William Davies of Abergwessin

[despair]

In the 1841 census Nantbrain(sic) is occupied by Peter and Elizabeth Jones and family

HO107  1365  7/3  1

(Civil parish is Llandewi Abergwessin)

Haven't found Tir y llan(if I have transcribed it correctly)

Regards
Roger

[despair]

There is a William Davies age 10(rounded down as per 1841 census?) in a household "headed" by Jones's at Penrhyddfa,Llandewi Abergwessin at:-

HO107  1365  7/6  6

Regards
Roger

[despair]

There is also a William Davies,given born 1806,in a nearby property to the above-again headed by a Jones family-" Nantchwch" at HO 107  1365 7/5  5

Regards
Roger

[LesDx]

Hello Roger.

Thanks for that!  It's been bad enough chasing one line of Davies's through Wales.  You've now given me another to go after!

If you GoogleMap Nant y Brain (Crows' Stream) it now shows Crug Farm which is in the south of what was then Llanddewi Abergwesyn.  The village then was in two parts, the other being Llanfihangel Abergwesyn on the other side of the River Irfon.  My translation of Tir y Llan is 'land by the church'.  Both parts of the village had churches near the confluence of the rivers Irfon and Gwesyn.  There is an online 1888 map which marks a location as Ty'n-Llan near the Llanddewi church.

I was in the village recently and talked with the owners of Pentwyn Farm, the farmhouse of which used to be the Grouse Inn (a drovers' stop-over).  I will check with them if they can add to this knowledge.

Thanks also for the 1841 Census tips.  I'll follow them up tomorrow.

The owners of Pentwyn Farm are............Joneses!

[despair]

I can only find Tynllan on the census-perhaps I have mis-transcribed,at best it looks like Tn y llan.The Tynllan in the 1841 census is occupied by a family called Rice.
I think it is Ancestry records that go to 1837 for Breconshire and FindMyPast parish cover the later period-I will check tomorrow.
Regards
Roger

[LesDx]

Thanks also to Osprey for the advice re NLW.  Their online site has several searchable journals.  The Brecknockshire one includes references to all those farms you have found Roger.

All I have to do is read the 35 volumes from 1955 to 2003!  Wonder what happened after that?

[LesDx]

Just a brief update.

I visited the NLW yesterday and trawled through several parish registers.  Have got lots more information, but no real proof of a definite link to 'my' William Davies whose place of birth was given variously as Llanbadarn (Cardiganshire), Rhayader (Radnorshire) and Abergwesyn (Breconshire) on censuses.  I had been following up the Abergwesyn link as it had the best prospect of a specific record.

However, the record I started this thread with is not actually in Abergwesyn, but the neighbouring district of Llanwrtyd.  So why would he not have used Llanwrtyd as a birth place?

And, of course, there are many other groups of Davies's dotted around the other areas.

But my thanks to you both for your contributions.  I shall continue searching in the hope of finding some reference somewhere which may pull everything together.

[despair]

In looking for other clues, I noticed that there was a David Davies baptised 1831 to William and Mary at Blaengwennol and this led me to the following family of a William and Mary Davies.

1841  1365  22/5  3

The address is transcribed as Fosfigin(?),Llanwrtyd,Clawdd Madog

Interestingly,this is listed about 6 properties away from Blaengwennol.

Regards
Roger

[LesDx]

Snap!

David was one of the bits of information I found yesterday.  But I hadn't got to the census link.

On an OS map, Ffos-y-fign is about 1.5 miles from Blaengwennol, just outside the town Of Llanwrtyd Wells, near the Old Coach House.

So we're still getting even further away from the Abergwesyn link I was hoping would prove the answer.

I still have a non-BMD/census line to follow up.  One Welsh Drovers' route went from Cardiganshire through Abergwesyn and on to the Midlands and London.  It may be that my William Jnr. got work with them that led to him 'going home' with them to Cardiganshire where he settled down and raised his family.  It may be he used Abergwesyn as a birthplace being the last place before he got over the Cambrian Hills.

Unfortunately I didn't have time yesterday to access a book on the drovers.

For better or worse, I didn't DISprove anything yesterday.