Many thanks Dundee,
Yes, I've seen this obituary before, and while it refers to father Thomas as a 'clock-maker', the Trees I've seen all link James to Thomas the weaver of St Davids - and I can't find why they make the connection [except that the replies from those my cousin and I have contacted said they have just "copied the information from other Trees"- how I wish folk would do their own research, instead of churning other people's errors!].
Interestingly, it does mention his early years as a seaman; and there are maritime records in the 1830s of a James Lewis born 1814 in St Davids. But James Lewis being a common name, and NonConformity in Wales meaning not all children would be shown as baptised in Parish Registers, it would be a leap of faith to make an assumption that this chap is 'our' James.....
There's no Lewis family of clock-makers at St Davids that I've been able to find. There is a 'Lewis Clockmakers' in Wales, but not in St Davids.
Also, James was the second of six sons - not the third, as the obituary states - but this is a minor point, the informants presumably never having had much to do with the family in Wales, in the nature of things!
And then, the weavers of St Davids and Solva in the 1840s and 1850s Directories are recorded as Thomas, John and James Lewis - which may or may not mean anything - Thomas the weaver had brothers John and James.....
What I want to do, is to find is the person who first linked James to father Thomas the weaver - did this person just link James purely on the basis of his name/age/place of birth; or did he actually have some evidence that James was the son of Thomas the weaver?
One thing I hadn't considered was your point that the obituary notice might just have picked up the word 'cloth-maker' and printed it as 'clock-maker' - I had thought that my looked -for 'first Australian Tree-maker' had read a census entry incorrectly [the C1851 has a poorly-written 'cloth-factor' as employment], which had then been copied by every other Australian Tree-owner. But I think you may well have the answer here!
I shall go and have another look at James. My gut feeling is that he is in fact the son of Thomas the weaver and part of my family - but without proper evidence, I can't include him, of course!
One thing I can do, is go through the local census entries in St Davids/Solva and see if I can find all the James Lewises. And I feel a visit to the |Records Office in Haverfordwest coming on.....maybe they have some information tucked away somewhere....
I think you've cleared my head somewhat on this little puzzle, so my grateful thanks - Elaine
