GRIFFITHS of Dunster.

[Sprout]

Hi
My grandmother was a Griffiths of Withycombe, now I find my grandfather's mother was also a Griffiths ( of Dunster) I am fearing for the gene-pool! I have traced the Dunster Griffiths back to Samuel (b:1741) but then the trail goes cold.
(Could his father have been Ahbraham from Carhampton?)
There is no sign of hunch-back or club foot in our family yet....although my older brother still listens to The Hollies!
Can anyone help prove these two lines are not (too closely) connected?

[ggriff]

Also worried about the gene pool!
My great grandfather John Griffith(s) was born in Withycombe in 1852. His mother was Elizabeth Griffith who was also from Withycombe. His birth certificate has the fathers details blank which supports the local baptism record describing her as an unmarried girl of 16. He married Ann Burge in her home village of Exton in 1872 and the marriage certificate gives his father as William Griffiths occupation Blacksmith.
I am struggling to establish if William was his birth father, whether Elizabeth married William later on or any other information to guide me in the right direction. I have looked at Griffiths's of Dunster but can't find a link yet.
John became an iron miner and in 1881 lived with his wife and their children Jim, Jack and Mary Hannah in Goosemoor Square, Withiel Florey - the Gupworthy iron miners cottages, together with Elizabeth who was then shown in the census as an iron miners widow.
So, I'm in the same boat in a way, struggling to find the connections.

[keyboard86]

Hi is this your John in 1861?

James GRIFFETH 66 Occ Ag Lab b Withycombe
Hannah 66 b Minehead
John 9 Grandson b Withycombe
Residing at Village, Withycombe
Census ref RG09/1602/10/13
Keyboard86

[ggriff]

Thanks. I viewed the Census record and think it may be my great grandfather as I haven't been able to find any other records for John. As yet haven't been able to confirm this.

[keyboard86]

Hi this looks to be same family in 1841:-

James Griffith 45
Hannah 45
James 10
Thomas 10
Mary 8
ELIZABETH 5
Residing Withycombe
Census ref HO107/936/ 15/7 / 8
Keyboard86

[ggriff]

Thanks. Saw that too and considered the link between John as James and Hannah's grandson in the 1861 Census and Elizabeth as their daughter in the 1841 Census.
In the 1881 Census when she lived with John, her age was shown as 50 making her birth year as 1831. This Census would make her year of birth 1836 - still a little dilemma as to confirming they are the same two people, but nonetheless still a hint to be considered.

[keyboard86]

OK point taken, in 1881 Elizabeth Griffith is shown a Widow of a Miner aged 50 b Withycombe, so either she was an Elizabeth who at some stage married a Griffith/s or this Elizabeth does not appear to be the 16 year old who had a child John in 1852 Withycombe?
Census ref 1881 RG11/2355/110/14

Have you Elizabeth post 1881 as their are two deaths in Williton Sept 1886 of Elizabeth's aged 49 and 53
Keyboard86

[ggriff]

I'm happy that the Elizabeth in the Census of 1881 living in Goosemoor is the unmarried mother of my great grandfather John born in 1852. Jack was my grandfather and the family, minus Elizabeth moved to South Wales when the Iron mines closed. Jack, now married, is in the 1901 Census in Barry, Glamorgan and his marriage certificate gives the same address in 1899. His brother Jim married in 1898 and was also living in Barry - also in the census of 1901.

I am still trying to find John and Ann who I believe moved to Ebbw Vale in South Wales around the same time. An entry in the family bible records Johns death and a grave number in Ebbw Vale cemetery. Unfortunately the headstones have been removed and the records incomplete.

An entry in my family bible records Elizabeth's death as 21st September 1896 so it could be either of the two Elizabeth's you mention - just the ages are skewed. I will re-look at both to see what else I can glean from them, but as she was widowed as per the census of 1881, unfortunately it leaves me no nearer in finding out about William.

Thanks.