David & Margaret Morgan are my great great grandparents. Here are some of my notes I've copied and pasted.
DAVID MORGAN – my great great grandfather
My great great grandfather DAVID MORGAN was born in Merthyr on 12th January 1826. The first reference we have of him is as a 15 year old living with his parents and brother Shadrach on the 1841 Census under the same roof in the ‘Twyn’ District of Merthyr.
By the time of the 1851 Census David had married Margaret Powell (born about 1829) and already had one daughter Mary who was born in 1848. The Census gives the address as just ‘Pen Heol Ferthyr’ so there is a good chance they might already of been living at 25 Penheolferthyr (Mountain Hare). On the Census David is listed as an Ironstone Miner and Margaret as an Ironstone Miners Wife. They also had a second child, a son named Shadrach. Shadrach however was to pass away aged 6 on the 25th April 1856 at 5.40am from Pertusis Pneumonia (Whooping Cough). Death Certificate was signed by father David Morgan who was present at the death, no doubt also with his mother Margaret.
The 1861 Census states that David Morgan (age 35, Iron Miner), Margaret Morgan (age 33) and daughter Mary (age 13) were living at 25 Mountain Hare, Farmers Arms. This is the first reference to the public house.
“The Farmers Arms was apparently opened in the early 1860’s after a dispute with the pub around the corner the ‘Mountain Hare Inn’ and was set up in ‘spite’, by my great great grandparents David & Margaret Morgan. Hence the pub’s nickname ‘The Spite’.
The story goes that the Landlord of the Mountain Hare Inn (surname Powell) had three daughters. On death he would leave the pub to his oldest daughter Margaret. However when he died the pub was in fact left to the middle daughter! Because David Morgan, Margaret’s husband, was quite well to do he felt the middle daughter deserved it more! This caused something of a rift so David and Margaret started up the pub round the corner ‘The Farmers Arms’ in spite!
So how could a new pub exist as at the time when the maps of the area show the area to be sparsely populated? Well David Morgan was a charge hand at the mine where he worked as an Ironstone Miner. One of his jobs was to dish out the weekly wages to the miners. He did this on a Friday night when the miners had to go to the Farmers Arms to pick up there wages and therefore no doubt began the weekend by dipping into their wages by buying a pint of beer or two!”
(Above as told to me by present landlord at the Farmers Arms David Jones on my visit their on October 22nd 2007)
12th December 1861 saw the birth of another Son at 25 Mountain Hare. The son was also named Shadrach. On the 15th May 1864 a further son was born to David and Margaret, my great grandfather DAVID WILLIAM MORGAN. But he was born next door to the Farmers Arms at Number 26 Penheolferthyr. The family living next door to the pub on both the 1861 & 1871 Census’s were the Powell’s (I’ve yet to work out if these were any relation to Margaret).
The 1871 Census at 25 Mountain Hare lists: David Morgan 45 Miner, Margaret Morgan 42 Wife Beer Seller, David W Morgan 6 Scholar, Shadrach 9 Scholar plus Mary Lewis 3 Granddaughter along with 22 year old servant Elizabeth Clynton.
David and Margaret’s Daughter Mary had married Edward Lewis and on 4th May 1870 had left for America (but they returned to Merthyr sometime between 1875 and 1880). Their daughter Mary Lewis (same forename as her mother’s) who was born at 17 Mardy Street round the corner from the Farmers Arms on 21st October 1867 was now living at the Farmers Arms with her grandparents and had not travelled to America for whatever reason with her parents. In fact by the time of the 1881 Census when she was 13 her name was listed as Mary Morgan and not Mary Lewis so it seems likely that her grandparents had in fact adopted her!. We shall come on to more about Mary & Edward Lewis later.
David Morgan’s wife Margaret died aged 47 on the 18th December 1875 at the Farmers Arms. The coroner of Glamorgan at an inquest on the 20th December reported that cause of death was from Apoplexy. The Merthyr Express on December 25th 1875 reported under the Local Intelligence heading prior to the Inquest: SUDDEN DEATH OF A LANDLADY – On Saturday morning last, Mrs Margaret Morgan, the wife of Mr David Morgan, landlord of the Farmers Arms, Twynyrodyn, was found by the servant girl dead in bed. Disease of the heart is believed to of been the cause of death.
The 1881 Census listed that at 25 Mountain Hare, Farmers Arms those living at the premises were David Morgan 55 Licensed Victualler, Shadrach Morgan 18 Coal Miner, David William Morgan 16 Coal Miner, Mary Morgan 13 Scholar and the Servant Rachel Jones 20. Mary Lewis’s surname had now changed to Morgan and we can only assume she had been adopted by her grandparents. This is the last record we have of this Shadrach Morgan and what became of him I have yet to find out.
