we know today. Prior to the unification and formation of the German Empire in 1871, “Germany” was made up of a number of kingdoms, grand duchies, duchies and principalities of German speaking peoples. Included in this group were Austro-Hungarian Empire, Luxembourg and Switzerland which remained outside the empire when it was formed.

I wonder what is was that propelled them and some of their friends to leave for a new life on the other side of the planet. They were Roman Catholic, so they wouldn’t have faced the persecution that the Lutheran did. Perhaps it was just the opportunity to change the direction of the lives of their children.

Ruedesheim, on the steep banks of the Rhine is a charming, if touristy town. It seems that every spare patch of land is planted with grape vines. Riesling has been the most highly prized variety in the area since the late 15^th century. Today 84% of the total vineyard area in the Rheingau is planted with Riesling vines; no other area in the world grows such high proportion of Riesling.

On their immigration record, where they interestingly were accompanied by just 2 of their 4 children, Friedrich stated his occupation as “Vine dresser”. There weren’t too many vineyards around Sydney in 1852, so a change in career ensued. He became a stone mason. (In case you were concerned, their other 2 children travelled to Australia with different families, they weren't left behind as such.)

Two of Friedrich’s sisters emigrated a few years later, and possibly a brother. The sisters settled in the Mudgee area of New South Wales. Somewhat of a surprise came when I learnt that their father had also emigrated to Australia, after the death of their mother. He passed his twilight years with his daughters near Mudgee. One sister had remained in Germany. Did she not want to take her father in ? Or had he had aspirations to emigrate all along ?

There is another potential German connection. More research is required to prove that the evidence some have attributed to people in their trees is actually for the right family. John George vs Johann Georg ? the birthdays differ by about 5 years, but with chicken scratch writing in old church records 1733 could be 1738…couldn’t it ? A few DNA matches would come in handy for this branch, but since testers are few and far between and most likely in the range which Ancestry has deemed “invaluable”, they might be lost forever.