A Family Journey
A familiar story, knowing where you’re from, helps to point you to where you would like to go.
A family journey, not quite through all time, through some time, and through some places.
It’s quite long so I’ll get it done in a few episodes.
First Step
Starting early 1820’s, in Llanegwad, a place described by Mr. Samuel Lewis in 1844 as.. “a parish, in the union of Llandilo-Vawr, partly in the lower division of the hundred of Cathinog, and partly in the higher division of that of Elvet, county of Carmarthen, South Wales, 7 1/2 miles (W. by S.) from Llandilo-Vawr; containing 2113 inhabitants. This parish derives its name from the dedication of its church to St. Egwad, who is said to have lived here in seclusion and devotional retirement, probably near the spot still called “Eisteddva Egwad,” where are the ruins of an ancient and very extensive mansion. The parish extends for nearly seven miles from north to south, and about four from east to west, and is intersected by the river Cothy, which falls into the Towy at this place. The lands, which with the exception of a very small portion, are inclosed, are fertile, and in a good state of cultivation; and the village is pleasantly situated. Search was made by N.B. Jones, Esq., within the last few years, for copper-ore, of which a vein was discovered, but it dipped so considerably below the bed of the river as to render the working of it altogether impracticable. . . There are places of worship for Baptists, Independents, and Welsh and Wesleyan Methodists. . . A day school, containing 50 boys and 20 girls, is partly supported by endowment, and partly by voluntary contributions .”
Genuki. Llanegwad. www.genuki.org.uk
Llanegwad now. Photo © Humphrey Bolton (cc-by-sa/2.0)
An agricultural labourer living in this parish, 21 years old, married in St. Egwad’s 1830, his wife the daughter of his father’s neighbour. By 1831, 1 child is already born. The family is depending on seasonal work, planting, reaping, and harvesting employed then de-employed hired and fired. Prone to the cold and damp of the weather vagaries. This family was typical of the village.
In 1831 an occupation breakdown for Llanegwad was:
Farmers employing Labourers 60.
Farmers not employing Labourers. 54
Agricultural Labourers 208. (Shows how rural life was just outside the S. Wales coalfield).
Manufacturing 6.
Retail & Handicrafts 118.
Capitalists, Professionals 5.
Labourers (non-agricultural) 19.
Servants 0
Other 35.
First move.
The father of our family hears of some better paid work, and a stone house to live in, about 12 miles away in Betws. In common with any others in the village he leaves, here’s a change in population chart for Llanegwad:
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, Llanegwad AP/CP through time | Statistics |, A Vision of Britain through Time. URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10193175/cube/POP_CHANGE Date accessed: 2nd March 2024
Samuel Lewis says about Bettws… “a parish, in the union of Llanelly, hundred of Iskennen, . . . 8 miles from Llandilo-Vawr; comprising the upper and lower divisions, and containing 1109 inhabitants. . . situated within a short distance of the turnpike-road leading from Llandilo-Vawr to Swansea . . . A considerable part of the surface is mountainous and barren, and the level portion contains some tracts of woodland . . . a small quantity of grain is grown, but the chief produce is cheese and butter. The river Amman runs through the parish, and two brooks called Cathan and Nantyfin. Slate is quarried, and coal and iron-mines are in operation, a rail-road having recently been made. The living is a perpetual curacy, annexed to the vicarage of Llandebie , , . The church, dedicated to St. David . . . contains 250 sittings, of which 40 are free. A Sunday school affords instruction gratuitously in the Welsh language to about 110 children of both sexes.”
Genuki Betws. www.genuki.org.uk
By 1851 the population of Betws was nearly double that of 1831.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, Betws AP/CP through time | Statistics |, A Vision of Britain through Time. URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10008141/cube/TOT_POP Date accessed: 2nd March 2024
15 years later 12 children born, 7 miraculously still live, the other infants succumbed to TB. Our worker, hewing in the mine half a mile underground in the heat, freezing when he gets out. Time to move on in. Nearly 45 now and well into his working life, older than many of his colleagues. Wheezing and paining but OK.
Second move.
He has heard of the copper working in Swansea, there’s a railway line, the wages seem to be better, at least that’s what he has heard. Llansamlet is not so far, 12 miles over the mountain, 15 through Pontardulais. He and his sons and daughters find work in Birchgrove. Men labouring in the works near the River Tawe, the air’s not so clean and the river looks like it’s on fire, but the money is better. Bit more varied here, Cornish, Irish, some still speak his language though. Life is precarious, expectancy was 39 in 1850, even less in the works. He gives a couple more years of work to support his family (and another family. living in the clear western air near Gower), dies of bronchitis lungs destroyed by the fumes, acid and dust. The eldest boy has found work in the mine at Glais, sister’s knitting stockings, mother’s taking in laundry. The eldest in turn hears of the streets of Merthyr Tydfil, Mr. Crawshay has had his iron works lease extended. There’s iron ore to be mined, coal to be mined, limestone to be smashed. Workers have had houses built, the wages are better, it’s got to be better.
Copper works now.
The story will continue.
Of course if you want to follow in your family’s footsteps, I’ll research, find the places and my friend Janet can put your tour together.
Janet Redler Travel.
Email john.colclough@genealogy-and-you.com
Phone-WhatsApp-Text 07305733850
Heritage Tour
Many people are looking for their roots nowadays. A quick online search will give an idea of the number of family history programmes on television worldwide at present, such as ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’
The search for your ancestors might begin with what life was like for them. What was their work, how did their children live, what were the houses they lived in, what about their neighbours, workmates and friends? Then you may want to see where your forebears came from, what the places looked like and are they still there? Your family’s history may well have started miles from where you are now, maybe even on the other side of the world.
If you have researched your family tree, you will probably see names you recognise, and some you don’t, there will be fashionable names, biblical names, unusual names, or naming patterns in Wales and other Celtic countries which won’t fit a modern pattern. You will also see place names, some familiar, some not, some indecipherable and some strange.
On a Genealogy Tour I can make the link between the past and present for you. I will research your genealogy; build on the work you’ve done, or indeed start from scratch. I will use birth, marriage and death records, censuses, old maps such as tithe maps, newspaper reports (there are over 300 years to be searched!), wills and testaments, court records from 800 years, and other sources too numerous to mention in archives and libraries.
From the humblest labourer to the mighty landowner, if the records exist, they can be found. From these records we will map out the life of your ancestors, gather the documents, put together an itinerary and off we go.
A visit to your roots will let you hear the language and accents your ancestors used. See the churches or chapels where they got baptized, married, and buried. You will walk in their footsteps, perhaps see the houses they lived in, the places they worked and the sights they saw.
For example.
Tracing the Welsh heritage of a family from Pennsylvania
160 years ago, a miner and his young family left Blaenavon in Monmouthshire, Wales, for Scranton, Pennsylvania, to work in the mines there. Six generations later, the descendants of that family came back to follow their family history.
Using the records available, we were able to go to the streets the family had lived in, the terraces of cottages holding on to the hillsides. We talked about how the houses sprang up to accommodate the workers arriving to get jobs in the coal mines, iron mines, limestone workings, furnaces, forges and railways. We talked about the boom and bust of the times, and how their ancestors left for better times in Pennsylvania.
As we walked around the industrial heritage town of Blaenavon we saw the church of St. Peter which had been built by the ironmasters, and where ancestors had been baptised, married and buried. Next to the school one of the children attended, the rest of the children worked at the Iron Works.
We toured the spectacular Blaenavon Ironworks to see beautifully restored cottages, a company shop, the iconic blast furnaces and marvelled at the Balance Tower, a hydraulically operated lift which once raised wagon loads of raw materials to the top of the furnaces.
The 19th century family had moved around in the area as the times changed and the work places opened up and closed down. For instance they had gone north towards Govilon in Monmouthshire and we were able to travel on the road they used. We stopped and could see where the mountain had been tunnelled to move the iron north, to save the company the tolls for going south.
I was able to show the family a long-since derelict village with schoolhouse and pub built by the company for forge workers and miners – the place their ancestors had lived, with nature taking back over.
From this viewpoint we could see the Blaenavon World Heritage Site on one side and the National Park of Bannau Brycheiniog (Brecon Beacons) on the other. Now the family could see the geography of the area and why it had lured the venture industrialists and then the workers in.
Continuing north, following the iron route, we saw the schoolhouse next to the canal where an ancestor had been a housekeeper and walked along the canal path for a few minutes, now a pretty leisure area, but once a busy industrial transport route.
Then to the stunning St Peter’s Church in Llanwenarth Citra, next to the River Usk, because I had found the marriage of their seven times grandparents there in the 1840s, and where the lovely family were able to leave a message in the visitors’ book on their 25th wedding anniversary in 2023.
Past, present and families. Perfect.
I will research, plan and guide you through your route.
My friends at Janet Redler Travel Limited will put the whole thing together for you click on the the underlined text to go to their website.