The rapture which Kingsley felt over the Morrison clan at Monos must have been real indeed for a generation later he was still at its full pace. Morrison died in 1904 and was buried in the sandy soils of his beloved La Vallette Bay.
His wife, Charlotte Tardieu, also seems to have been all that a pioneer woman needed to be. Indeed, many years after her death, Capt Percy Fraser, a former superintendent of Prisons who had visited the place as a youth in the 1880s and 1890s, wrote in the 1940s:
“How many can remember Monos at the time I am writing about? Who remembers old William Morrison and his wife Tante Charlotte as we youngsters called her and his large family of sons and daughters who were all born on Monos? Old Morrison was a Scot and a typical one at that. He was a seaman who called here in his youth and married in the Dehere or Tardieu family who at the time owned bays at Monos and Scotland Bay. At the time I am referring to, the Morrisons lived at Grand Fond Bay, subsequently owned by the Lack family and now by Mr Albert Siegert (grandson of Dr J G B Siegert of Angostura Bitters fame). It was taken over by the Americans lately (during WWII) for military purposes. They (Morrisons) kept cows, goats and pigs, and cultivated coconuts. People occupying the neighbouring bays got their milk from them. They baked their own bread which they also supplied to the bays. Tante Charlotte was also the local doctor and whenever anyone fell sick in any of the bays she was sent for. She readily answered the call and prescribed her well known and efficacious local remedies.
“Her cheerful disposition was quite sufficient to make a sick person feel better. At Grand Fond they had mango trees of all kinds and we boys enjoyed nothing better than to row over there during the mango season and enjoy that luscious fruit to our hearts content. Whenever we arrived, old Morrison would send one of his men to pick coconuts for us. After drinking as many as we could consume, we would load our boat with nuts to take away. We also enjoyed a glass of fresh milk, either cow or goat. Old Morrison held several posts at Monos under the Government. Postmaster, Harbour Master, Bailiff, Road Officer—there was a road from Kenny’s Bay to Domus Bay, for the upkeep of which he was responsible, Special Constable, Wreck Officer, Customs Officer etc. He was an expert fisherman and no one else knew the various banks or currents better than he. He also took part in the whaling industry which at that time flourished, He was responsible for many rescues at sea.”
This amazing man and his wife lived and died on Monos where they had carved their own utopia, so much so that even though many of their children left the island, three remained in the old house long after the deaths of their parents. The great historian, Fr Anthony De Vertuil traced the last part of the Morrison saga on Monos and it is this; Patrick Morrison and his spinster sisters, Misses Aggie and Lolotte remained in the old house. Patrick owned a fishing boat called the Oily Oyster from which he harvested the bounty of the sea while Lolotte was Postmistress for Monos, a post she inherited from her father. She was known for floating about in her voluminous skirts on a bamboo raft, bonneted in a Mexican sombrero!
The siblings eked out a living, earning some cash by occasionally moving into the servant quarters at La Vallette and renting out the main house to holidaymakers in the 1920s. Finally, Patrick and Aggie died and Lollotte was left alone. She sold the house and bay to Sir Geo F Wight, a millionaire business tycoon from Port-of-Spain who resold it to Gerard Montano, a San Fernando businessman. He had the house demolished in order to build a new villa and workmen were badly frightened when in one of the rooms of the old Morrison home, a 15-foot macajuel snake (Boa Constrictor) was discovered. The superstitious workmen believed that Lolotte was a witch and the snake had been her pet. The bay is now owned by the Mouttet family and is called Blue Waters Bay.