Harriet Davies of Kington, Herefordshire

[Tyleri]

Harriet Davies "married" William Heritage; I don't know if, when or where, but William Heritage died of smallpox in Brynmawr, Breconshire in 1857 aged about 30.
He had worked as a labourer in the ironworks and had been confined 14 days according to his death certificate with a William Stewart in attendance.
Their two daughters were Mary Ann Heritage born 1855 when they lived at Blackwood, Bedwellty and William was a railroad labourer; Sophia Heritage, my g.grandmother, was born in 1857 at Garnfach (near Nantyglo) where William was an iron miner.
These two little girls were in Kington workhouse on the 1861 census aged 6 and 4 with the surname Davies, having come from Llangattock, Breconshire (near Brynmawr). Apparently the workhouse records are in poor condition so I have been unable to find out when they were taken there and when they left. On leaving the workhouse in their teens, both girls took back their father's name of Heritage. A family tale was that the girls were abandoned on a bridge near Abergavenny. Someone must have known who they were and thought they came from Herefordshire. I have puzzled over this for many years, unable to find birth and marriage certificates for Harriet or William, or a death certificate for Harriet. On Mary Ann's birth certificate she is known as Harriett Ann Heritage. I have bought several death certificates , for Harriett Davies only to be disappointed.

Could someone help me to find more about a Davies family in Kington who appear on the 1841 census, please? I have assumed that Harriett was born around 1828.
There is a Harriet aged 13, a servant, with 70 year old Margaret Davies, of independent means; Mary Davies,50 (relationship not stated); Henry Davies, 20, a shoemaker(?); and Catherine Taunton, 30 (fruiterer?) Where can I find out who these people are and if they are related to each other?
As for William Heritage, I keep going back to one born 1828 in Pershore or Evesham. Interestingly, his daughter Mary Ann married a George Russell in 1875 and they lived in Pershore.
I have found another 14 year old Harriet Davies living at the ironworks in Nantyglo on the 1841 census. Her family were Evan (agent) and Mary, with brothers Caleb and Richard (both,also,agents at the ironworks,) and a sister Mary Ann,15. However, I find the link to Kington is too strong to ignore, and, surely with a family there they wouldn't abandon the girls? Would they?
What can you make of all this?

[osprey]

Welcome to Rootschat!

You may want to contact another poster from this site although they haven't been online for a while.

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,149709.0.html

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,195685.0.html

You need to have posted 3 times before you send a pm, I think, so you could just reply on this thread until you have the requisite number.

 

[Tyleri]

I had to leave aside my search for the Heritage/Davies family for quite a while and now, on my return, I couldn't remember my log in name  so have chosen another - "Tyleri". ( It was "Norwich "  ) However I was delighted to see how much help I had been given and that it is still here to refresh my memory.  I hope that when my new message is posted  Osprey, Arran and the other kind people may take up my puzzle again. Thank you.

[Tyleri]

My previous posts in 2006, using my then user name "Norwich",  related to Henry Heritage. This was the name my great grandmother Sophia Jenkins (nee Heritage) used on her marriage certificate, but her father was William Heritage. Having tried unsuccessfully to find William's birth or marriage details I thought maybe I would be more successful with Henry, but no.  Recently I discovered a 13 year old Harriet Davies of Kington on the 1841 census in the household of Margaret Davies 70, with Mary 50 and Henry 20. No relationships given, but I wonder if this was where the name Henry came from, bearing in mind that Sophia and her sister Mary Ann Heritage were in Kington workhouse aged 4 and 6 in 1861 under the surname Davies, having been taken there from Llangattock, near Brynmawr, where their father William Heritage died in 1857.

[osprey]

and there was me thinking that 2 different people had the same story! 

She wouldn't be the first person to invent a father's name at the time of marriage,

By the way, I was doing some tidying up of twiglets after reading your post yesterday and spotted Sophia Heritage on the 1881 census. She's on the same page in Abergavenny as the children of a sister of my great-grandfather.
Small world!


 

[SDSan]

I was very excited to read this and related posts as I believe the Harriet Davies born c. 1840 is my great great grandmother. A Harriet Skarratt had several children between 1859 and 1872 and is described on their birth certificates as 'late Heritage, formerly Davis'. To make it even more confusing, she and husband (though I have never found a marriage) John Skarratt from Ullingswick, Herefs. used the surname Morris in the 1871 census for Stourbridge and the 1871 and 1881 censuses for Pershore (and I see there is a Pershore connection with Mary Ann Heritage), where they lived! But they are definately the same family as they have unusually-named children, including Cordelia Dagmar. Some of Ann's children went on to use the surname Davis (including my great grandmother Gertrude) and went, with Harriet (now calling herself Davis), to live in Birmingham in the 1880s. She was still alive in 1891, living with her daughter Rose. Harriet gave her place of birth as Old Radnor or Crab Castle, Radnorshire. Interestingly, we were always told that Gertrude came from Abergavenny, but it seems the connection was with her mother. Another little thing: Harriet appears as Ann in one of the Pershore census entries.

[Disoatchred]

Hi I have a few questions. I’m doing some family research and my great great grandmother from Wales was a Harriet Skarratt. I’m wondering if they are one in the same.