Hi, thanks to those who have taken the time to read my posts and have offered advice.
John Joseph was a very private man, and I wish I had had the opportunity to question his life. But not even his children knew who their Grandparents were, or of any uncles and aunts. My late father only know his Granfathers name when I obtained John Josephs marriage certificate, and told him it was Edward Nolan, who was a general labourer, and had died before November 1915.
John Josephs occupations were varied, in the early 1900's he worked on the railways in South Wales, in 1902 he worked at the next station to his wife to be, who's family also worked on the railways. He worked as a porter, cleaner etc. When he travelled to America he was an electrician. At the time of his marriage he was a 'Master Blacksmith'. This fact my late father found strange, was, he was a blacksmith, and John Joseph never mentioned being a 'Master Blacksmith'. I believe that after his marriage he worked for a time on the railways, before finding employment in 'Taff Merthyr', a new colliery, near his family home in Trelewis. Initially he worked on the colliery trains and worked his way up to a forman fitter. He received a special dispensation (at war time) to leave the colliery in 1941, where he worked at BOAC in Treforest, not an easy commute from where he lived and when in his mid 50's.
PC859 Michael Rice's details are from 2 sources. The first is from the regulars at the pub he ran after retiring from the police. They remember him organising a trip (back home) to New Ross. The second is from Glamorgan Police Archives who provided records of PC Rice's place of birth, Suttons Parish, New Ross, Wexford and his DofB 11/5/1898. When I saw that Rice was so much younger that John Joseph, it seemed very strange that he spoke to my father, an 8 year old, of the link to the same school and village shop! I guess I hoped that whoever raised John Joseph knew the Rice family.
I am currently waiting upon a responce from a Catholic church on whether there is a register of Irish Catholic priests? This would enable me to look for any named Nolan between say 1900 -1915, with any that travelled to America a new source to be looked at.
