Russan, St Brides Bay Parishes + HRO

[murfa]

In a couple of weeks my wife and I will be spending a few days in Pembroke. As part of this trip we would like to research the "Russan" family tree by visiting the Haverfordwest Records Office. From what I can gather this particular family branch migrated along the St Bride's bay coast from Marloes, St Brides, Talbenny, West Walton/Broadhaven and then onto St Martin's parish in Haverfordwest. This was during the period 1750 to 1845. I would be grateful to receive any information about this family (William Russan 1747, Thomas Russan 1787 (app), John Russan 1791. I know that there is another Russan branch emanating from George Russan born 1786 in St Petrox. It is not this branch that is of interest. Any advice regarding visiting the Haverfordwest Records Office and any of the five aforementioned parishes would also be welcome. 
Many thanks

[janede]

I am looking for Russan also but mine seem to originate in Rosemarket and then move on to Burton. I am having problems finding them post 1871. Have you located any from Burton?

[murfa]

It is my understanding that the Burton Russan's came from St Ishmaels and previous to that from either Rosemarket+St Petrox or Talbenny+StBrides. The Russan sources of information are patchy and perhaps inconsistent. The Burton Russans seem to die out in the  census information and I have not located any of this Russan branch post 1871. However, I have not searched this area well. If you send an email to the address shown on www.gpsu.co.uk/service.html then I may be able to put you in touch with someone else who can help.

[Orielbenfro]

In a couple of weeks my wife and I will be spending a few days in Pembroke. As part of this trip we would like to research the "Russan" family tree by visiting the Haverfordwest Records Office.

Russan ~ post 1871 you may wish to consider the Russan family of Pembroke Dock St John with related burials at Llanion.

Have you consulted the wills of William Russon of Marloes 1812/41 and Jane Russan no residence shown 1722/40 originals both available free on the NLoW website, but not at The Rec Off.

Have you considered mrge’s
Thomas Mathias to Martha Russan 1780 at Talbenny 1780
John Russan to Sarah Merchant 1808 at St Ishmaels
Peter Russan to Elizabeth Llewhelin 1783 at Talbenny
William Russan to Rachel Hart 1800 at Marloes

You may wish to consider visiting Haverfordwest Cty Library and viewing the 23 volumes of the Francis Green Collection, there is a very poor index, but a search can be most rewarding. There is information in these volumes that has long been lost and does not exist in the Rec Off.

Ensure that you consult the surname index held in the files in the search room.
Do not ignore the possible conflict with the common Pembs surname Russant.

Broadhaven is not a parish and is part of Walton West parish.
Marloes P.R.s start circa 1749
Talbenny start circa 1764
Walton West start circa 1800
St Brides start circa 1727.
Haverfordwest St Martin start circa 1721, this is one of 3 parish in the town of H’west so you will need to consider H’west St Mary (circa 1594) and H’west St Thomas (circa 1713). The Rec Off has a register of B.T.’s held only at the NLoW which can supplement lost periods of the P.R.’s.

Do you have nonconformity in the family? If so be prepared for a very long very difficult search through very limited registers in locations that on the face of it bear no relation to the Anglican parish of your interest.

Lastly with out wishing to in anyway offend,
1.   Are you fully aware of what is available at the Rec Off. An email will illicit a vast amount of helpful information to plan your visit, not only to the Rec Off, but when you start visiting the local area, it will also save that most valuable commodity ‘time’.  No where here is very far in “miles” but in terms of time to travel can take ages (which is why my expeditions to church or cemeteries is by motorcycle). Have you read up? to me “Village Records” by John West I can not do without.
2.   Ensure that you turn up with a comprehensive list of exact questions you wish to answer. I see so many turn up with a surname an area and no plan of action.
3.   Ordnance Survey Explorer Map OL35 of North Pembrokeshire to find cemeteries for churches that no longer have burials in the churchyard (this excludes Marloes, St Brides and Walton West at least) located outside of villages. Visiting cemeteries appears to be a simple exercise but can mean going round in circles down some very narrow beautiful Pembs country lanes, not totally enjoyable if time is limited.
 Gd hunting, enjoy your trip and our paths might well cross in the Rec. Off.
Waffle and pontification over.
Rgds
Oreilbenfro
ORIEL a welsh window on a surname

[murfa]

Thank you, Orielbenfro, for the useful information on the NLoW website. My wife and I did spend a very enjoyable few days last March seeing the lovely picturesque churches of the St Brides Bay churches. We also spent 2 half-days at the Haverfordwest Records Office were we obtained some useful information.

However, I have not been able to piece together the various branches of the Russan family tree. I know that my wife is descended from Thomas Russan 1787-approx (d 1844), Stone Mason, and Lettice Unknown (1781-1852 approx). They had children William (19/11/1809 - Haroldston West), Mary and Thomas (twins 13/2/1814, West Walton) and Peter (23/6/1816 West Walton). William was also a stonemason and the whole of his family moved from Haverfordwest to Liverpool in 1845 to help build the docks - in those days skilled stonemasons would have been much sought after. However, we have not been able to find the marriage record for Thomas-Lettice, but we conjecture that it was about 1808.

It is possible that Thomas was the son of William Russan (1747) and Rachel Unknown who were married in Marloes in 1772 (see www.familysearch.com IGI record). If this is so, then there could have been a Russan migration pattern along the coast that is: Marloes (1747) -> Thomas Russan (1787), John Russan (1791, Talbenny) -> West Walton/Haroldston West -> St Martin in Haverfordwest. Alternatively Thomas could be the son of the Peter Russan and Elizabeth Llewhelin (m 1783 Talbenny) whom you mentioned.

Family folklore is that at least this branch of Russans were French Huguenots and very devout protestants. We have conjectured that they may have originated from the village of 'Russan' in the Languedoc region of France (see http://www.laforgerussan.com/russan/). They were clearly stonemasons and literate, as the Russan gravestone in the West Walton cemetery is impressively ornamented. The Langeudoc region was one of the last strongholds of the Huguenots before they were banished from France. There are also a few 16th century French marriage records for people with the name of '..de Russan' which may support this theory.

The problem I have is that the records are patchy and there are ambiguities. I see you have found a record for a William Russan to Rachel Hart 1800 at Marloes. - could that be related to the IGI record of William+Rachel of 1772 mentioned above? Another possible ambiguity is the John Russan to Sarah Merchant 1808 at St Ishmaels - is this John the same John, who was born 1791 in Talbenny, and could it be Sarah Jane Merchant - did she use both names? However the ages of this John+Sarah do not seem to match the 1841 and 1851 census data.

Because of these apparently conflicting information, I have not been able to fit together the different branches of the Russan tree. My main aim now is to try to find the parents of Thomas Russan 1787 approx and the maiden name of Lettice his wife. It might then be possible to find Thomas's siblings (perhaps John 1791) and tie them into this branch of the tree. The other Russan branch, which seems to have migrated via the path St Petrox -> Rosemarket -> Burton, do not appear to be directly linked to the St Brides bay Russans which are our main interest.

It is interesting to speculate that the St Brides Bay Russans, being protestant stonemasons, may have helped to restore or build the parish Churches along the coast. We wonder if any dates of church construction correspond to the dates of Russan migration along the coast - there does appear to be a little correlation with the start dates of the parish records you mention.

There are many missing pieces of this puzzle and I would be grateful if anyone can throw any more light on this. We clearly need to plan a longer visit to Pembrokeshire in the future - perhaps sometime next year. Many thanks for the tips regarding the City Library and the NLoW information. Oh - and yes, we did enjoy the beauty of Pembrokeshire countryside and I know what you mean by travel times.

[wilcoxon]

This documents mentions John Russan of Mustock ? St Ishmaels, who died without leaving a will, Sarah Jane Russan is his widow.
dated 4 April 1848.

http://hdl.handle.net/10107/903307

Welsh wills online.

[murfa]

Wilcoxon, many thanks for that information. This matches the names in the 1841 and 1851 census records - Sarah was a widow in 1851, supposedly aged 51. I was puzzled why this age does not match the marriage of John Russan to Sarah Merchant 1808 at St Ishmaels. Nor does it match the dates John/Jane dates in the 1851 census.

However, I now have a "strawman theory" regarding this family:
John Russan (b 1791 Talbenny) married Sarah Merchant in 1808 and had 3 children at St Ismaels - John and Peter (both 1811) and James (1812). Later on this same John married Jane and they produced Mary (1829 St Brides). John was a miller and lived at Slate Mill. His son, John (1811), married Sarah Jane from Rosemarket but he died in 1847 as a male servant in Mullock (seems like a large house) in St Ishmaels. This left Sarah Jane to be the subject of the bond and an annuitant. As you can see there are two Johns, a Sarah, a Jane and a Sarah Jane and both families lived in St Ismaels - all very confusing! Remember that this is only a theory at this stage and it really needs further evidence to support it.

However, my main aim is to still to identify the parents of Thomas Russan (b 1787 appox Talbenny) and any siblings together with the maiden name of Lettice, his wife. Were John and Thomas siblings as both were similar ages and born in Talbenny? Are they the children of William+Rachel (m 1772) or Peter+Elizabeth (m 1783) or someone else? It seems like another visit to the HRO is called for.

[wilcoxon]

Posted by: Orielbenfro
Have you consulted the wills of William Russon of Marloes 1812/41 and Jane Russan no residence shown 1722/40 originals both available free on the NLoW website, but not at The Rec Off.

I can`t locate these on the The National Library of Wales  Welsh Wills section. ?
There should be a `handle`on the record  to be able to go direct to the docmument.

[Orielbenfro]

Posted by: Orielbenfro
Have you consulted the wills of William Russon of Marloes 1812/41 and Jane Russan no residence shown 1722/40 originals both available free on the NLoW website, but not at The Rec Off.
I can`t locate these on the The National Library of Wales  Welsh Wills section. ?There should be a `handle`on the record  to be able to go direct to the docmument.

If you continue to have no success then sometime later in January after the Rec Off has re-opened on Jan 4th and I get back from a few days away, I shall be at the Record Office, where I can obtain the will extracts of these two wills for you.

The Extracts are more than adequate to show names relationships and places for research purposes.
Rgds
Orielbenfro
ORIEL a welsh window on a surname