Daniel Charles Ophir Morris and his family

Daniel Charles Ophir Morris was born on 20 November 1852 at St Albans, in the Hawkesbury district of New South Wales. According to your descendancy chart, he married twice and had twelve children listed across the two marriages. His family’s history connects inland northern New South Wales with Bucca, Grafton, Bellingen and Moonee, and later with Sydney and Queensland.

Daniel married Marguerite Mary Watson at Warialda on 26 July 1875. Marguerite was born in Sydney on 18 July 1855. Their first three children—Henry, Walter and Henrietta—have birthplaces recorded in the Walgett and Warialda districts, while their younger children are recorded in the Grafton or Clarence district.

A newspaper letter dated 31 March 1885, transcribed on the Gambrill family-history website, includes D. C. Morris of Bucca Bucca among settlers protesting against land reserves that prevented further settlement. The initials and locality make him a likely match for Daniel, although the letter does not give his full name. This suggests that he was established in the Bucca district by 1885 and participating in efforts to improve conditions for local settlers. The cited original is the Clarence and Richmond Examiner and New England Advertiser, page 2. 1939)

A further report, “Meeting of Selectors,” published on 12 March 1887, names Daniel Morris and Amandus Hoschke among the proposed committee members for an Upper Orara branch of the South Grafton Progress Association. The meeting addressed poor roads, access to markets, postal services, schools and a jetty at Coffs Harbour. The report is transcribed on your Hoschke family website. If this Daniel Morris is the same man, it places the Morris and Hoschke families in a shared community network twenty years before Alice Morris married Harold Hoschke. Hoschke Family in Australia

The strongest identifying newspaper transcription is a “Free Selections” report of 9 March 1889. It names Daniel Charles “Ophis” Morris of Bucca Bucca, almost certainly a spelling or transcription variation of Ophir. He selected 100 acres in the parish of Moonee, county of Fitzroy, adjoining an existing 100-acre conditional purchase identified as portion 23. The boundaries mention Bucca Creek and Theodore Gambrill’s portion 22, and the deposit was £10. This indicates an existing landholding and a further selection, rather than his first arrival in the district.

The children of Daniel and Marguerite

Your chart lists seven children from this marriage:

• Henry John Paterson Morris (1876–1948), born in the Walgett district and later deceased at Ryde.
• Walter Leslie Harris Morris (1878–1919), who married Mabel May Bridge. Their listed children were Ilma A V Morris and Walter Morris. Ilma married Walter Boyd Sirman and had a son, Bryan.
• Henrietta Lydia Mary Morris (1880–1969), who lived to approximately 89.
• Percy Edward Charles Morris (1884–1961), born at Grafton and deceased at Parramatta.
• Hildred Lilian Frances Morris (1886–1922), born and deceased at Grafton.
• Alice Maud Margaret Morris (1888–1949), who married Harold Robert Hoschke.
• Bertrude Manning “Bertie” Morris (1890–1909), who died at Cungery, Grafton, aged 18.

Marguerite died at Bucca on 26 September 1893, aged only 38. Her death left Daniel with a family whose youngest listed child was still a toddler.

Alice’s marriage to Harold at Bellingen on 3 September 1907 established the direct Hoschke connection. Their five listed children were Edith May, Irene Margaret, Nellie Enid, Arnold Arthur Charles and Leslie Harold Hoschke. Subsequent marriages extended this branch into the Smith, Hodgson, Murray, Armstrong, Long and Dacey families.

Daniel’s second marriage

Daniel married Sarah Jane Cundy at Bellingen in 1896. Sarah was born at Christmas Creek on the Macleay River on 1 January 1867.

Their five listed children were George Ophir Morris, born in 1897; Mignonette Maria Morris, born in 1900; Daniel J Morris, born about 1903; Raymond R Morris, born about 1906; and William Thomas Morris, born at Moonee on 10 September 1909.

Daniel died at Grafton on 6 May 1914, aged 61. Sarah survived him until 5 May 1943, when she died at Grafton aged 76. His youngest listed child, William, was only four when Daniel died.

The newspaper transcriptions give Daniel’s family history a clearer local setting: land selection at Bucca Bucca and participation in the campaigns that helped develop the Orara district. His precise occupations, parentage and the circumstances of his death remain unverified in this search.

Newspaper references are 31 March 1885, page 2; 12 March 1887, page 3; and 9 March 1889, page 8, all in the Clarence and Richmond Examiner and New England Advertiser.