I was excitedly finding out things about my Welsh ancestors that I'd not been able to suss before. Like who were the parents and other family members of Margaret Jones (my great great great grandmother)? This had always been a mystery. And who was the young boy Jeffrey Jones seen to be living with her and her husband George Harrison in Llanthony back in 1841? But, oh wonder of wonders, all comes together, and that one name Jeffrey Jones is a big clue, because although Jones was a maddeningly common surname, Jeffrey was not, for which Jeffrey had to be a name which was in some way specifically connected with our family, one of those names that gets passed down through the generations, as was always the way of our ancestors. Little Jeffrey Jones was surely a nephew of Margarets, it also being the way of our ancestors to pass around ones children amongst various relatives. What really led me to big discoveries here was my checking out the famed Welsh rugby player, Kenneth Jones, who I'd always been told we were related to. It's one thing to be told you're related and it's quite another to find out how. I was determined to find this out, by working back through his ancestry. Kenneth Jones was born in Blaenavon on 30th December 1921 to John Jones and Ella Caroline Burland. John's father was Jeffrey Jones (note the name), a coal miner of Blaenavon, born there in 1868, who married in Abergavenny to Harriet Morgan. Harriet's family, interestingly, were from the mountain hamlet of Pwlldu where my Harrison's had also lived. The relevance in all this is the name of Kenneth's grandfather, Jeffrey Jones, as therein lies a clue. And its not that Jeffrey's own father was born to that little Jeffrey who'd stayed as a youngster with our family in Llanthony, no, and I don't know if that little Jeffrey even made it into adulthood, there there being a death of one by this name in Crickhowell a few years later. The father of Kenneths grandfather, Jeffery, was John Jones, originally of Crickhowell where he had been born in 1842, later becoming a haulier of Blaenavon, his wife being Abigail Wilson of Redwick. I drew a close at this for now, finding nothing more and still not quite understanding the connection. Later, on renewing the research, this was on my now understanding just how relevant the name Jeffrey was, for which I looked up a Jeffrey Jones of the same area Kenneths's great grandad John Jones was from, around and about Crickhowell, and I found him and more clues besides to link this newly found individual up with my own family. In 1861, there is to be seen a Jeffery Jones of Llanelly, who was at this time deaf, born in in 1802. And how did I know this was our own relative, with his age qualifying him be the brother of my own Margaret Jones? Well, he was a miller, as was my Margaret's Llanthony based husband George Harrison, and what's more he was born in Llanbedr, a village associated with our family. Margaret and George Harrison had lived in Llanbedr before arriving in Llanthony, and I'd already worked out that this village was the biggest likelihood for Margarets own place of origin. Llanbedr, as a birth place for Jeffrey Jones, hadn't even shown up on the census transcription, and on seeing the original it was written quite illegibly, and yet I could make it out, for being familiar with the name already. Finding this Jeffrey Jones in another census, the previous one of 1851, was the icing on the cake in regard to Kenneth Jones's ancestry, because there was Kenneth's great grandfather, John Jones, living with him, aged 10, listed as Jeffrey's nephew, born in Crickhowell in 1842. Thus it was that I had linked up our families. I now found the miller Jeffery Jones's baptism in Llanbedr (lucky to find this as so many Welsh baptisms are unfindable, none of George and Margaret Harrisons children's baptisms ever having been traced and neither George's or Margaret's themselves). It was in finding Jeffrey Jones's baptism, in Llanbedr (Ystrad Yw), Breconshire, that I at last solved the long standing mystery of who were Margaret's own parents, and they were Jeffrey Jones (yet again) and Elizabeth, and this older Jeffrey Jones was yet again a miller. And then I even found the marriage of Jeffrey Jones Senior and Elizabeth on June 3rd 1792 in Llanbedr, which gave Elizabeths maiden name as Evans, she being a local of Llanbedr, and he being from Llangenny, which was near to there. The witnesses were a friend, James Pitt, and a regular wedding signer Edward Herbert. This meant so much to me, to have pushed back into the realms of that which had seemed impossible, finding parents for Margaret; Jeffrey Jones the miller of Llangenny and Elizabeth Evans of Llanbedr. Being a genealogy researcher is alike to being a detective. Years ago I'd begun seeking my roots and only now had learnt who were Margarets parents. One follows clues. Kenneth Jones, the rugby player, known by family to be one of our people; therein lay the biggest clue, and yet one which needed some deep looking into. Looking at Margaret's brother, Jeffrey Jones the younger miller, his mill was for years the Upper Mill at Govilon, as recorded regularly in the electoral registers of the 1830's and 40's. And another brother, William Jones, was the miller at the Lower Mill, Govilon. His baptism I had now found as well, William Jones, born in Llanbedr in 1807 to Jeffrey and Elizabeth Jones. Another potential brother was David Jones of Llangenney, who married on 10th July 1807 in Llanbedr to Blanch Philips who was a local girl. Looking more at the Upper Mill of Govilon, this was now a ruin, which had consisted of the mill, a house, a corn drying kiln and a pond. There had been milling in Govilon since at least the 1300's, which utilised the steep fast flowing waters of the Cwm Siencyn Brook as it it cascaded down the Blorenge mountain to the river Usk below. The millstones, which remain to this day at both Upper Mill and at George Harrisons old mill in Llanthony were made from the 'pudding stone' to be found on the summit of the Blorenge mountain. These millstones would grind up the corn brought to them by all the local farmers. And now another fabulous find was a will summary, which favoured amongst others 'Elizabeth, wife of Jeffrey Jones, miller of Llangenny', by which more of the family now came to light. This will from 1823 was made by Elizabeth's brother, Lewis Evans (Lewis being another recycled name in our family) of Llangenny, who owned properties both there and in Llanbedr. By this one could see Elizabeths siblings, Lewis of course being one, and the others being John Evans, who had a son also called John, Ann who was the wife of John Jones in Danderren, Llangattock (it could be so that Jeffrey and John were also brothers), and James Evans, already deceased, but with the will profiting his daughter Elizabeth. Another will I found of 1834-5 was of a yeoman from Crickhowell, John Adams, which profited various of his nephews and nieces, one of whom was Margaret, wife of Jeffery Jones, miller of Llangenny (pretty sure this is an incorrect transcription as his wife was surely Elizabeth) and mentioning also her sister Ann 'Williams' (is this another incorrect transcription?) of Llangenny (although it could be that this Ann, formerly married to John Jones, had become a widow and remarried). John Adams also listed a deceased brother, Thomas Adams, father of Joseph, who would therefore be another uncle to Elizabeth. By such a clue it appears that Elizabeths mother would have been an Adams girl marrying an Evans lad. Jeffery Jones I later saw had died in 1834, in Llangenny, as shown by the death duties register. And I'd searched and searched but could not find any baptism for my Margaret as his daughter, that often absence of any sign that ones children were baptised yet again. But then, and how difficult it was to find this, but there came up yet another Breconshire will, none other than Jeffrey Jones's will summary, millwright of Llangenny, not quite correctly transcribed, for the tricky writing of the time, but mentioning his three children, Jeffrey, William and Margaret married as Mrs Harrison being one of them. I could cry, I mean, well, I did. One doesn't always get confirmation for ones theories in genealogy, but this was it for sure. My long research had blossomed beautiful fruits. As Jeffrey the miller of Govilon was Kenneth Jones's great grandads uncle, this would make Jeffrey's brother William Jones the great great grandad of Kenneth Jones, and Jeffrey and Elizabeth of Llangenny his great great great grandparents. As they would be my great great great great grandparents. And that makes Kenneth Jones, rugby champion of Wales, my fourth cousin once removed.
0 Comments
In my genealogy I focused on doing a presentation for my Welsh great grandparents John and Emma Harrison. I found footage on YouTube of Pwlldu, the hamlet high on the Blorenge mountain where John Harrison had lived in as a little boy, filmed in the 50's by the BBC before the place was bulldozed to the ground. Such a film could be interestingly modernised with music and all, but for there being a big symbol splashed across it to prevent copying. On a Pwlldu Facebook group I found photos of the two rows of houses once there, which my Harrison's had dwelt in, pretty rough pictures really, but I jazzed them up and was so happy for that.
There's a lot to be discovered about John and Emma's lives and the people that surrounded them. For instance, that they had lived a while in Bargoed during their early marriage I'd not known, but now could see from their daughters school registration details. My Welsh family, upon leaving Pwlldu, settled in Varteg and Garndiffaith, they being John's Welsh Harrisons and Emma's Forest of Dean Hawkins's. The Forest of Dean people never would say that they were from Gloucestershire; it was always the more exciting sounding Forest of Dean. One uncovers many stories, like of bully neighbours (I know that well). Jane Hawkins, Emma's mother, had been harassed most threateningly by a neighbour, John Jones who was a blacksmith. Jones's existed in every corner of Wales and I myself have Jones's ancestors, John's granny being a Margaret Jones from Llangattock.
Emma's sister, Amelia, had a daughter called Blodwyn (I love those old Welsh names), and another daughter who like herself was called Amelia. This young girl, Amelia Self, went as a teenager to work in service at a grand house in Swansea, only to be dead within three days of arriving there. She'd eaten a hearty meal of steak, potatoes and beans, thereon retreating unwell to the outside privy, where she had a fit, By the time the locked door was forced open she was almost dead and could not be revived. One may suspect poisoning for this, but she'd been one for headaches and had even had a previous fit some years before.
John Harrison had a cousin in Brynmawr and later Blaina called Margaret Morgan, née Watkins, who while still single had to make out a bastardy order against one George Holly for him having got her with child and yet not having taken responsibility for this. George was a friend of one of her brothers and they were later in the Boer War together where they managed to survive a dreadful massacre.
A lovely clip I found on YouTube of Welsh miners returning from the pit singing 'Bread of heaven', which brought tears to my eyes, as did other clips of the Welsh men singing, all being from a film 'How Green Was My Valley', in turn inspired by a book, reflecting the South Wales mining communities at the turn of the century.
I now did my grandfather 'pop' George Harrison's time travel and avatars, always a joy for me. And other ancestors, I shall gradually do likewise. How wonderful is this technology. My pop was from the Welsh hills bordering onto England and he lived for 100 years.
I made another long journey from central London out to the Kew Archives. Not that I made such grand discoveries as last time. Seeking my ancestral Maxteds in a big book of Nine Elms railway employees yielded nothing. But I did find a few things which had so far eluded me. And that was just by accessing Find My Past, information I'd not been able to find on the Ancestry website. I had already sussed out, by deduction, that my ancestor Robert Bunney (Senior) had married an Ann Aylward, but had never found a marriage record confirming this till now (my deduction had been due to Alyward being used down generations as a middle name for various children). It was at the church of Mary Magdalene (of course lol) that they had married one another on 26th February 1764 in Bermondsey. And I found my Welsh ancestor John Harrisons school admissions for the hamlet of Pwlldu, , in both 1876 and 1877, recording that the familys adress was at 'Lower Bank' and that his father worked as (yes I knew) an ostler. What I was really pleased with was at last finding Thomas Sugrues baptism, which was in Greenwich in 1854 at the Roman Catholic church of Our Lady of the Sea. Thomas's birthday was here recorded (a good find) as being on 24th Febfuary (making him an Aries), the baptism having been on 26th March. His godparents were Michael and Maria MacDonnell. I found Roman Catholic baptisms for Thomas's siblings too, for Joanna, Catherine, Jacobus, Edmund and the twins Daniel and Bartholomew. Interestingly I discovered also that the childrens father, Bartholomew Sugrue, had also had a child with his first wife, Ellen, who had died of Asiatic cholera. I'd never seen anything to prove before that they'd had a baby together, but there she was, a daughter, Anna, born in 1847, her godparents being Corey Malvina and Margaret Gallachan.
1921 Census Day, new records released, as revealed at midnight. In a few locations in England one can view this freely, but I am in France. Therefore I would have to pay. At first I was not going to look, as it wasn't that I expected to find any vital information there. Rather I messaged my London based daughter, Eleanor, to let me know if she visits Kew Gardens, as this was one of the locations of free access (in and around the Kew Archives). But as a keen genealogist I couldn't then resist to at least have a little look, firstly just at my Welsh family (simply by transcript), then I saw that for just a little extra money one can download the originals and in my excitement ended up doing this for everyone. So the Welsh Harrisons of Varteg were the first I looked at. I already knew their ages, places of birth and occupations. What I did learn was which colliery they worked at. It was on the Varteg Hill that my great grandfather, John Harrison, worked as a colliery examiner for John Vipond & Co. My pop, his son George, was at that time a 12 year old boy. Ok, secondly I looked at my Maxted's of Eastleigh, to the family of my great great grandfather, William Maxted, who was a boilermaker on the railways. His Irish wife, Maria, who had always been a mystery, having previously said she was from Westmeath, now claimed in this 1921 census to have been born in Cork. So, yes, armed with his new information I looked once more to finding something of her origins, but still found nothing. What I did find from this census, which I had not known before, was that one of the daughters, Norah, herself had at this time an illegitimate baby in the family home, a little girl named Norah Maria Kathleen, the names of both her mother and grandmother. As for William and Maria Maxted's daughter, Florence, she had married a ships cook, Percy Spencer, and was living with him at 2 Bridge Cottages, Dovercourt, with my little 'nanny' Eileen, aged three years. Florence's younger brother, Henry, was also living with them and working as a local postman. My Shetland Inkster's I couldn't look ar as no Scottish records had been as yet released. I now looked at my Seagrove's of Greenwich. I already knew that my great great grandfather, Thomas Seagrove, was a salvage hand (retired) for the Port of London. And I looked at the Bane's . My great great grandfather, Richard Bane, was newly a widower, aged 81, living with his daughter Alma's family in Walthamstow, Alma's husband, George Reynolds, being a school teacher. All of this I knew. What was new information was Alma's birth in Barbados having been fine tuned to the location of St Anne's, where there had been a British garrison. So this was where my Bane's had lived while they were in Barbados. My 'granny' Isabelle Bane can be seen aged three living with her family at 13 Lee Road in Dovercourt. I'd not so easily found them at first, due to her father, D'Auvergne Bane, using his middle name only of Robert. I already knew that he'd worked as a checker at Parkeston Quay. In the census it specified that he worked for the Great Eastern Railway. That was it for my family in the 1921 census, nothing excessively riveting. But little by little colours are added to the family story.
Ancient dna comparison was blowing my mind and I was both totally focused on and excited about this. I'd been on my terrace looking at some genealogy tiktoks, when I came across one which was so very interesting. An English girl, Bobbie, was showing how to upload ethnic dna to an archeo-genetic site 'myancestry.com' which compared ones dna to dna extracted from ancient bodies.
Oh wow; of course I had to get into this. And I messaged about it to Ella May, who did likewise. She was more speedy about getting her transfer done than I was. And some patience was requuired till all was processed. What emerged was so exciting for me. And as the information was only freely available for a couple of days I had to totally immerse myself in discovering all that was of relevance. By this I arrived at who were my closest ancient peoples, dominant of whom were the Celts; the other close groups being Saxons, Franks, Danish Vikings and Vandals. Vandals - Ho! They were barbarian Central European peoples.
And apart from those there was a link to the Balari tribe of Sardinia.
And to the Vascones of the Basque lands.
Of ancient remains which I specifically genetically matched, they were varied, and one particularly excellent match was to the Cheddar Man of Cheddar Gorge, Britians oldest discovered skeleton, dna having been extracted from one of his teeth. He had lived about 10,000 years ago, had dark skin, black hair and green eyes, wavy hair, was lactose intolerant and was of a hunter gatherer type (acccording to the analysis of his dna).
And I was matched to ancient bodies found at Stonehenge, it now being understood, from looking at the conditions of these remains and from how far some came, that Stonehenge was an ancient pilgrimage place where pilgrims would come for healing, much like Lourdes is today.
And I had matched to Roman Gladiators, to Vikings wounded in battle, to the Beaker culture, to Bronze Age peoples in Britain and France, to Merovingian nobles, to someone around at the time of the French revolution, to Viking men and their Irish women who had settled Iceland, and to the royals of Europe, there even being a genetic connection to Louis XVI.
As far as my nearest modern genetics were concerned, this was mostly Irish, although on one map of links I could see Welsh was closely there too.
I just had to make a tiktok of this fascinating new subject.:
Myheritage sent me a new ethnic DNA update, which at first looked to me the same as before. I made a little video talking of this, very short; and it was only later in the day that it dawned on me that the sub-categories under the listing of Irish, Scottish and Welsh were not just generalised but were specific to me. This was most curious because my Scandanavian Viking at 64.3%, which I had always presumed to relate to my granddad Lyall Inkster who had Shetland Island blood, would only have then in part come from him, because one of thise sub-groups in the Celtic-Pictish category specifically specified the 'Shetland Islands'. Of course, Shetland Islands as a sub category was too obscure to relate to everyone. This update had for the first time localised my my Celtic Pictish Scottish to the distant northern Shetland Islands. At the same time this revealed that those islands were not just a Viking conquered land but was made up still of the original maybe Pictish settlers; my people. My share of Viking blood was still a lot, but was not just from my mothers father I now realised but was from my own father too. And some of my fathers ancestry would always remain a mystery to me.
So the other sub-categories of the Celtic type were of two different Irish types, being from my grannies, and the other was 'southern Wales and southern and western England', this relating to my paternal grandfather, Pop, who was Welsh mixed with the Forest of Dean. Specifically that Welsh was southern Welsh which did reflect my research of his people. The Irish had accorded to it the numbers 12 and 8. These I looked up but myheritage had not as yet identify them with any known Irish groups. Presumably they reflected where my grannies ancestors were known to have come from, Westmeath and County Kerry.
My Greek with southern Italian remained at 4%. This was said to centre around the Aegean and Ionian Seas, reaching to Cyprus, the Caucasus, southern Russia and the Mezzigiorno region of southern Italy; south Italy being 'the first region settled by ancient Greeks outside of their Greek peninsula, going right back to the 8th century before Christ'.
The Spanish was 3.5%, pretty mareh for a minimal DNA to; these people descending from 'ancient Iberian tribes', also extending to the Azores, Madeira and the Canary Islands. And not only southern Italian, but I had Italian in general at 2.7%. And what of the Finnish; just a little, at 1%; this category includes some of western Russia, being associated with Nordic and Slavic cultures.
Ok, so I next looked at my mums Myheritage update. My mum not only had the Shetland Islands also specified as a key group but an Irish location was given (though with no number accorded), this being 'Cork, Kerry and Limerick'. Wow, distinct places being mentioned and yes that was right on, as her Irish ancestors whom I had researched did indeed come from County Kerry. My mother had only 3% more Viking than I did and as I had observed before she had a 7%English which I had not inherited. Her Spanish was marginally tinier than mine at 3.2% and her Italian was 2.8%, just a fraction more than mine. She had no Greek, this naturally being my inheritance from my father.
My Aunty Lollies update, she being all I have had to represent my deceased father, wasn't now showing up any Greek DNA. My dad and she would not have inherited the same shares of DNA. By deduction I understood him to have had at least the same amount of Greek DNA as me.
And now, this was interesting, not only did her Celtic data specify 'southern Welsh', this being from Pop, her father, but also that her Irish was of the numbers 12 and 8! What!! This showed that the Irish showing up in me was essentially from my dads side, both those numbers relating to my great great grandmother Mary Dolan from Westmeath. Had I not even inherited my mothers County Kerry quota, let alone her English. How curious! Aunty Lolly had English DNA at 12.9%, again not passed on to me, this specifically being eastern and central UK. It could be that my own sister did get English and County Kerry, but as she had passed away long long ago this I could not know. Aunty Lolly had a high Viking percentage at 25.5%, so indeed my own Viking came from both my parents. And there was another group Aunty Lolly had, but not me, which was 9.1% northern and western European, this being associated with Holland, France and Germany. I didn't have it! It was so curious that largish sections of DNA, although of lesser than 10%, may not be handed on to a descendant, and yet that something more ancient, such as presumably the Greek, had come down to me. And I so could have been 'English' but by fate was not. The strong Irish in me did then appear to be from my father. I'd guess that was what this data was saying.
Looking at my daughter Rosina's update, she had got so much of my Viking at 38% and less of my Celtic at 13.7%, with the special grouping of Shetland Islands in there. She'd not got my Greek or Spanish, but she'd got some Italian at 1.9%. The tiy amount of Finnish I had passed onto her too. Overall she was a Viking Indian. Her Indian DNA at 44.8% was of the Indo-Aryan ancient tribes.
And looking at my son George's update, he had inherited from his Italian father some exotic ethnicities, such as Middle Eastern and West Asian. And, oh, I then saw it, as an additional specific genetic type there was mentioned not only the Shetland Islands but also Bari in Italy. If I'd needed any more proof that Francesco was his father and not Dutch Allard then there it was. Francesco's people were from the village of Turi near to Bari.
George's general Italian was 33.6% and his Greek & Southern Italian was 19%. He had Spanish at 4%, Balkan at 7.4%, Middle Eastern at 1.8% and West Asian at 0.8%. Some of that Mediterranean in him was not just from his dad but from me too. Unlike Rosina, he got very little of my Viking at only 2.4%, compared to her huge 38.6%, but he got more of my Celtic and Pictish at 31%, compared to her 13.7%. Hence Rosina was more of a Viking and George was more of a Celt. It would be interesting to see my other childrens DNA one day, to know what percentages they themselves inherited. George's Middle Eastern was of the Levant, this being the 'cradle of civilisation' which had been inhabited for thousands of years. His West Asian aligned to Turkey and Iran, being of ancient Persians and the Turk nomadic tribes. I do know I have tiny amounts of these types of DNA too from the testing I've done with other companies. Me and Amanda had some interesting talk about gypsies, as maybe I was descended from them (maybe not), but as for Amanda it was said that her maternal grandfather, Thomas Shaw, had been a gypsy. He had sold newspapers on a street corner in Liverpool. When her granny, Ellen Spencer, had fallen for him she was forbidden to marry him, for which they had dated in secret for many years and on Ellen's fathers death they were at last able to marry. Amanda wanted that I would look more into this, but there were so many Thomas Shaw's in Liverpool at that time, for which I needed more clues. I did crack more of Amanda's vaster genealogy though, of her humble Scousers, one of whom had been a mariner from St John's Newfoundland, and there being generations of shoe makers and carters. The carters would generally have had a horse and cart by which to transfer produce from one location to another. I caught onto someone elses research from hereon, which led to a Welsh family, and yet I could see this shared information was incorrect. Although for sure there was Welsh blood and Irish too. Amanda, although it was not so clear to see, had red hair, which was from both sides of her family, her father having like mine been a redhead. Some days later I again looked to Amanda's genealogy, this time cracking her 'gypsy' Shaws. This was thanks to a phone call between Amanda and her mother which revealed the date of birth I'd needed to distinguish the one Shaw fellow from a host of others.
Thomas Shaw's mother, Gertrude, had not been favourably recalled for she had been a tough woman, all in black, who would threaten to set her dog on Amanda's mother when she'd been a little girl. So they were understood to be a bunch of gypsies, that family, although going back in time it could be seen that they were solid working class types. And further back there was an alderman and mayor of Chester. Amanda was relieved to at last find someone of success and repute. My youngest childrens ethnic Myheritage DNA percentages arrived: Rosina: 44.8% South Asian; 38.6% Viking (Shetland); 13.7% Celtic (Irish, Scots and Welsh); 1.9% Italian; 1% Finnish George: 33.6% Italian; 31% Celtic (Irish, Scots and Wesh); 19% Greek and South Italian; 7.4% Balkan; 4% Spanish Iberian; 2.4% Viking Shetland; 1.8% Middle East; 0.8% West Asia And so comparing theirs to mine: 64.3% Celtic (Irish, Scots and Welsh); 24% Viking Shetland; 4% Greek and South Italian; 3.5% Spanish Iberian; 2.7% Italian; 1% Finnish
That ever mystery of George's dad is by this ethnic result once and for all sorted. He is my Georgio De Bello. Even there had come up a De Bello cousin match for him, this being to Leonora De Bella who was in her 70's and living in America, she being possibly a second or third cousin once or twice removed. I reacquaint with the results of my mothers own test results, through her there coming my Spainish and Italian, whereas through my father would come the Greek. 59.6% Celtic Irish and Scots - (the Welsh being from my father); 27.3% Viking Sheland; 7.1% English (I never inherited any of this, so neither did my children); 3.2% Iberian Spanish; 2.8% Italian And my Aunty Lolly, to represent my deceased father, who is her brother - although they would have had differing blends of their parents DNA:: 52.5% Celtic (Irish and Welsh); 25.5 Viking (not connected to my Shetland genes); 12% English; 9.1% North and West European, for example French, Dutch and German Really I have no way to know my fathers correct percentages as he died so long ago and I suspect his alotted amount was rather different to Lolly's, he being red haired and she so blonde.
I have cousins a little more distant who have done the Myheritage ethnic tests too, although their DNA will have the imput of people I have no connection at all too, but still its interesting to observe. They are both connected to me through my nanny Eileen, the mother of Lolly and my father. Firstly, Dee, descended from nanny Eileen's sister Molly. Dee's grandfather is Scottish and her father is a Londoner with the Welsh surname of Jones: 75.6% Celtic (Irish, Scots and Welsh); 9.8% Baltic; 9.7 Viking Scandanavian; 2.7% West Asia; 1.4% Finnish; 0.8% Ashkenazi Jew Secondly, Dominic. He descends from a sister of my nanny Eileen's mother Florence who was half Irish. 39.2% Celtic (Irish, Scots and Welsh); 35.6% English; 18.6 North West European; 4.9% Viking Scandanavian; 1.7% Ashkenazi Jew In cousin matches, there is a second or third cousin who I quickly see must be related to me through pop, my Welsh grandfather, this being because my aunt Lolly and I share her as a common relative, but not Dee nor Dominic. Jane Keep, and indeed she does appear to have Welsh, ancestry. 77.9% Celtic; 19.1% English; 3% Spanish Iberian So, Welsh for sure. Well, I got to looking at some of these proposed cousins to see how we may connect to one another, not just this Jane Keep, but two other matches. And though none had any obvious links, I got to researching their lineages and found them myself. Such is my zeal for researching. Jane Keep had only put that her grandparents were a Powell and a Bebb, and not even any other information at all, but regardless, I sussed her ancestry right back to Mary Thomas, who happened to be the daughter of two of my Welsh ancestors, Morgan Thomas and his wife Ann née Rosser. It was by checking all this out that I found a census I'd not seen before, for Ann when she was old and widowed living in Llanelli in 1891 with this aforementioned daughter Mary. And what was so amazing about this discovery was that languages spoken were listed and my Ann, despite everyone else in the household being English speakers, was herself a Welsh speaker. She didn't even speak English at all, only Welsh. Those who did speak both languages were clearly marked as doing so. And I worked out another Welsh cousin link, again which I had to research more to make sense of, this being to a Lionel Herbert Watkins. Thus I found that my connection to Lionel reached right back to the original George Harrison of Llanthony, Lionel descending from his daughter Sophia and me from his son William. The link to George Harrison was not a research even worked out at all by this distant cousin, but I'd sussed it. And I shall get to working out more and more of these proposed cousin connections I do suppose.
In genealogy I got to looking at my Welsh ancestry of Wonastowe. I knew my pop's ancestress Mary Ann Thomas had lived like him to a ripe old age, she having died at the age of 104 and he nearly aged 101. Well, now I discovered Mary Ann Thomas's mother, Mary Morgan of Treowen Gorse, was also a centenarian, she having lived till 103. This had been written of in the papers: 'Mary Morgan, aged 103, at Wonastowe. Though having reached an advanced age, she retained her faculties nearly to the last. During her long life she was actively employed in doing good, and after passing her 100th year, she was carried to the cottage of a neighbour and by her timely aid saved the life of the mother and child.' It did say on one of the census's that Mary Morgan was a nurse aged as late as 99 even, which appeared to have covered being the village midwife. 1861 Census Wonastow, Monmouthshire Treowens Gorse Mary Morgan, age 99, widow, nurse, born Wonastow Mary Thomas, daughter, age 76, widow, born Wonastow And here they were ten years earlier in the 1851 census: 1851 Census Wonastow, Monmouthshire Mary Morgan, age 88, widow, annuitant, born Wonastow Mary Morgan, daughter, age 65, widow, agricultural labourer, born Wonastow And ten years earlier still in the 1841 census: 1841 Census Wonastow, Monmouthshire Gorse Mary Morgan, age 75 Ann Thomas, age 55, and her husband, John Thomas, age 60, carpenter, he being born outside of Wales and their daughter, Esther Thomas, age 20, born outside of Wales Certainly there was a long life gene in my Welsh lineage. And there was another article I found about Mary Morgan; 'A Centanarian - Our obituary records the death of Mary Morgan of Wonastowe, better known as Molly Morgan, who has been borne to her sepulchre after an extended pilgrimage of 103 years. It is said that she was born in the house in which she died. ' This house would be Treowen Gorse in the grounds of a mansion farmhouse Treowen House. 'Certain it is, she was never known to live in any other (house). She had been a widow beyond the memory of most of us and had led a blameless and religious life. Her faculties were preserved to the last and within these three weeks she was carried to a neighbouring cottage to see a poor woman in her confinement. her memory was particularly tenacious, she would converse about even trifling incidents which had happened in former years, as well as remember circumstances of very remote occurrence. She was always cheerful and grateful for the visits of any who felt interested in her. A daughter who lived with the venerable matron' (this being Mary Ann Thomas) 'and who survives her is 79 years of age.' When Mary Ann Thomas herself died (1885 Abergavenny Chronicle): 'Death on 15th October at Wonastowe, near Monmouth, Mrs Ann Thomas, aged 104 years. Mrs Thomas's mother died in the same house at the age of 103 years.' There were other examples previously of women living till over 100 in this village. For example Ann Watkins born in 1719, she died in 1823 aged 104, being a native of Brinsop in Herefordshire, she having married and settled there, only returning to Wonastow for the last thirty years of her life to live with her son William Watkins of the Wonastow Corn Mill. She was for long a tenant to the family at Wonastow House. She had nine children.
And a relative of hers, Mrs James, had died previously at the age of 101, Ann Watkins remains being put in the same tomb as Mrs James in the Wonastow churchyard. I do so wonder if these ladies were also Ann Morgans relatives! |
AuthorSusie Harrison and her hobby of genealogy, always looking into her own and her friends family trees. Categories
All
|