Hi,
Don't give up. It's just harder with names like that that's all (" that's all" she says lol
I'm really stuck on one of mine at the moment, have been for ages, it's very frustrating)
Anyway, don't give up, I'm not - they are out there somewhere.
Have you got your families in any of the censuses, 1881, 1891 etc ? If so, could you post the details/ref numbers etc, so that fellow rootschatters can have a look at the details. Someone may spot something which you may be overlooking - you never know, fresh heads and all that. My sister in law spotted something on one of our censuses that myself and hubby totally overlooked, and she's not even into family tracing.
I'd start with your Jones first, as if they are mill owners they may be the easier ones to trace first.
You didn't say if you had found your Jones in 1881. I can't seem to find them. I can't find Rachel in 1881 if she is born around 1880. Have you got her birth certificate? Or do you know for sure she was born in 1880, and not sometime in 1881 months after the census
Do you know the name of the Mill that James Owen took over?
It's just that the only mill I came across with a David Jones in the 1881 census with a quick search ,employing men was in Llanboidy ( which I think is near Llandysul?)
wife in 1881 is an Ann though, and no Rachel. So if you do have your Rachel and family in that census, could you post the ref numbers, folio, page number etc so people can take a look at the census.
What I've had to do do with one of my families "common surname" , I could not find my Grandfathers birth because he had a common Christian name "David" as well as a common surname. There was no way to tell which one it was by looking at the BMD indexes, millions of them. so instead I got one of sisters birth certs, as she was easy to find as she had a less common name and a middle name too.
I knew I had the right one when the birth cert came as she was born in the house that I already knew all the kids was brought up in.
Maybe trying to find one of the other children's birth cert's may be easier. For instance your Evans family; if you can't find John's , try Daniel's. A birth cert will besides give you the address of where the child was born, it will give your David Evans occupation and may help a little trying to find this family in the censuses.
Good luck
