POWELL - Radnorshire

[suzard]

Brilliant -so pleased it is encouraging Dad to talk about his family.

Also pleased that it looks as if we are on the correct "trail"

it was not unusual for people to be unable to read and write -even up to early 1900's.
Schoolwork -if they attended school -as they usually had to pay-(for girls education consisted of sewing, cooking etc-the 3R's didn't have much attention paid to as they were considered uneccessary and they didn't have the facilities)
it doesn't mean the person was "dull" -they couldn't learn what they had not been taught.

With the new information from the certificate we can now trace Mary Jones back a little further

(it seems Meredith Powell was named after his grandfather meredith Jones!!!)

This is looks a strong  possibility for Mary Jones (before she married)

1861
Llwynawel
address of farm
Nantymynach
John Williams head M 33 Farmer of 113 acres Nantmel Radnor
Mary wife 29 Swansea Glamorgan
John w son 11 Nantmel Radnor
Eliza R daughter 9 Nantmel
Edward son 6 Nantmel
Mary H daughter 3 nantmel
Annie E daughter 1 Nantmel
margaret Owen neice 10 Landovery
MARY JONES visitor U 37 Servant Llwynawel Brecon
Ellen Jones servant U 35 House Servant Lwynawel brecon
John Morris servant U 32 carter Nantmel
John Evans servant U ag lab Cwmdandwr
RG9 4238 22 14

Possibly mary Jones was visiting her (possible) sister Ellen, who was in service to the Williams family


1851
Llanwrthyl brecon
address of farm (looks like?) Ghemrhywsely
Evan Evans Head W 46 Farmer odf 70 acres
John son 12
Evan son 10
Margaret daughter 8
Mary daughter 6
Edward son 3
Rachel Davies sister in law M 51 Visitor
MARY JONES neice U 28 House Servant
Jane Jones neice U 23 House servant
all b. Llanwrthwl
HO107 2494 133 14
So it looks like MARY JONES was living with her Uncle and maybe Jane was her sister??? Maybe rachel davies was some relation too

1841
Llanwrthwl Lower Brecon
Farm address: (looks like -but can't be certain) Genrirog Uchaf
Evan Evans 35 Farmer
Margaret Evans30
Evan Evans 70
Elinor Evans 70
John Evans 2
Evan Evans 1
Rachel Davies 40
Rees Jones 15 MS No
MARY JONES 15 FS
Jane Jones 13 Foster Child (crossed through)
Meredith Jones 10 Foster child (Crossed through)
all except Rees Jones b. in county
HO107 1365 7 9
so it looks like Mary Jones' parents may have died and she lived with her Aunt and Uncle
maybe Rachel Davies was an aunt too?
Possibly Rees, Jane and Meredith (along with Ellen from a previous census) were Mary's siblings?

A post requesting baptisms may confirm this (or otherwise)

There is a submitted entry on IGI (not extracted) -so it should be treated with caution, but it may be a possibility?

Could this be Mary's parents
Merdith Jones b. 1797
christened 24 June 1797
Llanwrthwl brecon
father John Jones, mother Mary Price

Then there is (extracted record -and birth date doesn't match previous) but sounds a very strong possibility for Mary's father

Meredith Jones b.13th oct 1797
died at Geniron Ishaf (sound very similar to address mary was at in 1841 with her uncle Evan Evans)
buried 17 may 1834 Llanwrthwl Brecon

and then this marriage
Meredith Jones
married
Jane Evans b. 1796
on
17 may 1811

so the scenario could be that mary jones (and possible siblings) lived with her mothers brother (Evan Evans)

To find out more about who kept the farms you may find some information in Historical Directories.

It's very difficult with Welsh names being mistranscribed/misinterpreted.

You could try putting the names into a search engine

Try looking at the History of the area.

If you need it I can take another look at the census we have found your ancestors on and look at addresses surrounding.
Sometimes you can find a pub name or street name and their dwelling may be a few houses away -so it can narrow the area from that.

That's something for you to ponder on!!

You are doing really well -certificates are usually well worth their money when reseaching

Suz

[lasota]

Gosh how do you do this?
I cant find any of this info on the sites i check. sorry what do you mean by a post requesting baptisms?
would my best bet now to be a birth cert of mary jones/
going for 1826.
Interesting about the foster children tho. any idea y they would be crossed out?

thanks loads

wendy

[suzard]

The "foster child" could be crossed through for several reasons - maybe the enumerator realised they were nephew /niece, (possibly in a small community the enumerator knew the family), possibly Evan Evans described them as that and then changed his mind - on the images there are often marks crossing through sections and it usually turns out to be just marks made when census being checked -in fact this looks like it was crossed out using a different pen/pencil. Sometimes words are added (written in a different hand) which explain occupations -e.g. if occupation is agricultural labourer often "farm" is written in afterwards.

mary Jones wouldn't have a birth certificate, as registration for BMD's didn't begin until Sept qtr 1837 -and even then it wasn't compulsory, although it seems the majority did register. That's why we have to rely on parish register /baptisms.

If you put a post on Brecon board -asking if anyone has access to baptism records for Llwynawel -put as many details as you can -e.g. baptisms parents meredith Jones -possible wife jane between which years and state names and ages of possible children  born to this couple _especially mary!!!

Jones is usually a very difficult name to research in Wales, but luckily meredith is a less common name than John/David etc.

Suz

[lasota]

thanks will try that. Have been flitting around all night trying to get used to computers.
thanks again for all your help.

wendy

[suzard]

You'll soon get used to it - I never wanted a computer- I did a lot of my family research "on foot" -visiting records offices.etc. then my son insisted I "needed"one -so he set me up and away I went!!

Do you go on the so called "Mormon" site ?
www.familysearch.org

That's a good place to start -not as good as RootsChat of course!!!

Suz

[lasota]

yes found that site today!
your son must have the same brain as mine lol.
think i will take a rest from that side of the family to clear my head and try the davies side. Gosh Jones/powell/davies not too much of a challenge in wales.
Now dad is remebering bits he might remember when his parents got married.
think i will go on foot and look at some old graves.

your right again nowhere i found as good as rootschat

wendy

[suzard]

Those names are certainly a challenge in Wales -when I lived in S Wales there was a solicitors in town called Hughes james Jones and jenkins -you don't get much more Welsh than that!!!!

When you go on family search - look out for extracted records -and submitted ones.
The submitted ones are exactly that -submitted by people who have interpreted the records themselves -so are not always correct -sometimes people "fit" family members together -so the record becomes not much more than a guess and needs investigating more , but extracted records are usually reliable.
having said that -it is a very good site(in my opinion) especially when you are starting out.

Good luck

Suz

[lasota]

thanks for the reply. I am still at a brick wall here and can find no reason for this daniel to leave this area especially at such a young age. the main area all this family were in and stayed in is Rhayader and Llanwrythl but thanks for your research it will give me something to investigate and maybe a clue will be found

wendy

[lasota]

Sorry posted in wrong place