Antill family index [OCR source: The Antill Family by R.V. Pockley]

The Morrises ...page 13

From time immnemoria1 the ancestral home of the Morrises was in Monmouthshire, in Wales. Warrington's "History of Wales", Bolton's "History of Westchester County", and "The Morris Family of Morrisania"67, by W.W. Spooner, give us information about the early records of the family.

The Morris lineage is traceable to "Rys, sometimes called Rice, Fitzgerald, brother to Rys , Prince of Geventland, which Rys or Rice was settled in Monmouthshire". In 1171, Fitzgerald and Richard Strongbow, Earl of Striqui1 and Pembroke, led an invading expedition into Ireland, and quickly subjugated the greater part of it. In this enterprise the two associates were encouraged by King Henry II of England who, however, appropriated their conquests. "For his war–like achievements Rys, the companion of Strongbow, was for pre-eminence called Maur Rys or Maur Rice, i.e. the Great Rys or Rice". In Welsh, Mawr or Maur signifies "great", "a hero", "a warrior", or "a brave man". His descendants dropped the Fitzgerald name, kept for the honour of it the Mawr or Maur, and the name gradua11y became Marise and finally Morris.

In the first half of the 17th Century William Morris, a descendent of Mawr Rys, resided in Monmouthshire, on an estate called "Tintern", situated near the historic Tintern Abbey. The Abbey was founded by Cistercian Monks in 1131, but the Church , which is the chief feature of the ruins as they exist to–day, dates from the end of the following century. The building was 228 feet long, and a fine specimen of Gothic architecture; the window tracery and other decorations are very beautiful.

WILLIAM MORRIS had four sons: Lewis, William, Thomas and Richard. They all became active supporters of the Parliamentary cause, and were brave and distinguished officers in the Cronwellian armies.r;

Colonel Lewis Morris, the eldest son, inherited the estate of Tintern. In the Civil War he was appointed to the command of a Troop of Horse, and acquitted himself with conspicuous credit. One of the most notable episodes in the conflict was that of the siege in 1648 of Chepstow Castle, on the English border of Monmouthshire. Lewis Morris was second In command. After a long resistance, the Castle was taken by cutting off the water supply and setting it on fire. To commemorate this achievement, the family coat of arms became: "Quarterly 1 and 4 gules a lion rampant regardant o 2 and 3 argent three torteaux". Crest: A castle in flames proper. Motto: "Tandem vincitur" (He conquered at last).