Family Tree

[Divine Wright]

Wow. Good info. The problem I have is that ALL my family are abroad seing as I live in the Basque Country......so on the spot detective work is going to be tough unless I can twist my father's arm.

The Glamorgan Family History Society looks a good bet seeing as my fathers side appear to have married, died or been born in Cardiff/Ponty/Rhymney/Bedwellty. I think I have found my great grandparents marriage registry from the free .gov site. but again they are Williams, Matthews and Phillips so it's a little guessy beyond that seeing as I'm approximating the area and date of birth (give or take 10 years) and there are hundreds of people with those surnames. If they were immigrants from other parts of Wales (or god forbid...) , which I suppose the vast majority were in the late 1800's it's pretty much potluck when defining the search area. That's why I'm pretty much stuffed without the Marriage certificate of my great-grandparents.

On my Grandfathers side, his parents/grandparents were supposedly tinker-types from the North of Ireland so feck knows how I'd find that or even if traveller people were all registered, being nomadic and whatnot.

I'll probably have to take the plunge and get the marriage certificate of my great-granparents and take it from there, as advised, month by month.

If any of you want to share the intimate details of your finds, personally, I love good nose.

[Harry Monk]

Wow. Good info. The problem I have is that ALL my family are abroad seing as I live in the Basque Country......so on the spot detective work is going to be tough unless I can twist my father's arm.

The Glamorgan Family History Society looks a good bet seeing as my fathers side appear to have married, died or been born in Cardiff/Ponty/Rhymney/Bedwellty. I think I have found my great grandparents marriage registry from the free .gov site. but again they are Williams, Matthews and Phillips so it's a little guessy beyond that seeing as I'm approximating the area and date of birth (give or take 10 years) and there are hundreds of people with those surnames. If they were immigrants from other parts of Wales (or god forbid...) , which I suppose the vast majority were in the late 1800's it's pretty much potluck when defining the search area. That's why I'm pretty much stuffed without the Marriage certificate of my great-grandparents.

On my Grandfathers side, his parents/grandparents were supposedly tinker-types from the North of Ireland so feck knows how I'd find that or even if traveller people were all registered, being nomadic and whatnot.

I'll probably have to take the plunge and get the marriage certificate of my great-granparents and take it from there, as advised, month by month.

If any of you want to share the intimate details of your finds, personally, I love good nose.

Are you 100% sure that you have identified your great grandparents correctly? What period in time are you looking at with your Great grandparents? 10 years is a huge chunk of time to “guess” at and as you quite rightly point out, they may have migrated from other parts of Wales. During the turn of the 19th century thousands of workers moved from agriculture in Wales, Shropshire, Herefordshire, Gloucester, Somerset, Devon and Ireland into Wales for work, and they also moved from parish to parish, where ever the work would take them. Before spending out on certificates, you really to be sure you have the right people – otherwise it will become more expensive than it needs to be.

[Divine Wright]

Are you 100% sure that you have identified your great grandparents correctly? What period in time are you looking at with your Great grandparents? 10 years is a huge chunk of time to “guess” at and as you quite rightly point out, they may have migrated from other parts of Wales. During the turn of the 19th century thousands of workers moved from agriculture in Wales, Shropshire, Herefordshire, Gloucester, Somerset, Devon and Ireland into Wales for work, and they also moved from parish to parish, where ever the work would take them. Before spending out on certificates, you really to be sure you have the right people – otherwise it will become more expensive than it needs to be.

Weeeell, I think I'm sure. Feel free to guide me though.....

I found a marriage entry in GRO for Francis Williams and Sheila Matthews in 1940 in Cardiff. I couldn't find anything similar and those are the names of my grandparents. They were definitely married in Cardiff. The year would kind of fit in with my father's year of birth as well. From that entry I then worked out the year (give or take ten years) that my Grandma must have been born. I know she spent her childhood in Abertridwr and her family had a butcher's there or something. So the only person I found with her name , born in the area was in 1918 in Pontypridd. I think that is pretty nailed on. On the registry of my grandmothers birth, I found the maiden name of her mother which was Phillips. Now, this is where it gets a bit guessy. I found a marriage entry for a David Morgan Matthews and Mary Elizabeth Williams in Rhymney in 1915. The only other thing I found within Wales with the same names around the same date was a between a couple in Pembroke. I'm pretty sure they would have been our side of the border because they were welsh-speakers. Also, like I said , my grandmother's father had a butcher's..... maybe he did some work in the mines as well. I can't really remember. I'm pretty sure they would have been in the area a couple of years before my grandmother's birth and I suppose Rhymney is pretty near Abertridwr. So it kind of fits.

On my grandfather's side, I think all the family were from Cardiff. The only thing I know about him was that his family had/ or worked in a dairy that used to be on or near Albany Road. But I haven't really looked into that side very much.