Agnes FOX m. Reg? & lived in GOBOWEN

[amberly]

As a very little girl [in the 1940's]I used to go on the bus with my Gran to visit a small farm on the main bus route from Wrexham to Gobowen. We'd get off the bus & cross the road to the farm, it was right on the edge of the road.   These were friends of my Gran who lived there named Aggie & Reg.   Aggie I beleive was Agnes [nee FOX] but I don't know what her married name was.  Reg was her husband, but what was his surname???
I beleive she was sister to SELINA Fox who m David Lewis from Chirk Green.   Anyone who lives around there now have ideas who they may have been???   Amberly

[JoMC]

Hi Amberly

As a little girl (n the 50s) , I used to take the bus from Chirk to Oswestry nearly every week. I'm trying to visualise whereabouts the farm was - was it on the Oswestry side of Gobowen or the Chirk side?

I have most of the Whittington (Gobowen was in that parish) , St Martins and Chirk records but I think we're going into BMDs. They would have been in the Oswestry Registration District.

I'll check up on other sources.

regards

Gadget 

PS - roughly how old do you think they were?

[JoMC]

Hi again

I've found a possible Agnes in the 1891 census who fits your description. Not sure if she might be a bit older but she did have a sister Selina:

1891 Census

Smythy Cottage, St Martins
RG12/2118 Folio 64 Page 7

Mary Price, 83, widow, b. Flint
Thomas Fox,son in law, 42, coal miner, b. Denbighshire, Chirk
Selina Fox, grdd, 18, b. Denbighshire, Chirk
Evan Fox, grds,16, coal miner, b. Denbighshire, Chirk
Agnes Fox,grdd,9, b. Denbighshire, Chirk
Annie Fox, grdd,6, b. Denbighshire, Chirk


So far, I can't find a marriage for her though 

Gadget

[JoMC]

Think it's the right family

Selina Fox married David James Lewis, Dec Quarter, 1899, Oswestry vol 6a page 1451

Gadget 

[amberly]

While you were replying I was too, but the message has got lost although I clicked send. Anyway here I go again.    Yes that's the correct family that you've found.   When I visited the farm I'd be coming on the bus from Wrexham & I think we used to look for a school ?? on the other side of the road & then get up & pull the bell & the bus would stop right outside the farm gate.  The house was right on the road with a high wall around it. Mind you I was small so it may not have been that high!! And the gate was a farm gate & you could see through into the yard.  The house was on the left of the gate.  I figure Aggie & Reg were in their 60's. I've no idea if they had any children, there were never any there.    On the 1901 census Agnes is living with Selina, her husband & their 6 mth old baby named Charles E at Moreton Cottage. The sisters were b in Weston Rhyn.  Can't think of anymore I can tell you.   Amberly

[JoMC]

I'm trying to visualise the bus route.

You'd pass the four crosses (where the road to St Martins and Weston Rhyn crossed the A5 ) and there was a small railway line going from Ifton coliery to Preesgwyn. Then you' d go down a straight bit of road and the road crossed the canal and there was a pub on the left (bus side) then there were some walls and fields and you were nearly in Gobowen. The Church was on the west side of the road and then houses both sides. So it would be before that. I think the school was close to the Church on the opposite side.

Here's a map of present day Gobowen:

Click Here

The old road is the one that runs diagonally from the top centre left and is coloured yellow and brown/orange. I thinkthe farm  must have been close to the Church but I don't remember a wall 

Gadget

[amberly]

Have to go I'm cooking supper, will be back on line in 1/2 hr.  Thanks Amberly

[amberly]

OK, I'm back & I've studied the map & yes I can see where you mean & that could have been it. Whether the farm is there now or not I don't know, but the road hasn't been changed there, has it?   May be the wall was actually the wall of the house??    So what do we do now to try & find her name?  Does the farm have a name?  That may ring a bell with me??  Thanks again, Amberly

[JoMC]

The road has changed quite a bit and the main road now by-passes Gobowen.

Three possibilities -

1. she might have married Reg late - say after ww1 and the records aren't up on FreeBMD, which is why I can't find them or she could have married away - say if she went into service.  It's difficult to find an appropriate marriage in these cases. If it was in Oswestry, it would mean going through all the GRO marriage indexes for a broad period to see if we could find her. This could take a long time.

2. I'll see if I can locate the farm on the 1901 census.

3. If all else fails, I could ask someone to go have a look 

Gadget