Woods n' Draisey

[RayDen]

Roy

If you look at freebmd you will see that there is a birth for a Lily Davies in Swansea in 1907 & a subsequent death (age 3) in 1910.  There were 6 births of Lily Davies between 1901 & 1911. 

The 1911 census shows that Mary Davies did lose 4 children.  As you are aware Mary only had 3 children with her in 1911:

William John   born 1900
Ivor Davies    born 1909
Mary Davies   1 month old

Ray

[RayDen]

Roy

There may be a chance that the two oldest sons of Catherine Woods (John 1872 & William 1878) may have also died before 1900.  Have found the following deaths in Swansea:

John Woods born 1872 died 1898
William Woods born 1878 died 1899.

I can only find the one birth of a John Woods in Wales between 1871 & 1873, that being March 1872 Merthyr Tydfil (on the 1881 census John was shown born Merthyr).  There are 3 births of a John Wood (June 1872 Caernavon; Sept 1872 Merthyr; Dec 1872 Cardigan).

I can also only find 2 births for a William Woods in Wales - April 1877 Cardiff; March 1878 Swansea. There were 3 births for a William Wood (June 1877 Cardiff; March 1878 Swansea; March 1878 Cardiff).

If the 2 did died we know that Mary Ann and Elizabeth were living together at that stage so the two youngest children; James (17 in 1901) and Jane (15 in 1901) were probably living independantly or living with another family.

Ray

[Roy G]

Hi Ray.    I picked up on those deaths too and retraced the family back from Swansea to Merthyr in 1871, found the first born children's births in Merthyr, then the parents' marriage also there in 1866, and then discovered that the wife Catherine Welsh who once claimed she was born in Ireland, was actually Cathereine WELCH, born in Merthyr in 1849. Before going further back in time though, I have to sort out this anomally and verify whether I have homed in on the correct Woods family who are known to have remained in Swansea up until WW2. 

The FreeBMD indexes for Swansea confirms an entry in the family bible saying George Woods was born in 1896, but there being no baptismal record on the IGI, I would need a copy birth certificate to verify that the bible is also correct by listing no father alongside his mother Mary Ann Woods, 'reputed' to be very young and unmarried. 

FreeBMD have only two Swansea based Mary Woods marrying between 1895 & 1920 (1899 & 1907) and intuitively I opted for the earlier of the two whose partner was either Charles William Jones or Elias Davies.  A family member says he recalls Great grandpa Charlie Jones and aunt Lili which lines up with the Jones family Ray found, although Mary's age is marginally out.  Alternatively, there are Swansea entries for the Davies family on the 1901 & 1911 censuses which have data giving Mary her correct age, showing a Sister in Law Elizabeth Woods also of the correct age and gives a marriage year of 1899 and therefore dovetails far better.

I think the former Welshman for whom I am doing the research now needs to start buying copy certificates.  Is it Welshmen or Scotsmen that have deep pockets and short arms?    Roy G

[RayDen]

Roy

It looks like this must have been a very unlucky family.  Have found the death of young Jane in 1898:

Jane Woods Born abt 1886  died Jan 1898 Swansea 11a 579.  There is only one Jane Woods born in that period in Swansea.

Have also found the death for James Woods:

James Woods born abt 1883 died Sept 1899 Swansea 11a 658.  There were 2 James Woods born in that period in Swansea; Dec 1883 & Dec 1884.  However the second James Woods is on the 1901 census with his mother Sarah Jane Stephens RG13;5069;78;43.

I think you should assume that young George was in childrens home somewhere?

And us welshmen do have short arms - but definetely no money in our deep pockets!!

Ray