Nant Y Rhiw, Llanrwst

[SCMP]

Hi all,
I am trying to trace back my grandparents and have done well with three of them but oue is ellusive.
My grandmother Nella (1914-02) went to live with her mother and step father around 1920+ in Nant y Rhiw but i do not know where.
Her mother was called Barbra Roberts and her husband / partner was called bob or robert and worked on a farm or was a shepard but i can not find his name. I am trying to trace Barbra roberts but have become stuck.

Barbra Roberts (1888apx unknown death date) has Ann (deceased), Nella (deceased),  and Richard(deceased), at 13)
She met Robert/Bob after 1914 and before 1920 and went on to have more children Sal, Jane and Robert (i think) This part is what my grandmother passed down to me but without surnames or where she lived i can't carry on my family tree through Barbras mother and father and so on which is rather fustrating!!

Any suggestions on what i could do?

[CaroleW]

Hi and welcome

Was Nella her actual christian name or an abbreviation?  I cannot find a 1914 birth for a Nella Roberts

[SCMP]

Hi and thank you for the warm welcome,

Nor can i!!!

The first time she shows up is when she marrys Thomas David Owen in 1943 they are burried together in Glan Conwy and the birth date with the name Nella is on her grave stone. She all ways said she was from Penmachno and lived with her grandparents until she was in school when her mother came and took her and her brother to Nant Y Rhiw where her stepdad lived.

Her older sister Ann (Annie) maybe on a census in 1911 in Penmachno. When you follow the 'parents' Hugh and Mary 20 years earlier they had a Barbra born in 1988 who may or may not be Annies mother, if she is then that would be Nella's mother.

From what i can gather though my mum and aunties Nellas father and the situation was not talked about back then. I understand that and i know that realistically i will never know who her dad is which is fine but knowing her mother Barbra was a local girl i had my heart on tracing her family back.

[CaroleW]

Her death reg shows her birth as 13.3.1914

The registration district for Penmachno births for that period was Llanrwst

Could she have been born as Ellen Roberts but known as Nella?  Nellie was a popular corruption of the name Ellen/Eleanor but Nella sounds better

There are 2 births for that name with a mothers maiden name of Roberts

Births June qtr 1914 

ROBERTS  Ellen  mothers maiden name Roberts  Llanrwst  11b 609   
ROBERTS  Ellen  mothers maiden name Roberts  Llanrwst  11b 603

[CaroleW]

I wonder if this is a possible for Barbara in 1891 in Penmachno.  All born there except Mary

Hugh P Roberts 26 slate quarry labourer 
Mary 24 b Ruthin
Barbara 3
Kate 1
RG12 Piece 4634 Folio 18 Page 11

A really helpful marriage - not!!

Marriages December qtr 1885

Hugh Parry Roberts    Llanrwst  11b 550   
Mary Roberts

[CaroleW]

In 1901 - 13yr old Barbara is working as a domestic servant in Penmachno for another Roberts family.  All b Penmachno except John

All surname Roberts

John E 40 b Denbigh Llanrwst - slate quarryman
Mary E 34
Evan  9
Ellen J   4
Annie 1
Owen 73 father in law
Barbara J  13 servant attending school
RG13 Piece 5245 Folio 35 Page 8

[SCMP]

I never even questioned that Nella could have actualy an Ellen before! I can't beleive i never thought of that. Thank you so so much.

Wow thank you for digging up this information so quickly!!!!

The Barbra you found IS the one that i came along and the dates seem to match but it is a bit of a guess. If she had Nella/Ellen out of wedlock and the grandparents Hugh and Mary looked after her is a story i could beleive but then i can't find Barbra anywhere in existence from there onwards.

I wounder if Barbra J Roberts is the same girl? The dates are pretty good looking.

[Mabel Bagshawe]

Possible death, with a more conventional spelling?

Barbara J Roberts
Birth abt 1889
Date of Registration:    Jan-Feb-Mar 1968
Age at Death:    79
Ref:   Conway, Vol    8a, page 169

[Dolgellau]

On the Melin y Coed families website :

http://www.melin-y-coed.co.uk/page76.htm

There is a wedding photo with the caption "Above: Wedding of Nell Roberts to Ross Harrison in Canada. Bridesmaid her sister Edna, Best Man "Bin" Morin. Nell and Edna were the daughters of Robert Roberts of Cobalt, Ont. and Nebo"

Are these the same people as you are looking for? Even if not it might be worth contacting the Melin y Coed site webmaster, she has vast knowledge of the families who lived in the Melin y Coed / Nebo / Nant y Rhiw area and is in regular contact with most of the old families of the area, so even if she dosn't have details about your family she will probably know who to ask.

Her e-mail address is about halfway down the site's home page http://www.melin-y-coed.co.uk/index.htm