John Morgan was born in approximately 1797 at Mamhilad. We first see John at Hill Farm in Glascoed on the 1831 Land Tax Assessment records, where he would have been aged around 33 years.

He married a Mary, who had been born in Caldicot in approx 1806 and they had several children together, including:

John Arthur Morgan (christened on 28th February 1833 at Monkswood),

William Morgan (born 9th April 1837, christened 9th July 1837),

Thomas Morgan (christened 3rd March 1839),

Arthur Morgan(christened 22nd November 1840)

Mary Susanna Morgan (Born 29th January 1842 and christened 20th October 1842)

Anne Elizabeth Morgan (born c. 1844 - christened 3rd October 1847)

Jane Frances Morgan (christened 3rd October 1847)

Mike John and others maintain that John’s wife was Mary Arthur. I have not seen his research, but know that he is usually very thorough. Other indicators are John and Mary’s use of the name Arthur in their first born son’s name. A John Morgan and Mary Arthur married at Trostrey – local to Glascoed. I could find no trace of a Mary Arthur christened at Caldicot, although Arthur is a name found in the baptism registers in the Caldicot area at this time. There were also Arthurs living at Glascoed Fach in the 1820s (could they be relatives?).

Hill Farm was one of the larger farms in the Glascoed. It was rated at a £12 pa rental value for the Land Tax Assessments in 1831, which is one of the largest rentable values of all properties in Glascoed.

John is listed as a farmer in all censuses from 1841 to 1861. In 1851 he was a “farmer of 80 acres”. By 1861 this had changed to “farmer of 122 acres”.

He was evidently one of the better respected residents of the hamlet. This is referred to in the reports of the Glascoed riots, where he was listed as one of “the most respectable inhabitants of the hamlet” in the Usk Observer, and possibly for this reason, he was let off without charge, while 24 other inhabitants were committed to the assizes accused of destroying enclosures on Glascoed Common.

He was also the only Glascoed resident invited to the coming of age celebration of the local MP’s daughter in 1862. John was very active (certainly in later life) in the parish church at Usk. He was appointed as the sidesman for Glascoed in 1861 and was said to have been the founder of St Michael’s, Glascoed (this is noted on his grave). The Morgans provided “an ample lunch and tea” following the official opening of St. Michael’s in Jan 1862, at Hill Farm.

We also see notes of John Morgan in the following articles and advertisements …

Sale of apple trees (Dec 1860)

Legal action to recover property from Thomas Hickey (June 1860)

And perhaps most interestingly an account of the discovery of a dead man’s body at Little Mill – John was the first on the scene (March 1862).

John died on 25th February 1864. He was the third person to be buried at St. Michael’s churchyard (strangely, Thomas Hickey, the person who John Morgan evicted in 1860 was the first person buried there in Feb 1863).

RECORDS:

1831 Land Tax Assessment.

1841 Census.

1851 Census.

1861 Census.

Death notices One and Two.

Burial register.

Monumental inscription.