Research Trip 2018 (5)

The morning was set aside to visit a friend (from my days as the non-residential administrator at St Michael's Theological College,Cardiff) in Newbridge-on-Wye but I managed to drop into a church on the way! This time it was St Gwrthwl's, Llanwrthwl - where 3x great grandfather, James Price was baptised on 10 Sept 1786. 

I think this has to be my favourite church of the ones I've visited on this trip. The church gate is incredibly stiff and I couldn't open it from the outside. Fortunately, there are steps!

It's a little more precarious on the downward side! I loved the interior of this church; it's carpeted throughout and I was particularly taken with the natural stone of the west end wall.

Tucked away down there are tea and coffee making facilities for the many walkers that pass through the village. Judging by the comment in the visitors' book, it's much appreciated. I did manage to push open the gate from the church side which saved climbing back over the wall!

Onto Powys Archives which is now located on the Ddole Road Industrial Estate; purpose built facilities for the preservation of the archives. Could I find it? I knew it was Unit 29 but the road markings leave a lot to be desired. The sign that read 'Units 23 and upward' was badly worn and impossible to read from the road. Anyway, I found it eventually and was made welcome. 

I confined myself mainly to the parish records that aren't available on findmypast; Llanbister and Llananno which are available as scanned copies (so no having to struggle with microfilm!) in the office. I've verified some baptisms for the Woodside, Llananno Joneses and some Reeses and realised I had driven past Great Meadows, the address given for Sarah Mantle and Richard Benbo (for the baptism of Richard, Sarah and John Benbo in 1867 although this is awkward because Richard Benbo married Adeliza Mantle and died in 1862!) on the mini-adventure!

I've also gleaned more information from the records for Llanbadarn Fynydd for the family of great uncle James Jones which brings me a bit more up-to-date with them.

I think the most interesting things on this visit were the Memorial Inscriptions and we have to be grateful to volunteers who record the position of, and details on, headstones in church yards.

Firstly, I decided to check the details for 3x great grandfather, Edward Thomas. Born in Welshpool in 1808, Edward lived to the ripe old age of 93, dying in 1903 in Newtown. I'd seen his burial record in the parish register some years before. It's really interesting as the minister had noted, in the margin: "used to tell everybody in his latter days that he had committed a 'great crime'. When asked what the event was, he would reply, 'too old to work' ". 
I knew he had a headstone at St David's Church, Newtown but had never found it so I wanted to re-check the details. Here's what is noted: "337 - composite headstone with slate plaque and urn. Urn: In memory of M Morris from friends and neighbours. Headstone: In loving memory of Edward Thomas, aged 93 years. Buried 22 Jan 1903. Also of Margaret Morris, granddaughter of the above. Died 30 Oct 1946 aged 67. "Fell from a railway compartment at Forden Station on to the rails and received severe injuries which proved fatal. Rest in Peace". 

I'd seen an entry for a Margaret Morris of about the right age in the 1939 Register at the Public Assistance Institution at Forden; a member of staff who was a seamstress and wondered whether it could be her. I would need to order a death certificate to confirm but it seemed very likely now. 

I also found out something else but I'm going to leave that until tomorrow...

Research Trip 2018 (4)

Today I had planned to visit Newtown's (in Powys) Textile Museum as I'd never been before and many of my family were involved in various aspects of the trade: woolsorter, wool stapler, hand loom weaver, weaver, tailoress etc. I thought I had correctly noted the opening days but no - I got there and it was closed. Ho hum -  another visit in the future?

All was not lost as, on another glorious day, I had dropped into the churches in the villages along the A483 where family members had lived in years gone by. 

 I started at Llanbister where my grandfather, Pryce Jones was born in 1899; I've been to Llanbister before and taken pictures of the war memorial where Pryce's elder brother, Thomas Jones is commemorated. He died in France in 1917 and has no known grave so is commemorated at Tyne Cot. I've tried to get into the church before and found it locked (or so I thought) but on this day, being rather blessed, I arrived about the same time as the curate (who explained that the church is usually open but the door is particularly stiff). It's a huge church (the cathedral of the Ithon Valley), has steps up to the front door, steps to the main body of the church, steps up to the altar. It also, most unusually, has a baptistry! 

On to Llananno, the parish church for the Joneses when they were the blacksmiths at Woodside, which has the most beautiful rood screen (most of these were destroyed at the Reformation)

Llananno is set very close to the Ithon River which you can hear as you approach ther church - a welcome change to the noise of the A483!

The next parish church is Llanbadarn Fynyddd where Richard and Eliza Mantle are buried (the headstone is right next to the church entrance) as well as Richard Jones and his first wife, Mary Crowther.

On the long drop down into Newtown, I stopped off at St Paul's Church, Dolfor to take a photo of the church there - sadly, it wasn't open so I've yet to see inside. The smithy, where Timothy Jones was the smith and where his widow, Hannah married the next smith, James Mills is just opposite the church. James and Hannah are buried here (Timothy is buried at Llandinam for reasons I have yet to discover). 

On the way back to Rhayader, I decided I'd have a mini-adventure and take the back road to Abbey Cwmhir. This was the birthplace f 3x great granny Sarah Richards who married the Richard Mantle born in 1787 (much like the Joneses, the Mantles favoured the name Richard and there are several of them). Adventure it was! It's pretty much a single tracked road with few passing places. Indeed at one point I had to reverse a long way to find room for a tractor to pass.

The church at Abbey Cwmhir was much embellished by the local landowners, the Phillips family;  a little too much for my taste

Back to Rhayader and just enough time to work out what I should be looking at when I visit Powys Archives in Llandrindod Wells tomorrow. 

Jones of the Day

Today's Jones is Richard (the first) the one born to Timothy and Hannah of Dolfor, Kerry in 1821 (well, he was baptised on 5 Aug 1821).

That 'Kerry' has caused problems for those transcribing censuses or rather, for those searching transcribed censuses. This Kerry is a couple of miles outside Newtown in the old county of Montgomeryshire (modern day Powys), it's not the Kerry in Ireland. I'd been searching for a Jones born in Wales; the transcriber listed him as being born in Ireland. It could be a lifetime's work to correct all the mis-transcription of just Welsh placenames on Ancestry, never mind all the other service providers.

At some point between 1841 and 1842, Richard moved to Llanbadarn Fynydd in Radnorshire (not too far along the A483) and a couple of years later, a mile or so along the same road to Llananno to Woodside. The Old Smithy is now a holiday let. While in Llanbadarn Fynydd he married Charlotte Price. Charlotte's mother, Mary Mantle Price was the sister of Charlotte and Richard's son Richard (Richard the second)'s second wife Sarah Mantle's grandfather. With me so far? This means Mary Mantle Price and her husband James Price appear twice in my family tree.

Having read through the Llanbadarn Fynydd parish registers and seen the number of illegitimate births I imagine it must have been terribly important to read the banns of marriage and I wonder how many didn't go ahead due to consanguinity issues. But more of that when I get on to the Mantle line!

Richard and Charlotte had several children; 3 died in infancy (Arthur, Mary and Edwin) but my researches have focused on the direct line - Richard the second - and also his younger brother James Jones (who deserves, and will get, a post of his own).

There is something left to research on Richard the first and the question to be resolved is highlighted in the 1881 and 1891 censuses. In 1881, at the Smith Shop in Llanbadarn Fynydd (he moved back), a Mary Stephens (aged 52) is listed as a servant; at the bottom of that household's entry is Margaret Stephens (aged 10) who's listed as 'daughter' though it's not clear whose daughter she is. In 1891 the mystery is compounded as Margaret Stephens (now aged 20) is listed as 'granddaughter' directly under Richard's name and above Mary Stephens (68) who's listed again as a servant.  Who's the daddy? If I get a spare £9.75 (the cost of a certificate from the GRO) sometime perhaps I'll find out.

Richard died back at Woodside on 2 February 1902; he's described as 'Retired Blacksmith (Master); the cause of death was 'senile decay 8 years, exhaustion 12 months'. The informant was Richard Jones, grandson (this Richard isn't in my direct line but since there aren't any other Richards, he may as well be Richard the third and there's an interesting tale about him too for another day).