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Wales (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Wales => Carmarthenshire => Topic started by: jacqueline cox on Sunday 09 October 11 13:26 BST (UK)
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I have seen a family tree on Ancestry that gives the parents of Anthony Donne of Red Lion Street Holborn, watchmaker, who died 1751, as Robert Donne born Kidwellyc 1660 and Katherine. The source citation is "another family tree"! Since Anthony's will left his house in Carmarthen to his own elder son Anthony, I thought it an indicator that this was where he came from. This is my first foray into Wales and I know nothing about Welsh sources as early as this. Can anyone help me my confirming Anthony's parentage or point me in the right direction? The family tree goes back to the mid c13th so I don't want to get too excited by a possible Victorian fantasy of nobility!
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Hello Jacqueline :)
You probably know that you can search for Marriage Bonds and pre-1858 Welsh Wills on the National Library of Wales site:
http://www.llgc.org.uk/index.php?id=487
This site has Donne/ Dunn records extracted from Pembrey PRs:
http://jevanshughes.users.btopenworld.com/dunnvr.htm
There are some references to the Donne family on Kidwelly History site:
http://www.kidwellyhistory.co.uk/
The Dwnn/Donne/Dunn family seem to have long connections with Pembrey Parish so it is worth looking at the pedigrees in "Heraldic visitations of Wales and part of the Marches":
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,559632.0.html
Kind Regards
Morgan
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Hi,
I'm really curious to know more about Anthony Donne's ancestors and descendants. What you have said tallies with what my mother's uncle Walter Donne wrote to us about the family way back in the 1970's. He told us of his great grandfather(?) Griffith Donne being apprenticed to the clockmaking trade in 1794, and spoke of an earlier ancestor, also a clock maker, by the name of Anthony Donne, admitted to the company of watchmakers in 1707. He said that long ago the family had been yeoman farmers at Llangendeirne. This is only a short distance from Kidwelly, so this must be the same family of Donnes. Walter spoke of having seen a family tree, but I have no idea where. He was a very old man at this stage, and although I did meet him once when visiting England in 1977, I did not know any of his daughter's family, and have lost touch. I would love to know how to find the family trees you speak of.
Clock making has been a strong tradition in the Donne family, spanning many generations over a a couple of centuries at least. The most recent one I know of was Morgan Donne, a cousin of my great uncle Walter. Morgan and his father Lewis Donne were in business together in London, and got a US patent for some kind of clock mechanism. Morgan Donne died in 1935, and I don't know if the buisiness continued after his death.
Jill
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I can send you far more details on an Open Office file if you send me your email address private message would be best. The Carmarthen side goes back into the Middle Ages and would need a skilled genealogist to sort it, but it goes back with no problems to the beginning of the Tudoe period. I know much more about the c18th London Donnes and the family in Red Lion Street. My family tree is on Genes Reunited; I don't put it on Ancestry because it then belongs to Ancestry. Also I don't like people stealing it, and abusing it! So contact me on Genes if you are a member. If not, basic membership is pretty cheap. My ancestor was Robert Donne born 1763/4, the oldest brother of Griffith the clockmaker.
Jacqueline
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Hi Jacqueline. That sounds fantastic, but I'm a bit confused about how to go about this. I'm not a very experienced user of these sites, so don't know what you mean by 'private message' - is that an option somewhere in this site, or do I have to go to Genes Reunited (I don't know that site, so I may have to do a bit of searching.) Whatever, with the information you describe it certainly sounds worth the effort.
Griffith the clockmaker was my g-g-g-grandfather, so that makes us some sort of umpteenth cousins.
Jill
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Hello Jill :)
Welcome to Rootschat!
New members must make at least three postings before being allowed to use the Persoanl Message (PM) facility.
See Help-Page: http://www.rootschat.com/help/pms.php
You will be able to send a PM with your email address to Jacqueline :)
Kind Regards
Morgan
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Thanks Morgan - I'm on quite a steep learning curve right now, but learning far more than I had ever imagined.
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Anthony Donne born 1727 in Red Lion Street (brother of my ancestor Robert), inherited his father Anthony's home in Carmarthen in 1751, and returned there. I have had recent contact with a descendant of his, but am using a computer that does not have my back emails as I am in France at the moment. If you are reading this, would you get back to me please? Or any other family member who has made sense of our Carmarthen ancestry? There's a lot of mythology out there!
Jacqueline
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Hi Jacqueline
I noticed your interest in the Carmathen Donne/Dwnn/Dunn family. My direct interst is in John Donne ca 1675 who settled in Wick/Llandow in the Vale of Glamorgan.
Indirectly I have an interest in all the Donnes as they all link up one way and another - just a bit of a challenge trying to make the connections! I thought you would interested in a recent contact I have made who is a direct descendent of Anthony Donne ca 1693.
She is also trying to research into his possible parents being Robert Donne ca 1660 & Katherine. Please let me know if you like to make contact.
Have you seen the following lease document for land in Carmarthen in the National Library of Wales - NLW Ref No 231-232 ( date is 1704 ) Mentions Robert Donne of the parish of Penbrey, the younger, and Elizabeth, his wife. This is about the right time and place so is closely conencted.
Suggests Robert senior is still around - wife listed as Elizabeth - so could be a second wife or perhaps there is another generation. Plenty to think about!
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Dear cprich,
I should certainly be interested in connecting with any Donne relation who is trying to penetrate the mysteries of our family in the c16 and c16. I am pretty secure in Anthony Donne's movements from 1693 forward including his marriage to Grace Richbell, but many hands make light work. If I can remember how to send a pm, I'll send you my email adrress. If not I'll be back.
yours
Jacqueline
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I have seen a detailed family tree on LDS of the Dwnn/Dunne/Donne family of Muddlescombe Farm, Cydweli/Kidwelly. Land granted in 11th /12th century.....even have a renowned poet in their midst!
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Hello cprich :)
Welcome to Rootschat!
Once you have made another 2 postings you will be allowed to use the Persoanl Message (PM) facility to contact other members.
See Help-Page: http://www.rootschat.com/help/pms.php
Reply to this post will be 2nd and you just need another post!
Kind Regards
Morgan
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I've traced my Donne ancestors to Robert Donne 1630 St. Erth, Cornwall, England, and before that, possibly to Kidwelly, in Carmarthenshire.
You might want to compare DNA.
Here is the link to my WikiTree family.
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Donne-137
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You might want to pm me with your dna kit details. I and my mother (Donne ancestry) have tested with FTdna, Ancestry and the results have been entered into Gedmatch, but I will not put them on publiv view, though I'm happy to share with other Donnes. How long have you been researching your ancestry, Joseph?
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re Donnes of Carmarthen, and jillgrw and cprich in particular. I and my mother (great grandmother a Donne from early c18th Holborn, London then late c18th Greenhithe Kent, England) have dna tested and I'm willing to swap details with others who have.
It's very hard for trained historians to make sense of genetics!
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Hello Jacqueline, I have been researching and developing my family heritage, day and night, over the past 16 months. I broke down the brick wall that had been standing 20 years.
I am a highly trained database specialist, and this work is right up my alley.
Most recently, I began to separate the Dunn families, by their customs and traditions, but what has distinguished my family from all of the others, is religion. We are Catholic.
My discovery that John Ross Dunn was Catholic, and that he had been in Cecil, Maryland, around 1735, led me to connect him with the Robert Donne family of Kent Island, Maryland.
You can see my work, all over Familysearch.org and WikiTree.com.
I have not submitted my DNA for analysis.
https://familysearch.org/search/record/results?count=20&query=%2Bsurname%3Adunn~%20%2Bany_place%3A%22SAINT%20PAULS%20PARISH%2CKENT%2CMARYLAND%22~%20%2Bany_year%3A1600-1700~
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thanks for your reply. Since your ancestors were in Maryland by the 1730s and mine have never left London or Greenhithe just along the River, autosomal dna would not help to find a connection.
I fail to see how your first post, suggesting comparing dna, would be possible if you haven't dna tested, however!
Good hunting.
Jacqueline
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Jacqueline, my ancestors travelled directly from Cornwall, England to the United States, in 1639, and my original comment was to your comment about Anthony, whose ancestors may have come from Kilkenny.
I would be speculating by believing that mine may have, also, but a DNA comparison would identify common ancestors. While seemingly vague, to you, my DNA is not presently, made available to the public. I never claimed that it was, but only that it could be.
You might try these links.
https://archive.org/stream/historyofkidwell00jone#page/84/mode/2up/search/Donne
http://www.thehistoryofwales.typepad.com/
We might all be descendant from this man.
https://www.geni.com/people/Beli-The-Great-King-of-Britain/6000000002709559312
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How wise of your ancestors to leave England for Maryland when they did. Charles 1 was bad enough, but a Catholic family would have been at risk once the Civil War began.
My Living DNA analysis shows that I have about 4% DNA from the South West, which I cannot otherwise account for. Perhaps my Donnes had connections in Cornwall, but since my paper trail runs out in the late c17th in Kidwelly in Wales, I am unlikely ever to fnd a connection.
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update from josephldunn
I've positively identified the original Thomas Donne, 14 y/o immigrant to Jamestown, along with his son, Robert Donne, who immigrated to Kent, Maryland. https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/family/K8K1-F2Y
From there, I've tracked them back to Parkham, Devon, England. https://www.familysearch.org/tree/pedigree/landscape/K4VG-NL6
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https://dunnfamilyofvirginia.blogspot.com/2023/03/john-ross-dunn-esq-1697-1783.html
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Anthony Donne of Fforest Llangendeirne who died 1777 left a Will https://viewer.library.wales/238541 . In this Will is mentioned brother Robert Donne of Bedlyen (?) Street, Holborn, London. Anthony Donne Gentelman married a Margaret Rees on 31 May 1774 in Llangendeirne.
Mentioned are sons Anthony and Charles Dau Mary and brother Charles (as above). For some reason this Will doesn’t seem to be on Ancestry
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Anthony Donne, Gent. (no age given) was buried 06 Sep 1777, Llangendeirne
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Anthony Donne Gent. was previously married to Elizabeth Edwards in Llangendeirne on 03Sep 1765. At the time it says he was living in Swansea, but it is him, the signatures are the same, so some of the children mentioned in his Will may be from the previous marriage. On Findmypast there is a Charles Donne baptised 1774 and 1775 (presumably the first dies young), so Charles looks to be a result of his marriage to Margaret Rees and presumably the others from his previous marriage.
Ch Donne (1st) was buried 28 Mar 1774 Llangendeirne. Charles Donne (2nd) was baptised 09 Oct 1775 Llangendeirne
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One brother in London, Robert, is my 5 x great grandfather and lived at Red Lion Street, Holborn. His father was Anthony born at Kidwelly in 1693. Anthony 1693 was also father to 2 other sons called Anthony, 1st born and died in 1725 and 2nd born in 1726; it was he who returned to Carmarthen and married Margaret Rees. Robert was born in 1733 and I think the 2 brothers conducted a London and Welsh end of a business; Anthony snr was apprenticed to a Carmarthan man named Morgan, in London,a clockmaker, and became a respected clockmaker himself. Both Anthony jnr and Robert were apprenticed to him, as well as other.
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Thank you for this information. Although my links to the Donnes are indirect it all very interesting.
It maybe worth you while exploring Welsh Wills on line further for Donne Wills.
https://www.library.wales/catalogues-searching/catalogues/specialist-catalogues/wills
There are several on there. You can search by name and Parish. You can just enter the name as Donne and then select a parish e.g. Cydweli. This brings up 5 wills.
e.g
David Donne of Cydweli/Kidwelly from 1661. The Will is difficult to read but it mentions a Robert Donne as his oldest son and executor. Also a daughter Sage and another son Thomas.
https://viewer.library.wales/905058
If you do the above and choose the parish as Llangynderyn it brings up the Anthony Donne will previously mentioned and that for his son Anthony Morgan Donne 1829 (from his first marriage)
https://viewer.library.wales/392111
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Also…., depending on how much you want to follow these up, extensive parish records are now on Ancestry, Findmypast and other sites. Personally, I find the search options on Findmypast much better than other sites and they seem to have done more transcribing of these records. You can do some basic searching on Findmypast without subscribing. You would start here
https://search.findmypast.co.uk/search-united-kingdom-records-in-birth-marriage-death-and-parish-records
And then select Parish baptisms. Marriages or Burials as appropriate. To start with you could just select surname, Donne, (ensure you tick name variants) and then a date range. To narrow down the results in “Record Set” start typing in the parish of interest e.g. Carmarthenshire then select the appropriate options that pop up. As Anthony Donne lived in Swansea for a while you could also select Glamorganshire as the “Record Set”. You could narrow down further e.g. for baptisms you could select Donne’s with father’s name Anthony.
Results can be sorted in year order
To find more details you would need to subscribe, but you can just subscribe on a monthly basis if you want. Alternatively you could use the results from your Findmypast search for finding the record on Ancestry, Freereg (https://www.freereg.org.uk/) or FamilySearch e.g. https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/1403176
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You can also access FindMyPast and Ancestry free in the library and Archive Services with some now offering the full subscription options.