« Reply #17 on: Friday 23 September 16 01:02 BST (UK) »
Hello
This is a follow up to my query of April of this year. I want to thank you all for your help. I did go to Llansainffraid in June of this year and to the library in Oswestry where the people were extremely helpful and kind. A very kind volunteer from the library searched after I had left and found what I believe is a record of my William being born in Wykey, Shropshire to Thomas and Mary Edwards. I tend to believe this is possible as he returned there to work when he was married and had a family. I am guessing there was a family connection that led Thomas Edwards there to work himself. Perhaps I will find that Mary Edwards died there and that would explain a return to the family at Tyn yr Iwen for help with raising the boy.
With the help of a couple who live in Llanerch Emrys now, I was actually taken to the farm Tyn yr Iwen which still exists as a significant farm of sheep and goats. Perhaps this is the one that Jon mentioned earlier. The name seems to mean White House by the Yew Trees. There is still a Yew tree in the front yard and the house overlooks a valley which is actually the acreage for the farm. The road to this farm comes off the main road from Llansainffraid to New Inn and is south of the Tanat River, but it winds for quite a way to the west and then we took a turn south and down a steep hill. I would not have found it myself as the grasses by the road were overgrown and the road was terribly narrow. The lady, Shirley Davis, who currently lives in the home was very gracious and took us on a tour of the old parts of the house with the thick walls and the additions that have been built over the past 175 years!!! It was astounding.
While I remain without soundproof evidence that the James Edwards family is mine, I feel that it must be and that the bits I have tied together do make sense. Stopping for help at a little house along the road was a move brought on by frustration and intuition. But generous and helpful people were there and they took me to the farm.
And so I am several steps forward in my search because of this good people of this site, the volunteers at the Oswestry Library and the kind people in Llanerch Emrys. Thank you all.
Susan
Monmothshire: HOUSE, THOMAS, EDWARDS
Somerset: HOUSE
Norfolk: SIMPSON, THOMPSON, GRAPES, SPOONER, LOWNE, HOOKS, FOX
Suffolk: CADE
Essex: UNDERWOOD, CADE, DARBY
London & Middlesex: THOMPSON, COCKRAM, CADE, BUTT, BANNER, MIDDLETON, NORRIS, DUNN
Wiltshire: BUTT, HOUSE, GILES
Leicestershire: GREENWAY
Denbeighshire & Shropshire: EDWARDS, POSTLE, ROBERTS, HUMPHREYS, MORRIS
Lancashire: BANNER, COZENS