Thomas - Pontardulais - UPDATED

[liverpool lass]

Can somebody try to find a very large Thomas family in Pontardulais 1891/1901. Head - John Thomas.
Children (in no particular order!)
Richard
W. Ewart
David John
Thomas
Samuel
Luther
plus 6 girls one of whom I think was called Maggie.

I have just discovered this family and have no further details. What I do have comes from a much later newspaper story in which all of the girls are referred to only by their married names! Thanks, heres hoping.

[Vicky]

Had a quick look and found this family in 1901 but from Swansea.

John thomas 47
Ann 38
David J 12
Margaret 8
Mary J 10
Richard 11
Rosamund 2
Samuel 3
Thomas 6
William E 5

RG13 5068 folio124 page 34
Unable to find this family in 1891

Vicky.

[liverpool lass]

Thank you Vicky. I will 'shoebox' the ref until I can confirm it one way or the other but it certainly looks promising.

[tamebry]

Hi
 I think I have found this family in 1891 (its the same as above, not sure if its the one you are looking for though)

John born abt 1856 cockett, Swansea
Ann    "      "   1863       "         "
David John      1889       "         "
Richard           1890        "         "
Mary Ann         1891       "         "

living in Raven Hill, Swansea

hope this helps
Tammy

[liverpool lass]

Thanks tamebury. I will let you know if and when I confirm this info. My rellie Albert Morgan married one of the girls (Maggie?) in Swansea so possibly they moved to Pontardulais later.

[liverpool lass]

I have some more info on this family now so maybe someone will recognise them -

Richard Thomas married Bessie Griffiths of Pystyll Gwyn, Pontardulais (1919). They emigrated to Gary, Indiana. Richard had already been living in Canada I think (EMIGRATED 1913) and joined the Canadian forces in wwI. He came back to Wales for a visit after the war and married.

William (Ewart) Thomas married Sarah Olivia Davies whose father was D T Davies of Derlwyn, Pontardulais. He emigrated in 1929, with his family, to join his brother. William was a bit of a musician (violinist) and is said to have entertained passengers on board the Queen Elizabeth.

c 1948

David John Thomas residing Cawders Fforest, Pontardulais
Thomas Thomas residing Coedbach, Pontardulais.
Samuel Thomas residing Swansea Rd, Pontardulais.
Luther Thomas residing Newport.

The Thomas girls are still only known to me by their married names but in 1948 they were living as follows;

Mrs W Llewellyn John, Dulais Grove, Caereithin, Fforestfach.
Mrs J J Davies, James Street, Pontardulais.
Mrs Gwilym Williams, Bath Ave, Morriston, Swansea
Mrs A J Wiggins, Gore Terrace, Swansea
Mrs A O Morgan, Caecerrig, Pontardulais
Mrs Robert Armishaw, Gary Indiana or Chicago.
(all deceased)

Does anyone now recognise this family who could help me to go backwards?

[gwenofmel]

Hello everyone,

I'm new to this site. My brother and I are going to visit Pontardulais, and I Googled my grandfather's name and found this thread.

My grandfather was William Ewart Thomas, usually called Will. Definitely the one in this thread - the right birth year, and I recognize his sibling's names. He married Sarah Olivia Davies, who was usually called Ollie. Their oldest was my father, Melville Thomas (no middle name), born in 1924. Will emigrated to the U.S. to play with the Chicago symphony. The family story was that he landed the day the stock market crashed in 1929 (it was probably very near that time, at least), and the job was gone by the time he got to Uncle Dickie and Aunt Bessie's in Gary, Indiana. Gramma and dad and his little sister Meryl soon followed Will. Robert (my uncle Bob) was born in the U.S.

While Will did not get to play with the Chicago symphony, he played with the Gary Symphony when it was formed, as did my father, Melville Thomas. (They both played violin, and Ollie sang opera.) Grandpa made a career in the Gary steel mills, which he said was a much better life than the tin mines in Wales. (He got this patent http://www.wikipatents.com/gb/291611.html while working in Wales; there's a big family story behind it...) In the 1960s Will and Ollie followed our family to Sebring, Florida.

I just moved and much of what I have is in boxes, but somewhere there is more information about the family tree ...

[liverpool lass]

Hi Gwen, This family of Thomas' married into my husbands family so I am not a direct rellie. I found two old newspaper cuttings among my father in laws papers that gave me a lot of info about them. Apparently they came home for a reunion. I could try scanning them for you. Send me a PM with your e mail addy and I will have a go.

[mrs.family]

hi Liverpool Lass and Gwenofmel,
I've just found this thread, though late in time.
My connection is through the Davies family ie DT Davies's dad, David Davies born in Silian, Cardiganshire in 1863 and baptised there in 1866. David Davies moved to Pontardulais and named his house 'Derlwyn' - there's a strong family preference for this name that goes back to a tiny hamlet in Carmarthenshire, and then forward through the family (eg my brother was to be named Derlwyn, but he died at birth).
I have Davies family info / photos back to 1801 - finding 'the right' Davieses in South Wales beyond that is proving very tricky! I'm also in touch with another Davies distant cousin, who handily still lives in Dyfed, and we have met up (with yet more cousins) to visit some of the family places.
I'd like to swap stuff, since all I know about the 'Bont' Davieses is what I've read on this thread. Annoyingly, I used to live in the Bont 40 years ago, but had no idea there was a Davies connection to the village in those days. My great-aunt used to say my husband (a Bont boy) and I were 6th cousins, but I never asked her how we were related - though I now suspect it would be through the Davieses; it would be lovely to tease this out!
Elaine