Author Topic: Daviies Family  (Read 89624 times)

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Offline Hugo

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Re: Daviies Family
« Reply #285 on: April 14, 2015, 07:58:52 pm »
I phoned yesterday and was advised by the secretary that the Parish Church only had a record of the graves with headstones ( just like the archives)
She had  discussed the  matter with the Reverend prior to Easter and he said that he will be phoning me about the matter, so I am just awaiting the phone call.


Offline Hugo

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Re: Daviies Family
« Reply #286 on: April 16, 2015, 12:44:27 pm »
Still no phone call from the Church but today I went to the Archives while my car was having its MOT   $good$    and had a look at the Burial Index for Eglwysbach but could find no entry for Hugh and Dorothy Davies of Ffrith Wen.  I also looked in the Glan Conwy Burial Index but no trace there either.
I did find an entry for Abel Davies in Eglwysbach though, but it only listed his wife though but it is possible that he was buried with her and the headstone was not updated with his details.
The inscription in Welsh translates into English as follows:-
In memory of Mary, dear wife of Abel Davies, Tyddyn Cynal  Gyffin,  she died May 14th 1886 aged 65
" For me, to live is Christ and dying is gain "


Offline DownUnder

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Re: Daviies Family
« Reply #287 on: April 19, 2015, 09:41:43 am »
Still no phone call from the Church but today I went to the Archives while my car was having its MOT   $good$    and had a look at the Burial Index for Eglwysbach but could find no entry for Hugh and Dorothy Davies of Ffrith Wen.  I also looked in the Glan Conwy Burial Index but no trace there either.
I did find an entry for Abel Davies in Eglwysbach though, but it only listed his wife though but it is possible that he was buried with her and the headstone was not updated with his details.
The inscription in Welsh translates into English as follows:-
In memory of Mary, dear wife of Abel Davies, Tyddyn Cynal  Gyffin,  she died May 14th 1886 aged 65
" For me, to live is Christ and dying is gain "

Thank you Hugo.  I may be off line for a period as my mother (94), according to her doctor, is in the last phase of her life. Given the current quality of her existence, my hope is for a peaceful, pain-free transition. My brothers will be arriving soon, one at the end of this month and the other at the end of May. However, I will jump in when I can.



Offline Hugo

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Re: Daviies Family
« Reply #288 on: April 19, 2015, 11:09:14 am »
I'm sorry to hear that Hugh and my thoughts are with you and all your family at this sad time, we'll catch up again in the future.
 
I've still not heard from the Church but as I've sent 3 e-mails and made numerous phone calls I'm starting to wonder why they can't tell me about all the graves including the unmarked ones.    I contacted them years ago about my Grandfather's grave in Llanrhos and they were able to tell me straight away even though he had an unmarked grave.   There are records of the plots but where are they kept now?
 
I was having a drink with a friend a few weeks ago and we discussed this and he made an unsubstantiated allegation that the Church had loaned the records to some one some time ago and they were never returned and the Church didn't record who they lent the records to.
It's just an allegation but I'm starting to wonder why no one can tell me where they are.

Offline Hugo

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Re: Daviies Family
« Reply #289 on: April 20, 2015, 11:20:01 pm »
Hugh,  this is a very early photo of Esgyryn Farm that someone who has been following your research, very kindly let me have a copy of it.  The Davies family are outside but I don't know their names or the date of the photo.  Apparently the farmhouse was a place where members of the various Davies family would meet up. The white part to the left was a lean-to shed  where they kept their cart.
The farmhouse has since been very sympathetically modernised and I've posted a recent photo on here previously.

Offline Hugo

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Re: Daviies Family
« Reply #290 on: April 30, 2015, 10:36:36 pm »
Hugh,  the first two photos are of the grave of William and Margaret Jones of Tyddyn Iolyn and the third and fourth are of the grave of Mary Davies the wife of Abel Davies.  The headstone of Mary is leaning forward quite a bit now.
I don't know where Abel is buried but if I'm right, he died in 1879  therefore before Mary.   The death was registered in Conway District in the quarter Oct - Dec 1879.
The graves are in St Martin's Church in Eglwysbach.   While I was there I came across a grave  for a William Davies and took a photo anyway just in case your research shows him to be one of your ancestors

Offline Hugo

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Re: Daviies Family
« Reply #291 on: May 05, 2015, 05:05:22 pm »
I don't know if you know where and when Edward and Margaret died as I can't find them in the 1891 Census and I did look in the Llandudno Register of Burials up to 1891 but they were not there either.
According to the 1911 Street Index Brickfield Cottages were no longer there so Edward and Margaret may have moved address in the meantime.
Hugo. For some obscure reason, I had not previously searched for the burial/death details for Edward or Margaret until your request. I have now found both as follows:

 - Image of "Burials in the Parish of Eglwys Rhos" shows and entry on p70 entry no 554 for Edward Davies, Brick-Field Cottage Eglwys Rhos buried on 5 Jan 1887.

 - Image of "Burials in the Parish of Eglwys Rhos" shows and entry on p97 entry no 772 for Margaret Davies, Conway Union late Ty-Brick buried on June 15 1891. There is an entry on the 1991 Census for a Margaret Davies, living at Cottage, Village, Llansaintffraid Glan Conway as a widowed lodger living on her own means.

I am not sure if the two records, the burial record and the 1991Census, agree completely, but my guess is that they do.

If this leads to the discovery of their graves then I will be immensely grateful. If not it fills in some important data.

I have had no contact from the Rector so I went to the Archives again and as I was going  in,  I met a local historian that I knew and spent some time chatting to him.   I explained the situation to him and was quite surprised by what he had to say to me.   I was told that the Church does not have a record of where each grave is, just a record of if that person is buried in the Churchyard.  I still find it incomprehensible that each plot is not recorded by the Church with the names of those people buried there.
I did check the Llanrhos Burial Registry and have seen the two entries for Edward and Margaret.  In the case of Edward, John Davies the Vicar performed the ceremony and Margaret's was performed by a person called D W Davies.
It does not help in identifying the location of the grave(s) but at least it confirms that they were buried in the same Cemetery.   There is something called a Bishop's Transcripts which is held in the Archives but as this wouldn't lead me to the exact spot of the grave I didn't follow it through.
Sorry about that but it looks like the exact location of the grave in St Hilary's Church Llanrhos is not known.

Offline Hugo

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Re: Daviies Family
« Reply #292 on: May 28, 2015, 10:29:37 am »
I have now had official contact from the Reverend and have been advised that "There is no plan or the church yard, with the position of graves for the dates you are looking for."
In the circumstances there is nothing further that can be done to establish the precise location of the graves of Edward and Margaret.  As St Hilary's Church graveyard was and still is the only Cemetery in the old Parish of Eglwysrhos then that must be where they are buried and hopefully they are  together there.

Offline DownUnder

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Re: Daviies Family
« Reply #293 on: May 30, 2015, 09:34:54 am »
Hi Hugo,

I very much appreciate your efforts to find the graves of Edward and Margaret. I am disappointed, more for your sake given your efforts, that there headstones could not be located, but at least I can be confident of the cemetery they were buried in.

My 94yo mother passed away very peacefully on the 18 May. I feel grateful that her suffering is ended. Due to the complexities in trying to get all families here at the time of the funeral it will not be until next Wednesday. 

In some respects this has given me a sense that I should spend more time with those still with us instead of searching for details of those who have passed. But by the same token, all four grandparents of our children have now passed, and my desire to record their lives and those that went before them is stronger than before.

Regards, Hugh

Offline Hugo

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Re: Daviies Family
« Reply #294 on: May 31, 2015, 10:50:04 am »
Hi Hugh,

I'm sorry to hear the news about your mother passing away but at least you know that she is not suffering now. 

It's important to spend time with your remaining family and friends as no one is here for ever, so we have to make the most of the time that we have with them.

At the same time it is nice to know where you came from as that has made you the person you are today.

When you are ready and if you want to find out any more about the past in North Wales then I'll gladly help you in any way I can.

Offline Hugo

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Re: Daviies Family
« Reply #295 on: September 04, 2015, 08:31:58 am »
Hi Hugh, it's just an after thought in case you ever decide to continue with your search.   I did suggest that if you wanted to follow up the 1929 letter from your Grandmother who was believed to be living in Penygroes you could ask the Gwynedd Archives for a list of the people eligible to vote at that address.
What I forgot was that women were not eligible to vote until 1932, so if you did want that info you'd have to request a date after then.

Offline DownUnder

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Re: Daviies Family
« Reply #296 on: September 05, 2015, 12:50:51 pm »
Hi Hugo,

It has been some considerable time since my last post.  I cannot believe the level of complexity in attending to my mother's funeral, estate, and interment requirements. It has been almost 4 months since her passing, and I have only just finalised everything.

Coincidental to your post yesterday, I decided to get back into my father's history tonight. The one line of investigation I needed to pursue was the letter written by my father's brother Richard Davies (on the death of my father) where he talks about his love of the mountains and the fact he was born in those mountains at his grandmothers house. You may recall that I could not find any positive records of my father's grandmother (on the Davies side) since giving birth to my father's father William, and so far, my father's grandmother on his mother's side remains a mystery. So, ordering a birth certificate for Richard Davies may provide very important information.

I started searching for Richard Davies records on FindMyPast, and interestingly found two records relating to school records. The first was a 1909 record for St George's National School (Infants), Llandudno for my father's eldest sibling Edward Davies(1905), living at (looks like B but also listed elsewhere as F)ron Cottage, Cwalch Street, matching the address on other records. The second is a 1910 record for both Edward and my father's second eldest sibling Richard Davies (1907) attending Dyffryn Road Council School whilst living at 7 Alexandra Rd, and most importantly "Left the Neighbourhood" on 15 December 1911.

The above school records also record Edward's and Richard's date of birth which provides a means of confirming any birth certificates ordered.

My investigation will continue, and I must admit this research has already given me a new boost in life.

Is there any information you can provide on the St George's National School (Infants), Llandudno or the Dyffryn Road Council School?

Regards and thanks

Offline Hugo

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Re: Daviies Family
« Reply #297 on: September 05, 2015, 05:32:48 pm »
The National School of St George is in Church Walks and not far from Cwlach Street, my Mother and Uncles went there and I believe that some school records still exist in the Conwy Archives in Llandudno.
What the records are exactly I don't know.     I've posted some photos of the school for you.

I don't know much about Dyffryn Road School as I went to the Lloyd Street one ( it's now the Conwy Archives ) but here is a  photo of the school taken this week.

I'll write  again when I've read your posting properly
 

Offline Hugo

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Re: Daviies Family
« Reply #298 on: September 06, 2015, 09:09:00 am »
Just a quick add on Hugh.   Don't worry about seeing the words Bron and Fron  they are actually the same word and meaning,  Fron being the mutated version of Bron and one of the quirks of the Welsh Language.
You can even see it as Vron  but that is the English version as we have no letter V in our Welsh alphabet

The original name of the property was Tai'nyfron    (sometimes Y Fron)   but it has obviously been shortened over the years and then dropped and the present owner of the property who has lived  there for 40 years didn't even know that when I spoke to her.

Offline DownUnder

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Re: Daviies Family
« Reply #299 on: September 06, 2015, 10:25:09 am »
Once again Hugo, my thanks for your consistent efforts.

The school records are from the ‘National School Admission Registers & Log-books 1870-1914’ collection. The details captured in the image are Admission No; (Re)Admission Date; Full Name; DOB; Address; Name of Parent/Guardian; Last School; If Exempted from Rel. Inst.; Withdrawal – Date of Last Attendance & Remarks.

I have posed this question before, but cannot seem to locate any answers (which are probably there). My father’s brother Richard talked about his birth being at his grandmother’s house in the ‘mountains’.  His birth location is shown as ‘Carnarvonshire’ in the 1911 Census. The North Wales BMD site shows births for a Richard Davies in Betws y Coed, Conwy County; Colwyn Bay, Conwy County; and Llandwrog, Gwynedd – Bangor.

The question is, which of these three locations would be considered most likely to be described as ‘in the mountains’? Given that both his older sibling Edward and younger sibling Hugh (my father) were both born in Llandudno, it would seem the birth area would not be too far away from Llandudno.  If I can narrow down the likely area, I can limit the number of Birth Certificates I have to order.

On a parallel note, what was the schooling structure around the early 1900’s. Both Edward and Richard appeared to attend ‘school’ at around three years of age. Looking at the records, this appeared to be the norm.  So, was this the modern day version of ‘kindergarten’ or ‘pre-school’? Was this free education or was there a fee for this?