William was the fourth child of Patrick Jnr and Ann (Cleator) Morrison.

William was born in Ballaugh, but while his parents and anumber of his siblings remained there, he moved to Santan in the southeast of the Isle where he worked as an agricultural labourer and married Jane Creech in 1850 when he was 28 years old.

He lived with his in-laws, William and Jane (Quinney) Creech for a number of years. The Creeches died; Jane in 1861 and William in 1874, but by 1871 the William an dthe family were in our place at Seafield, St Anne. The couple raised six children and the 1881 census shows them living in Ball Bunt Cottages in Braddan with the three youngest daughters.

It is unclear when the couple died, it is likely that they retired to Douglas, as the burial of a William Morrison is recoded there in 1895 (although born about 1825 not 1822). A Jane Morrison, born in Santon like our Jane Creechand about the right age, is recorded at Douglas (Conchan) in 1901 "living on own means."

Another William Morrison

Being a small island, and with the limited number of common Manx names it is not surprising that confusion may occur when researching the family tree. Care is required.

So it was with William and Jane Morrison, because there were two such couples of about the same age in Santan (St Anne) parish at the same time. The unrelated couple was William Morrison and his wife Jane (nee Spence).

With further research and the assistance of DNA testing, it may be possible to connect many more Morrison (and other) families in the future.

 


OUR MORRISON FAMILY - Extracts from the 1871 Isle of Man Census - St Anne, District 2 (Courtesy of Ancestry.com)


The other MORRISON FAMILY - Extract from the 1871 Isle of Man Census - St Anne, District 2 (Courtesy of Ancestry.com)