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Wales (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Wales => Cardiganshire => Topic started by: neno on Monday 13 July 15 17:58 BST (UK)
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This morning received a 1914 birth certificate.
Where born: Penygarn, Tirmynach
Occupation of father Coal miner. (Hewer)
I then went looking for the family on 1911 cenus.
Found the maternal family in Llanfihangel Gennau'r glyn
Three of the sons were coal miners.
I did not associate North Cardiganshire with coal mining and google has been no help.
Can anyone please help
thank you
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Neno,
Are you able to name the relevant family members?
I ask this because it may help me to be able to personalise my fuller response to your enquiry.
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I do not think that my in laws would be happy for me to name the family.
I can pm them to you if you are happy with that.
Thanks
Neno
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They could have gone to the South Wales Coalfields from about 1901 there was an influx of people from Carmarthenshire / West wales or there were silver and lead mines in Cardiganshire.
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I did think that they could have gone to the South, but what makes me doubt that theory is that the three sons were home on census night in 1911
The birth certificate states clearly coal miner, not lead or silver.
Other certificates from the lead mining area around Staylittle state "lead miner".
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There were a lot of coal miners born in Cardiganshire in the Garw Valley in 1901. I can only find references to lead & other metaliferous mines in Cardiganshire. What was the family's occupation in previous censuses ?
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Neno,
I cannot say for certain that there were no coal mines in north Cardiganshire but hopefully the following will help to clarify the apparent anomalies of finding colliers & hewers, and more particularly their wives & widows, in the local census.
If you follow this link https://lra.le.ac.uk/handle/2381/10235 it should take you to a University of Leicester page in connection with Dr Kathryn Cooper’s thesis on the subject of Cardiganshire’s Rural Exodus. The mention of significant emigration to Glamorgan & Carmarthenshire is telling to me as, by implication, this alludes to the coalfields and allied industries.
However what really underlines the validity of this view is the following sentence* from a wonderful autobiography (*in the context of a young man contemplating employment options upon leaving school) wherein the author writes: “In time a boy might join his migrant father as a collier in South Wales”
The relevance of this is that the author was Tom Macdonald who, as this link shows https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Macdonald_(writer) was born in Llanfihangel Gennau’r Glyn. Additionally in the 1911 census his family was living in Pen y Garn, Tyr y Mynach.
His autobiography, Y Tincer Tlawd/The White Lanes of Summer, chronicles his upbringing in the area. It is a truly beautiful work and I highly recommend that it should be read by anyone who has a deep interest in the genealogy of rural Wales in the early 20th century.
With regard to the names of your in-laws, it may be that one or more of them (or probably their ancestors) is named among the many characters that Tom Macdonald so vividly brings to life with his writing.
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In the 1901 census my great grandfather was recorded as a coal miner living in Pennal, Merionethshire. There were at least two other coal miners in the village. There was probably more "commuting" than we may imagine between rural mid Wales and the industrial valleys at the beginning of the 20th Century with men travelling to work for two or three weeks before returning home for a few days. Strikes and lock outs could also bring men home for short periods. Public transport links between the two areas were probably better then than they are now!
Chwiliwr
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willyam
Thank you for suggesting that I read The White lanes of Summer. I remembered that it had stood unread in the bookcase for years. I am now half way through it and agree with you that it is beautifully written. I have not been able to identify any one of OH family in it but I am enjoying it very much.
Registration district: Aberystwyth
Registration District Number: 607
Sub-registration district: Geneurglynn
ED, institution, or vessel: 05
Household schedule number: 37
Piece: 33448
should take to the 1911 census for the family.
chwiliwr
I think that your suggestion that the men commuted is correct. OH has just mentioned that he remembers talk of his grandfather going to Nant y Glo.
Thank you all very much
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Definitely no coal mines in North Cardiganshire - it's strictly hard rock mining mainly lead, silver and possibly zinc. A number of miners, including my great great grandfather, came there from the Cornish tin mines.
Dave
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1904 & 1948 OS maps show an "Old Shaft" in the field above the cemetery, it isn't shown on the earlier map. The Mining site Aditnow doesn't have it listed but other mines 3-4 miles away are all lead,