William BALLARD b Crickhowell??

[judb]

Thank you so much, fisherman - and a big thank you to your friend as well.

Very strange that he put Crickhowell as his birth place on every census.  Perhaps he was born there and but baptism etc was in Clodock - one of those brick walls now!

Once again I am VERY grateful.

Hope Spring is well and truly with you now - here the leaves are turning and the nights drawing in!

Cheers, Judith in Canberra

[Greensleeves]

Registering an interest here - I will be back!

[judb]

Thank you so much.  I cannot see any records on the LDS site and, although his birthdate differs through the censuses, his birth place is consistently listed as Crickhowell.

Judith

[Greensleeves]

I haven't had any success with tracing William's birth yet.  However, I don't know if you realise that William married twice - you cite his first marriage to Mary Davies in 1838.  However, Mary dies in the June Quarter 1849 (ref Abergavenny 26/10) and the 1851 census shows Mary Ann Sweet as 'Servant' in the household.  William and Mary Ann Sweet marry at Aberystruth 29 November 1851 (ref Abergavenny 26/5).  This accounts at least for the difference in ages given for Mary Ballard in later censuses.

Regards,
GS

[judb]

Yes, I knew about the 2nd marriage.  Mary Ann Sweet is a Somerset girl from Frome.  It would seem that her brother lived quite close to William in Blaina so I suppose when the first wife died Mary Ann was nusemad and then married William later.   Seems there was a lot of migration from Somerset to fill up the coal mines!

Thanks for looking, anyway.

[Greensleeves]

I haven't finished hunting yet.  I've found a couple of Ballards in Crickhowell and I'll see about following them up to find out where they lead.  Will report back once I've had a chance to check them out!