Hi CC/everyone else,
Thanks for the link to the Irish genealogy site; managed to find the record very easily. To add some exciting new information, yesterday I found what I believe to be definitive proof that John Henry Morton, Sarah Morton and Grace Jane Morton were siblings: In the 1911 England census, John H's daughter Mary Elizabeth appears in the SAME census return as Sarah Elizabeth Gloster, who is listed as a COUSIN. Therefore, since we also know that Sarah and Grace Jane were siblings, and it is logical to believe that Grace Jane was the same Grace Jane as the one on Thomas Morton's death certificate (our Grace Jane was 20 at the time, so you would expect her to still be living at home in Newcastle with her father), I am now at least 90% sure that the Thomas Morton who was born in 1815 and died in 1881 is correct.
Yesterday I did a bit more digging and I now have a mostly clear picture of what happened to all of John Henry's children, so here's a quick summary for those interested:
1) Mary Elizabeth, born 14 October 1878 in Rockcorry, County Monaghan, married Thomas Cobbe on 8 July 1903 in County Clare, moved to England at some point prior to 1911, three children, died 2 January 1953 in Southend on Sea - age 74.
2) John Thomas (my line), born 28 October 1879 in Dromore, believed by family to have attended university, moved to England some point prior to 1907, married Clara Amelia Day on 21 April 1907, four children, married again at age 68 in March 1948 to Hilda Mary Thorogood after being widowed, died 21 March 1977 in Saltdean, Sussex - age 97.
3) Annie Grace, born 16 December 1880 in Dromore, married Albert Mansfield Fleming in 1910, four children, died 16 June 1948 in Dublin - age 67.
4) William Edward, born 2 September 1882 in Dromore, moved to New York in 1908, married fellow Irish immigrant Mary c. 1914, one child, he is present in the 1925 state census but Mary is listed as widowed in the 1930 census so William must have died sometime between 1925 and 1930 - age c. 45.
5) Charles Henry, born 15 June 1884 in Dromore, married Martha Turner in 1910, three children, at some point after 1911 moved to New Zealand, died there on 9 March 1972 - age 87.
6) Sarah Millicent, born 19 July 1886 in Dromore, married Thomas Noone in 1918, one child, died in Belfast on 6 November 1924 - age 38.
Quite an interesting bunch - they all led very varied lives.
Re. Annie Cobban, the problems I have are her exact place of birth and her birth year; there are many Cobban families dotted about in Scotland, and her year of birth varies from 1843 to 1851. I used to think that it would probably be closer to the latter date, since that's the one that appears in records first and is closer to John Henry's birth year of 1854/5, but there is a family in Banffshire that could be correct: an Ann Cobban listed as born in 1844, with a father named John, which we know was the name of our Annie's father.
I hope we're able to take the Morton line even further back; it seems as if the Thomas Morton who married Mary Fawcett in 1840 could be our Thomas, in which case his father would have been Edward Morton. Going even further, perhaps Edward's father was the Thomas who was born c. 1764 and died in 1811?
So much to think about!
Best,
James