1911 Beta

I was lucky enough to get a play with this on Tuesday. London and Devon were available, so I could at least find some of my Dad's ancestors, if not my Mum's.

I'm really pleased that we get to see the householders' schedules themselves, not only because I get to see my ancestors' handwriting (very neat in most cases so far!) but because it allows for a bit of over-earnest filling in. My great-great-grandfather John Francis Jewitt has clearly recorded his children from his first marriage on the form, while widowed Louisa Hargrave has still filled in her details - informing me that there was another child who died. Now I have to track down that lost infant.

And, to my great joy, I have my great-grandparents in Devon (lying about their ages again). Not only does it include what is presumably Uncle Charlie, but their foster daughter, Auntie Elsie is there with them. And what's more, I can see that if there is another lost brother, he must have been between Uncle Charlie (born c. Dec 1910) and Uncle George (born August 1913).

As you can see, I need to study the GRO indexes closely now.

There was more, but I need to go and enter it into my info. Oh, and I've been to Somerset this time and I still haven't sorted that out fully, but it is my next step. I've updated the other four family lines.

So you never know, I might be telling you about what I found in Dec 2007 finally. It's amazing, isn't it?

And: Happy New Year everyone!

Busy Busy

Trying to do too many things, none of them related to Family History!

As soon as I get myself together, there'll be a proper post, I promise.

Sigh.

Book Festival

Sorry, got distracted by busy-ness at work (Book Festival!) and fan-fiction and other things when I wasn't working.

I'll be better soon - give me a week or so!

And then he stole six photographs

Really!

The author of the book I - erm - reviewed in the previous post. He stole six photos from an elderly relative.

You'll be relieved to hear the book no longer graces our shelves.

That'll teach him.

Book review

I've just been reading a rather old (1988) self-published guide to tracing family history that I found on our library shelves. I was going to suggest that the librarian remove it, but thought I should give it a quick read in case it turned out to be local or have some other point of unique interest.

Well, firstly if you're not researching in Sunderland 20 years ago, I don't think it's particularly helpful. Some sections are misleading and one or two items are incorrect. (Plus he writes contractions as ca'nt and do'nt every single time). Then I got to the bits about BMDs and, while I'm all for saving money, if he's lucky enough to have found churches where they record DOB on baptism entries and that sort of thing, but...

He writes that he doesn't see the point in obtaining Death certs, as finding out what your ancestors died of is just too upsetting. And he calls himself a family historian, not a genealogist! What's more telling out of all the information we collect than what you get on a death cert?

Date of death leads to othre records - burial, cemeteries, newspaper obituaries and death / funeral notices, wills, death duty entries etc. Informant is often suggestive about family relationships and aoften a quick way to find out who a daughter married. Address (or informant) may well be that of a hospital, asylum or workhouse - again, this leads to more records. And cause of death - well, finding that your ancestor died of Phthisis may not be cheerful, but it often specifies length of illness as well - what a picture (unhappy or otherwise) you suddenly have of your ancestor's last years. And of course, if it turns out to be anything that requires a coroner's report, you've struck ancestral gold.

That book is not going back on the shelves now!! (I do have this sort of power, but I try to wield it for good and not evil).

I won't mention the name of the book as it was a self-published one from 20 years ago and said author may well have revised his view, or be the subject of a death certificate himself now, so it seems unkind.

Honestly, though.

Joseph Family

So, you ask, what did I actually find out back in August? (Yes, it has taken me nearly 2 months to write it up. I know. I'm sorry.)

Well, basically the Josephs of Glais had a miserable 19th C. I'm sure they must have had some happy moments, but I'm beginning to wonder.

Griffith Joseph married Ann Thomas in 1830 in Llansamlet, but they lived in the tiny village of Glais, further up the hill, where they had a farm. They rented property, moving from Cefn y Garth, Drumma(u) to Garth Fach and had several children - Rachel, Thomas, William, David, Ann and Sarah.

(Garth Fach Farm)

Thomas, the eldest son, inherited the farm and lived there until his death in 1892. He never married. Rachel, I needed to investigate, also William, as both of them disappeared from censuses. David drowned, aged 7. Ann had an illegitmate son, Morgan Lewis Joseph (my great-great-grandfather) in 1863, leaving him at the farm with her parents while she continued working as a servant, eventually marrying a cattle drover Thomas Thomas in 1866 and having about 11 other children - no room for poor Morgan.

In the middle of all this, Griffith Joseph was suffering from Parkinsons - one reason they may have been forced to halve the size of their acreage and Sarah, the youngest, lost her husband, leaving her a widow with two young daughters.


I'd have thought that was enough trouble for one family, but no. During my research, I found a burial for William in 1850 and for Rachel in 1878. William died of Phthisis, aged 16, while Rachel, after all these unhappy events, hanged herself.

Plus, my relatives told me to look at the Cambrian online index and it looks as though Thomas attacked some woman at Glais. So now, not only do I have more misery for the Josephs, but I have two articles I should have been looking for in Swansea. I am desperate to know more about why poor Rachel committed suicide - it was a complete shock to find that on the death certificate.

On the positive side, I did discover Griffith's baptism in 1797 and that of his siblings (all girls). He was the son of a William Joseph.

However, this was where I discovered that a lot of Welsh parish registers don't bother to record the mother before the 19th C. In Wales. With all those common surnames where you need all the help you can get, they didn't think the mother's name was useful? Surely even then they would have found it helpful to differentiate between Thomas Thomas who was married to Ann, Thomas Thomas who was married to Mary etc etc. Sexist 18th C Welsh vicars!

I tried looking for Ann Thomas (I know her brother's name and age and that they were both supposed to be born in Cadoxton.). Maybe some examination of the proper registers and other parish material will give me clues, but at the moment it's a case of pick an ancestor! I have to be realistic and acknowledge that there's a possibility I might not get any further with any of my Thomas lines.

Of course, I really should have gone to the archives in Glamorgan and not the NLW, but I know that now.

Swansea Central Library

During my travels, I went here to have a look at newspapers and maybe even go to the Archives (they're both at Swansea Civic Centre).

It was terrible weather, so at least it was a dry place to drag my friend off to. However, despite not going to the archives and not discovering anything useful in the papers, I had fun. I read local history books and turned bright green at the beautiful, beautiful public library.

I am a librarian, don't forget. It had been recently opened, using space in the Civic Centre and all in accordance with Embervision (I don't think I can even begin to explain that to those of you who aren't librarians). Just let's say it was about as perfect as a public library gets. With a view from huge windows, out over Swansea Bay.

Admittedly, it was a dreadful day, but you could still see what a gorgeous view it was.

I am still green over it and if I'd had my camera, I'd have been taking photos to show back to colleagues in my authority.