Griffiths in Llansamlet

[osprey]

1851 census has a 23 year old Thomas Leyshon, copperman, in Upper Bank on the next page from the possible Samuel, 7 schedules away. A possibililty for one of the witnesses to the marriage?

[Vasquez109]

Hi Osprey.

I suppose you are right, I'm so used to seeing 'deceased' on cents, I thought it was the norm.

David.

[Vasquez109]

Hi this looks to be him in 1851:-

Elizabeth Griffiths 56 Widow
Samuel 21 Son/Single occ Copper Smelter
Both born Llansamlet
Residing at Upper Bank, Llansamlet
Census Ref HO107/2464/621/17

Sorry keyboard,

Found this now im not so sure. Do you think this could be a possibility? Not too sure where it is in Swansea, just 'Back Street'.   HO107/2466/360/34

[keyboard86]

Hi again, if you believe that the 1851 census could be incorrect, then that would suggest that the 1841 is also incorrect, as the address is the same, also the occupation of Samuel is Copperman in 1841 and Copper Smelter in the 1851, his marriage also states the same occupation?

Keyboard86

[osprey]

info here might help you find it

http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/GLAMORGAN/2012-05/1337463270

As I mentioned earlier, the marriage witness, Thomas Leyshon, also looks to have been in Upper Bank.

[pedroparker]

Hi,

Just a little bit of information that may help as i was born and raised in Pentrechwyth.

Pentrechwyth does indeed start at the school and runs down as far as white rock where it joins Foxhole road. Nearly all of the houses there go back to the dates of the old Grenfell and Vivian owners and works. Pentrechwyth includes the roads of Grenfell Town, Riffleman's Row and Taplow Terrace, which are up on the hill behind the bus stop. Old Terraces/Roads around Pentrechwyth include Cuba Row, Caepstyll Row and Cnap-Goch - which was indeed between Pentrechwyth and the old Tregwl of Foxhole and St Thomas. Pentrechwyth also at times in the 1800's was written down as being part of St Thomas. Most people in the area would have gone to Llansamlet Church or its sister church of Kilvey, so if you're looking to go back further i think this parish would be my first port of call. There are also methodist and Baptist churches less than a 5 - 10 min walk away. Cwm methodist, Cannan Chapple, Bethal Chapple and Adulam.

Pentrechwyth is often mis-spealt in documents as Pentre-chwech and Pentre-six, but i'm told by the very old generation that the correct spelling is Pentrechwyth - meaning windy village or windy village on the left.

The upper bank-lower bank railway line ruin was still there in parts (just below old Morris Brother's Site, at the bottom of the public foot bridge running from Pentrechwyth Village Road down to the Tennis Centre and Morfa Park. But currently it has been cleared for a new housing development unfortunately.

If you come across any more roads or villages around the area that quite often don't appear on maps (experiance from my own searches) please ask and if i can help will be glad to do so.

Hope this helps,

Pedro

[Vasquez109]

Thank you Pedro. That is very kind!

David.

[paulchil]

Hello dont know if any good but live in pentrecwyth and have old deeds from 1890 house belonged to earl of jersey can dig them out if need be to get names of previous owners and name off road as it has changed to bonymaen rd from llansamlet rd i think

[grosehodge]

There's a seemingly excellent book about the copper industry in Swansea, called Copperopolis, by Stephen Hughes. It features various maps incl. one that shows the location of Gnap-coch. Whether it was a village as well, I'm not sure, but on the map there is the Gnap-coch Mansion, which according to the text, was converted into accomodation for the families of some of the White Rock copperworkers. I've not got the book but preview pages are available on Googlebooks if you go to..

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=oXjppt5BYjEC&pg=PA345&dq=cNAP+GOCH+llansamlet&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ZYo1Uu6AMoWu7AbekoEI&ved=0CDIQ6wEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22cNAP%20GOCh%22&f=false

...you can then click on a page and scroll through a selection of the pages.

My interest is in the family of Owen Owens, a foreman at the copperworks. on the 1851 Census he is at Llansamlet in the "village" of  "Knap Coach". His daughter, Margaret Owen(s) married Francis Nethersole, a clerk at the copperworks, in 1864, following the death of his English born wife, Mary, the year before. The marriage was the cause of much consternation on the part of Francis's widowed mother and her new husband, Howard Staunton, the former world chess champion. Francis and his illiterate new Welsh wife, Margaret, returned to London where he secured a job as clerk at the Admiralty in Whitehall. In 1874 their daughter Frances Nethersole was born. Her severely withered left arm was amputated when a toddler and she was orphaned by the age of 4. in the 1891 Census, now aged 16, she is at 10 Cathcart Hill, then a girls' boarding school, in North London. Today we live in flat B of that house.

All suggestions for reseaching the history of White Rock copperworks/ Llansamlet and the workers etc are very welcome.

Paul