A book I once
read told of a young girl’s interest with a tin box containing
her great - uncle’s treasured manuscript.
The manuscript was in fact an extensive local and family history.
The girl knew the contents of the box was important, but her great
- uncles work was of no interest to her and his manuscript was
carelessly dumped in a basement where years later it was destroyed
by flood waters.
But the girl treasured the tin box; it had a lock. She hid her
secret writings in the box and stored it under her bed.
One would hope that the girl’s writings did not reach the
same end as her ancestors work.
This incident brings me to my thoughts about Ken’s book
It would be difficult to imagine the manuscript of “In Neptune’s
Wake”being lost or destroyed, for so many people have been
involved with it’s construction.
Ken’s enormous project began “just for family interest.”
It took many months of planning and research over a period of
some six years, gallons of midnight oil and trips and phone calls
to all sorts of out of the way places, hoping to glean information.
His cohort wife was invaluable to his research. Rozanne has a
disarming gift for asking very personal questions (perhaps a legacy
from her nursing career) which often bring forth very frank answers.
Many of these revelations are contained in this book.
Ken has handled his research with his usual thoroughness, including
as many ancestral family lines of his children as possible, but
the Irish part of their ancestry comes forth as his favourite.
His contacts with Irish relatives discovered during his research
gave him strong feelings for the plight of his Irish great grandfather,
convict Michael Morton.
Being a bit of a radical himself, Ken empathised with his ancestor.
He was told Michael sang anti establishment songs at the railway
station on his way to the docks to begin his term of incarceration.
Like most other family histories this book contains many interesting
references—but “In Neptune’s Wake” is more
than a reference book. It is a valuable social document with many
unique descriptions and stories of both old and new Australian
history.
Lynne
Douthat
January 1994
On a visit to Waanyarra in
1973, after an absence of about thirteen years, I visited the
old historic cemetery. Their I found the grave of my Great Grandfather,
his wife, and other members of my family.
Even though I had lived the first twelve years of my life in the
old settlement, I had never been to the cemetery—nor had
anyone told me this grave existed. This ignorance of such a fundamental
piece of family information made me realise how little I knew
of my ancestry. The experience was the first of many "prods"
I was to get to research the history of my family and make sure
it was written down.
Originally I concentrated on my father's lineage, thinking that
if I documented that, I would be satisfied. But then, of course,
the equal importance of my mother's family in the scheme of things
struck me—thus the process of researching her family and
history began.
Some time passed before the real reason for doing all of this
family delving became clear to me—it was my children. I realised
that I wanted to make sure that they could, if they wished, study
their family lineage and history, using this book. A secondary
reason was to provide the many descendants of Michael and Elizabeth
Morton and other ancestral families with an interesting and hopefully
entertaining overview of their family.
Of course, if my children were to have a comprehensive outline
of their family history, the details of their mother's lineage
had to be gathered and included in this work, and given the equal
importance it deserves. Given that my avenues to access this detail
were naturally fewer than for my own family, I hope my efforts
to do this have been adequate.
Hopefully, now that this work is completed, my family, friends,
relatives and all other long suffering recipients of my earnest—or
should I say boring—family history dissertations can sit
back, relax, and take their revenge by pointing out the mistakes
they believe it contains, or the details with which they do not
agree !
Ken
1994
The
past eleven years—what a buzz !
Good health, great travels with Rozanne around this wonderful
country of ours, the welcome addition of two Daughters-in law,
three more Grandchildren (and “baby-sitting” them whenever
we can), watching the evolving careers of my children, the end
of an era with our move from “Rokewood” to Bunyip, the
end of another era with the death of family treasure Irie at 100
+, and the old “Cruiser” still serving us well.
Our financial status precludes us from living the life of Riley,
but we have enough to do the most important things in life—survive—and
remain useful to, and involved with, our wonderful family.
Ken
2005
The compilation of this book has been a "labour of love" from my point of view, but it could not have been as comprehensive as it is without the contributions of many others.
To Lyn and Ian McInnes, Angela Rodoni, Stan, Cheryl and Elma Johnson, Kit Alderson, Irie Crowl, Lynne and Max Douthat, Dot Gordon, Dorothy Bowler, Marjorie Johnson, Marina, Anita, Guy and Julie, Elsie and Neil Davis and many other family members and friends in Australia, I am deeply indebted, whilst Bill Morton, Teresa Conlan, Margaret and Vince Comiskey, Liam Doran and John Morton in Ireland and England, have been most generous with their help in establishing the “Irish Connection” for me.
Many others have also generously assisted with the gathering of information and to them I express my sincere thanks.
I am especially grateful to Guy for his many hours of skilful work in scanning the photos charts and documents this work contains, the restoration and enhancement of those photos which would otherwise have been unusable, the cover artwork and technical support he gave, as my geriatric brain grappled with the complexities of the digital age.
The patience, fortitude, understanding and help above and beyond the call of duty of my dearest Rozanne, and her countless hours alone while I pecked away at the keyboard cursing the inadequacy of my typing skills, is lovingly acknowledged.
Ken
1994
The Normans were descended from the Viking
invasion of France, circa 940 AD. Viking, Thorfin Rollo became
the first Duke of Normandy—Duke William “The Conqueror,”
(1066 and all that!) was a descendant of Rollo.
Mortons emerged as a Scottish family in County Cheshire, said
to be descendants of Robert, Earl of Mortain, a half brother and
war-lord of William the Conqueror. This family received Lordships
in Cheshire, naming them Moreton, Little Moreton and Greater Moreton.
By 1170 some Mortons were established in Dumfriesshire on lands
granted to them in 1160 by King David of Scotland.
Religious and political conflict, as Church, Parliament and the
Monarchy fought for supremacy in Scotland and England in the 16th
century, caused many families to migrate. Thirty two Morton families
departed from Cheshire and Dumfriesshire and are known to have
settled in Ireland (mostly County Antrim) around this time.
Families such as these were called “Adventurers for Land
in Ireland,” staunchly Protestant and undertaking to keep
this faith in their new land. They were given the rather unfortunate
title of “Undertakers”
In 1541 Henry VIII had forced Ireland to recognise him as King
and had set about attempting to crush the Catholic majority. His
daughter Mary I, further attempted to strengthen British rule
and breed out the Catholics by “The Plantation of Ireland”—
the seizing of land in Central Ireland and granting it to Protestant
English settlers who became known “Planters.”
The strength of Catholicism in Ireland today not only indicates
the abject failure of this arrogant regal tactic, but also the
weak religious resolve of “The Undertakers.”
Mortons, Moretons, Motons and other similar names are not common
in Ireland. The majority of Mortons in Australia have Scottish
or English ancestry.
The Authors best guess is that his family is descended from the
“Undertaker” Mortons who arrived in Ireland in the 16th
century from Scotland—but then again the Vikings had been
around in Ireland since 800 AD and perhaps had a Morton ancester
rowing at number one on the port side on one of their visits!
Ken
1994
