RootsChat.Com

Thank you all, what fantastic information I have no doubt I'd not have found on my own! It is always such a journey to find out about our families and sometimes, their possible skeletons!   
I will follow the leads you have provided and try to answer some of the questions the odd birth dates and names have brought up. Aine'

Oh, that is just great, thank you so much. No, I had not discounted that record, I did not find it. I am using ancestry and have run a search on this over and over and have come up with nothing. This should help me search this gggrandmother, thanks again! 

John, how exciting!!! Jimmy Collier and Bill Collier Davis and I have been communicating now for months, Bill and I have met and Bill and Jimmy are now meeting up in Kilkenny today through friday. This is just so wonderful. I@m in Dorset and off to Ireland to meet the family who are still in Ballinkillen and Thomastown next month. Jimmy and Bill will have read your message soon, I'm sure, but I'll copy and paste it to b e sure they can see it before Bill leave Ireland on Friday. Please get in touch, we are hoping, beyond getting to know one another, is to create a family network and perhaps arrange family reunions. All the best, Aine' (send me a private message and I'll send you my email address! )

Hello, I have just found that, after months of searching, my gggrandfather, Thomas Boys Morris, was born in Strood. His father was born in East Langdon - John Morris - and mother Sarah was born in West Langdon. I cannot find anything about the couple other than the 41 census. I am wondering if  Thomas' mother Sarah's surname was Boys, given the coincidence of that unusual name, the family coming from the Langdons, and the fact that there seem to be a lot of Boys in that area. (Thomas born in 1816/John about 1787/Sarah about 1797)
Does anyone know about the Morris Boys connection?? I am coming up blank beyond the census records of 1841/51, no marriage, birth records (except for Thomas Boys), nothing for the parents.
Thomas Boys Morris became a mariner, married hannah Hickman from Southampton in 1840, and though he died young, assuming that is why he does not live in the family home with his wife - she becomes head of household by 1851 (he died at sea?), his full name shows up on his children's wedding banns (Thomas Boice/Boyce/Boys Morris; master mariner/deceased).
Any information to find the Boys connection that might help me continue to go back and to answer questions about the family origins would be VERY much appreciated!

Thank you for all the fantastic information and suggestions!
I made a mistake on Richard's birthdate - just notpaying attention to my typing! - he was born in Newport in 1790 and was 14 years Mary's junior.
I did not know about the son Richard or the tomb stones, so that is really helpful.
Thomas Morris married Hannah Hickman on Portsea Island in 1840; the census of 41 shows him as a groom. My guess is that is because he was sent to family friends from Southampton, the family of Moses Hickman (Hannah's father), mariner. The addresses for both families are right near one another. And, in that brief marriage record, he is identifed as thomas boice morriss....that reference shows up again in his children's marriage bans father deceased, "Thomas Boyce Morris, master mariner." That is why, with that unusual middle name, I am sure this is the same person. I had hoped the Boice/Boyce would help find his mother mary - maybe - but have never been able to find anything about it!

Hannah seems to have been deserted by Thomas, going by the censuses over the decades. She is a mariner's wife in 51', head of household after that...she ends up following her son Charles Morris to London - Rotherhithe - where my grandfather, Charles Morris, was born.
I think Moses Hickman's wife might be the Welsh connection between the Hickmans and Morris', as she was Mary Davies, born in Poole, Dorset, I cannot find her family and somehow, she ends up with a Southampton mariner. Davies is Welsh AND richard Morris's daughter Elizabeth married a mariner called Davies (she lived with her father in newport in the 1861 census, indicating husband away. the following census, she is a mariner's widow.)
Mary Davies Hickman is an inigma, showing up as a widow and living with Hannah and her children in London, so her husband has no doubt died at sea (which is what happened to Capt Thomas Morris, who died on his way back from Quebec to Cardiff). She is "just" a widow, I cannot find death records for Moses.
Mariners everywhere, but finding their connections and parents is proving very difficult!
(the monmouthshire query was mine; in some reports, the surrounding area of Newport had a fluid border, sometimes Pembrokeshire, sometimes Monmouthshire).
Thank you again, I hope I can continue to find answers!