James Morse m Annis Wyman 1874 Thornbury (General)

by helen adair, Sunday, April 12, 2009, 10:23 (5494 days ago) @ j hargreaves

My G G Grandmother was Tryphena Elizabeth Morse. Her mother and father were James and Annis Morse, nee Wyman. James and Annis lived at Milcombe Head, Gatcombe. I carried out a search against the name Morse associated with Gatcombe, Lydney, Etloe, Blakeney, etc and came across the information in italics below. Looking at the various occupations my G G Grandfather James Morse had, dock labourer, fisherman, waterman, shipyard labourer, plus the various birth locations of some of James and Annis‘s children, Gatcombe, Blakeney, Etloe, it all seems to fit somehow.

What do you all think? Was this Charles Morse a brother of James? I guess the Court House at Gatcombe was quite a large dwelling, which I believe is still standing? Jackie states that Milcombe Head was also a substantial building so guess the family were fairly wealthy? May be a bit of a red herring but thought that it was worth bringing to everyone’s attention.

'A fishery belonging to Etloe Duchy manor in 1283 (fn. 68) presumably comprised rights below Gatcombe. The right to use two stop nets (large nets operated from boats held on cables broadside to the tide) was confirmed to the owner of the Duchy manor in 1866; one net was used off Purton and the other between Purton and Gatcombe. (fn. 69) From 1878 the rights belonging to Etloe Duchy, together with rights of the Bathurst family to use stop nets in Wellhouse Bay below Purton, in Lydney, were leased by Charles Morse, owner of the Court House at Gatcombe. His descendants, who later bought the rights, worked the fishery from Gatcombe for the next 100 years, and in the 1920s owned 10 stopping boats. The boats, which were built and repaired in outbuildings at the Court House, usually took up their station in Wellhouse Bay, where a building called the fish house provided accommodation for the fishermen during the season. Most of the salmon caught were sent by rail to London. Three boats were kept at Gatcombe by Mrs. Ann Bayliss (nee Morse) in 1989 but they had not been used for about three years due to difficulties in getting them repaired and renewing the nets. (fn. 70) In 1922 over 70 men from Blakeney and the surrounding area fished with lave nets off Gatcombe, selling their catch to the Morses, (fn. 71) and a few men still used lave nets there in 1989.'

From: 'Awre', A History of the County of Gloucester: Volume 5: Bledisloe Hundred, St. Briavels Hundred, The Forest of Dean (1996), pp. 14-46. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=23250&strquery=morse Date accessed: 12 April 2009.