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Morning All

I have been looking at my grandfather's grandfather, Henry Watts. In the 1891 census he is living with his wife's Gypsy relatives in Merthyr, but in the 1901 census his wife is listed as head of the household in Pontypridd. She is clearly listed as a widow - my family had always assumed he died in a mining accident between 1891 and 1901, as although we don't have any documents we are told anecdotally that he was a miner.

However, I found a listing in 1901 showing that there was a Henry Watts, of the right age (b.1861ish) in Treorchy, who was a married collier lodging with a family in Abertillery. There is another collier also lodging in the same house of a similar age.

It does seem possible that for some reason he was living in Abertillery (perhaps he could get a better job there) as a lodger whilst his wife kept their children in Ponty. What doesn't fit is why she is listed as a widow. There are a few options:
- the census taker got it wrong
- she fibbed to the census taker for whatever reason
- he had done a runner and she though he was dead. Although that doesn't make much sense as he is listed as being married - if he had left the family he would presumably have declared himself single?

Does anyone else have relatives doing the same thing? Is it most likely he had a better job offer and was lodging, and the census taker made a mistake?

The other point of interest is that the taker had originally written William Watts, widower, as the head of the household - he was actually the 15 year old son. Pehaps he got to the door first and started announcing that he was in charge before his mother came and took him off his pedestal? Either way, I think putting him as the head and a widower (which doesn't make sense on any level) shows there's enough doubt as to whether she is a widow or not that it is possible the Henry in Abertillery is her husband.

It would be very interesting to see if they are reunited in the 1911 census. FreeBMD shows a couple of potential deaths for Henry in 1915 and 1924, both in Pontypridd. Or, there was a Henry Watts of the correct age killed in a mining accident in Staffs in 1908.

Is there a reliable database anywhere of colliers employed around 1901 in south Wales? I've seen a few sites and few lists but nothing concrete yet.

Thanks

Thank you again for all your efforts, it seems like you found a fair few great leads. I'll try and get hold of a few of these certificates, especially the marriage certificate and see where that takes us.

Thanks!

You've got a talent for reading the handwriting!

It does seem that they must be the same people. I wonder how they managed to get into showbusiness over the intervening 10 years?

I'll have a look for this family in Staffs.

Thanks

There's that much on there? I haven't looked at the actual doc but if you got all that it might be right then. From what we know though Frederick should be about 40 in 1881 - would they have changed their age by that much?

Or, possible it's his parents? Doesn't fit with the children etc but still.

That sounds like a possibility, thanks.