Genealogy / Menelaus St. Spolt

[trampie09]

Everybody dies, it is one of only 2 things certain in life!

Not everybody dies tragically young mind you and not every family suffer that on a few separate multiple occasions and I'm not talking about going back umpteen decades either.

[Des Parrot]

Ancestry and Find My Past are MUST have subs imo. They each have many unique records. They are free in Cardiff libraries when open.
If you have Welsh ancestors the National Library of Wales has a wonderful free website with tithe maps, searchable Welsh newspapers and Welsh wills to 1858.
Free BMD is essential and Family Search is free.
Find a Grave is useful.
I'd say successful internet research is roughly down to 75% sites with subs and 25% free sites.

I started about 10 years ago and used Genes ReUnited. Over Xmas I kicked it off again and moved it on block to Ancestry. My wife's father is from Belfast and she knew zero, as he died when she was 3. I started searching around 3 weeks ago, had a little luck and now we have traced 300+ family members, linked her up with 3 cousins she didn't know she had and we're off to Belfast for a reunion later in the year.

I'm trying to be careful & only use official documents as I've found the the vast majority of Ancestry.com trees are wrong because people blinding link trees without reading the documents.

The other site that I've subscribed to is the BNA British Newpaper Archives, it's been my best source of leads for the 20th century.

I have a WW1 puzzle if you'd like to try & crack it Cyclops. I've failed on the internet, at the IMW & Portsmouth dockyard!

[Gofer Blue]

Cyclops has mentioned serendipity as playing a part in family history research. I have such a story if anyone is interested!

I started on my family history back in the early 1980’s. My father vaguely recalled his grandmother had a sister who had emigrated in the 1860’s to Pennsylvania. Her husband went to find work in the coal mines there. In our collection of family photos we have one solitary photo of my dad’s great aunt’s daughter together with her family. There was no date on it but from the clothing style we guessed early 1900’s. We knew her married name, the names of the husband and children were handwritten on the back of the photo, and the photographic studio was in a town called Nanticoke, Pennsylvania.

In the mid 1980’s I had to attend a 3 day business conference in New Jersey, which was the first time I had ever been to the USA. I took advantage of the trip to book a flight on the Friday night so that I could have the weekend free before the conference started on the Monday. New Jersey is adjacent to Pennsylvania, so my dad suggested that if I had time I could visit this place called Nanticoke and see if I could find any trace of the great aunt’s family. As our family have strong connections with the Methodist church he thought it might be a good idea to seek out the Methodist church in that town and enquire there for a start.

To cut a long story short, I found the main Methodist church, checked the Sunday service time and arrived about half an hour early. I showed the photo to the guy on the door but he was not able to help as he did not know of a family with that surname. However when he read the names on the back of the photo he said that there was an elderly lady by the name of Eva who attended there but she was very old and did not come every week. I waited on the off chance that this particular Sunday this lady would turn up, which she duly did. I showed her the photo and she burst into tears saying “where did you get that photo – that’s me second from the right!”

Serendipity or what!! From that chance one-off meeting I met many of her relatives who were able to fill me in with so many details about our American connections. But that’s another story….

[Rock_Flock_of_Five]

Cyclops has mentioned serendipity as playing a part in family history research. I have such a story if anyone is interested!

I started on my family history back in the early 1980’s. My father vaguely recalled his grandmother had a sister who had emigrated in the 1860’s to Pennsylvania. Her husband went to find work in the coal mines there. In our collection of family photos we have one solitary photo of my dad’s great aunt’s daughter together with her family. There was no date on it but from the clothing style we guessed early 1900’s. We knew her married name, the names of the husband and children were handwritten on the back of the photo, and the photographic studio was in a town called Nanticoke, Pennsylvania.

In the mid 1980’s I had to attend a 3 day business conference in New Jersey, which was the first time I had ever been to the USA. I took advantage of the trip to book a flight on the Friday night so that I could have the weekend free before the conference started on the Monday. New Jersey is adjacent to Pennsylvania, so my dad suggested that if I had time I could visit this place called Nanticoke and see if I could find any trace of the great aunt’s family. As our family have strong connections with the Methodist church he thought it might be a good idea to seek out the Methodist church in that town and enquire there for a start.

To cut a long story short, I found the main Methodist church, checked the Sunday service time and arrived about half an hour early. I showed the photo to the guy on the door but he was not able to help as he did not know of a family with that surname. However when he read the names on the back of the photo he said that there was an elderly lady by the name of Eva who attended there but she was very old and did not come every week. I waited on the off chance that this particular Sunday this lady would turn up, which she duly did. I showed her the photo and she burst into tears saying “where did you get that photo – that’s me second from the right!”

Serendipity or what!! From that chance one-off meeting I met many of her relatives who were able to fill me in with so many details about our American connections. But that’s another story….

That's wonderful!

[Cyclops]

Serendipity or what!! From that chance one-off meeting I met many of her relatives who were able to fill me in with so many details about our American connections. But that’s another story….

Great anecdote!
I have a website with all my FH. I came to an end of one line in 1715 in Hampshire near Winchester. One day I had an email from a stranger living in Germany. She had just bought a deed in a car boot sale which mentioned my ancestor and his brother. She sent a copy. Because of it, I was able to trace the birth of my 1715 forefather to Henley on Thames and got back several generations to the 16thC. They were bricklayers and built many houses in the town and their work survives to this day. The lady who found the Deed, made me a gift of it. Some relatives with the same unusual surname still live there. All this came to light because of a find in a German car boot sale, a caring woman and a website.

[Cyclops]

The other site that I've subscribed to is the BNA British Newpaper Archives, it's been my best source of leads for the 20th century.
I have a WW1 puzzle if you'd like to try & crack it Cyclops. I've failed on the internet, at the IMW & Portsmouth dockyard!

Yeah Genes Reunited is great for tracing living relatives and getting info - and like you I treat the trees on Ancestry with extreme caution. They show how many mistakes have been made by amateurs tracing their lines and making extreme leaps of faith.

PM me a few details. My maternal line is from Pompey and my grt grandfather was a shipwright in the Dockyard. I've written articles about the area online - http://historyinportsmouth.co.uk/pla...-buildings.htm. Now watch me fall flat on my face.

[Cleve van Leef]

Arrgh, can't change title! Splott obviously!

I've taken the opportunity of lock-down to extend my family tree, which basically is 75% Welsh, 25% Durham.

My Welsh roots are very much rural Breconshire, Monmouthshire, Pembrokeshire, Carmarthanshire, pre-industrial revolution, with a move to the Valleys later.

My family history is a basically a mix of Williams, Thomas, Evans & Price with other assortments throw in. Which makes tracing the tree more difficult! Do you know how many William Thomas & Thomas Williams there are in the valleys!!

Anyway, I digress. The point of my post relates to my limited Cardiff connection. My 25% Durham side stems from my great-grandfather, who moved to Cardiff when the Dowlais Works was opened in the early 1890's. My Gran was born in 63,Moorland Rd Splott (later moving round the corner to Carlisle St). My great-grandfather on my dads side lived in Menelaus St. which no longer exists. I've found out using an historical street map that was where Pacific Road now is, under what is now C2J Architects & South West Wood Products.

Anyone on here know when/why Menelaus St. was flattened & did Pacific Road replace it immediately?

As well as Menelaus St, Layard St, Enid St, Corise St, Elaine St, Cornelia St and that end of Portmanmoor Rd were flattened.

Any feedback or links gratefully received.

My wife lived in Cornelia Street until late 1969, when we got married. Her mother moved from there in 1970 because the house was compulsory purchase, so they would have been flattened early 70’s.

[Enoch Mort]

Arrgh, can't change title! Splott obviously!

I've taken the opportunity of lock-down to extend my family tree, which basically is 75% Welsh, 25% Durham.

My Welsh roots are very much rural Breconshire, Monmouthshire, Pembrokeshire, Carmarthanshire, pre-industrial revolution, with a move to the Valleys later.

My family history is a basically a mix of Williams, Thomas, Evans & Price with other assortments throw in. Which makes tracing the tree more difficult! Do you know how many William Thomas & Thomas Williams there are in the valleys!!

Anyway, I digress. The point of my post relates to my limited Cardiff connection. My 25% Durham side stems from my great-grandfather, who moved to Cardiff when the Dowlais Works was opened in the early 1890's. My Gran was born in 63,Moorland Rd Splott (later moving round the corner to Carlisle St). My great-grandfather on my dads side lived in Menelaus St. which no longer exists. I've found out using an historical street map that was where Pacific Road now is, under what is now C2J Architects & South West Wood Products.

Anyone on here know when/why Menelaus St. was flattened & did Pacific Road replace it immediately?

As well as Menelaus St, Layard St, Enid St, Corise St, Elaine St, Cornelia St and that end of Portmanmoor Rd were flattened.

Any feedback or links gratefully received.

I’ve been trying to think back to the early days of when I worked for the Council in their finance department. It’s a long time ago now but the Council had a number of slum clearance schemes and areas of Splott were definitely included. Properties were compulsory purchased, demolished and rehousing was offered where necessary. The resulting cleared land would be used for either new housing or industrial development. I remember there being bound leather volumes of Council minutes in those days which the Glamorgan Archive Service will have. If you wanted to research slum clearance schemes for Splott in more detail looking up the minutes of the Estates and Finsnce committees of the late 60s onward msy provide you with the info

[IanD]

Ancestry and Find My Past are MUST have subs imo. They each have many unique records. They are free in Cardiff libraries when open.
If you have Welsh ancestors the National Library of Wales has a wonderful free website with tithe maps, searchable Welsh newspapers and Welsh wills to 1858.
Free BMD is essential and Family Search is free.
Find a Grave is useful.
I'd say successful internet research is roughly down to 75% sites with subs and 25% free sites.

Might be worth checking to see if Ancestry/FMP have been allowed free access, via library websites, during lockdown. Mrs D works on a voluntary basis at our local library, which comes under Staffordshire. Staffs have just enabled free access, from home, to Ancestry so long as you have an account and pin.

[Cyclops]

For those interested, I wrote an article for Family Tree magazine which discussed the reasons folk might use a researcher to investigate their family trees. It focused on Mrs SR's family which was the most amazing journey I've made. Couldn't believe the people she was descended from - the GOOD and the BAD. Link to article: http://www.prestonherts.co.uk/page26...reearticleZoeT

[IanD]

I’ve been trying to think back to the early days of when I worked for the Council in their finance department. It’s a long time ago now but the Council had a number of slum clearance schemes and areas of Splott were definitely included. Properties were compulsory purchased, demolished and rehousing was offered where necessary. The resulting cleared land would be used for either new housing or industrial development. I remember there being bound leather volumes of Council minutes in those days which the Glamorgan Archive Service will have. If you wanted to research slum clearance schemes for Splott in more detail looking up the minutes of the Estates and Finsnce committees of the late 60s onward msy provide you with the info

You can have a look see at the Glam records collection which lists what is available. I worked out where my mum worked in Lisvane, during the war, by tracking down a planning application for a toilet block. The house has reverted to private ownership. I wonder if they know they have bogs in their garden?!

http://calmview.cardiff.gov.uk

[A Quiet Monkfish]

It's a very interesting topic.

Are there any decent, free websites, that you can use to trace your family tree, or do you really need to pay a subscription to get any decent results?

Try this :

https://www.familysearch.org/en/

It's the Mormon site, absolutely free. As good as any for BMD and now has access to all Census records too, which is probably 90% 0f what you need. The BMD's go back as far as the 1600's if the record existed at all. The pay sites have additional stuff like crime, immigration, trade, etc, and you can get a month's sub. for mosts.

This is also a good site for going off on a tangent to find something specific :

https://www.cyndislist.com/uk/

[IanD]

For historic maps, National Library of Scotland is free to use. The spy feature allows a section of old map to be overlayed onto current satellite images and moved around. Useful for a quick search to see what was there if you are thinking of buying a house or just to see how places have changed. There is a side by side option, too, allowing comparisons of old and new.

https://maps.nls.uk/os/

[Des Parrot]

Cyclops has mentioned serendipity as playing a part in family history research. I have such a story if anyone is interested

Serendipity or what!! From that chance one-off meeting I met many of her relatives who were able to fill me in with so many details about our American connections. But that’s another story….

Goosebumps mate. Great story.
I've yet to do the US side by I know that there are plenty to follow up, like you Pennsylvania & Virginia are the start points due to the Coal & Steel.

[IanD]

Yeah Genes Reunited is great for tracing living relatives and getting info - and like you I treat the trees on Ancestry with extreme caution. They show how many mistakes have been made by amateurs tracing their lines and making extreme leaps of faith.

PM me a few details. My maternal line is from Pompey and my grt grandfather was a shipwright in the Dockyard. I've written articles about the area online - http://historyinportsmouth.co.uk/pla...-buildings.htm. Now watch me fall flat on my face.

Ditto some of the family trees on the Mormon website. Some people find the first record that comes up on a search and assume it's the right ancestor. I wasted time looking for a distant relative who had appeared to emigrate to Canada. Turned out there were two people, both about the same time, in a similar place with exactly the same, fairly unusual name. Check, check and check again. The National Library of Scotland online OS maps are good for checking the location of streets long gone. You do get a feel for it after a while. If a possible relative was born in the same town but lived miles away from your known family you tend to get the hint that this is not one of yours. You could throw a tablecloth over the streets in Plymouth where my gramp's family lived, for example. Many of which were rearranged by the Luftwaffe. Nothing to see now apart from main roads and blocks of flats.

[Pontprennau Bluebird]

I have used lockdown to trace my family tree back to the c18 with help from the family history centre in Rhiwbina. I was born in aberdovey street and remember tge Splott streets described above before demolition in the 70s due to unfitness and the easier for commercial development. Splott was built around 1890.

[Des Parrot]

Ditto some of the family trees on the Mormon website. Some people find the first record that comes up on a search and assume it's the right ancestor. I wasted time looking for a distant relative who had appeared to emigrate to Canada. Turned out there were two people, both about the same time, in a similar place with exactly the same, fairly unusual name. Check, check and check again.

I was struggling with my wife's family in Belfast. Many people with the same name caused doubt.. I joined Belfast Forum and 3 things converged to break it open. I was told to check out the occupation, which was a Cooper, which worked perfectly skills handed down generation to generation. The Public Records Office (PRONI) has the same map overlay which enabled me to reinstate the streets and best of all, a young lady searching on VE day on the Forum, for the first time, for her grandfathers war record. She contacted us and she was my wife's cousins daughter. This exploded everything and has been so rewarding.

The false trails thing is frustrating. Inevitably an American or Canadian claiming a person with a similar name as their long lost ancestor, in my experience said person has never moved out of the same street or village.

[Des Parrot]

PM me a few details. My maternal line is from Pompey and my grt grandfather was a shipwright in the Dockyard. I've written articles about the area online - http://historyinportsmouth.co.uk/pla...-buildings.htm. Now watch me fall flat on my face.

PM'ed you

[Mrs Steve R]

For those interested, I wrote an article for Family Tree magazine which discussed the reasons folk might use a researcher to investigate their family trees. It focused on Mrs SR's family which was the most amazing journey I've made. Couldn't believe the people she was descended from - the GOOD and the BAD. Link to article: http://www.prestonherts.co.uk/page26...reearticleZoeT

Mostly good both books are amazing though, I'd love to own a telescope made by Henry but still can't afford it

[Cyclops]

PM'ed you

[Cyclops]

Mostly good both books are amazing though, I'd love to own a telescope made by Henry but still can't afford it

Did I mention the UGLY?

[Mrs Steve R]

Did I mention the UGLY?

[Gofer Blue]

Goosebumps mate. Great story.
I've yet to do the US side by I know that there are plenty to follow up, like you Pennsylvania & Virginia are the start points due to the Coal & Steel.

It should be a lot easier for you these days hopefully. No Internet back in the 80's, so researching anyone in the USA back then, with very little to go on, seemed an impossible task. Maybe you too will get a bit of serendipity to help you along! A good place to start in Pennsylvania would be to focus on the Wilkes Barre/Scranton area which has the highest number of Welsh immigrants and descendants of Welsh immigrants in the USA. (I assume your ancestors were from Wales?). That's where my family went. If you look at a map of that part of Pennsylvania you will see many towns having familiar Welsh place-names.

[IanD]

Just found that a relative, going back a few generations, married into a Russian family from St Petersburg. This needs looking into in more detail. Also, an Ivor Head and A Hearse are new additions to the family tree (possibly...needs verification). Loads of Heads from Pontypridd. Yo cuz, if you are one of them.

[IanD]

I didnt recognise the street name in the thread title so looked it up. Not a place I've knowingly been to. Interesting to see that Splott is now being marketed as "Upper Bay" by estate agents:

https://www.cpshomes.co.uk/cps-blog/...like-it-splott