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OK....a slight development :-)

I searched trees on here and came up with four hits - and thanks to previous contact I can see three of those trees doh!

However, they are probably the same trees on Ancestry.....anyway, they all have Jane marrying John/Henry Wells on 25 November 1872. And I used my last 20 credits on FMP to download the marriage certificate. The bride is Jane Murcham, father Richard Murcham - miner

But Henry, Jane and the two witnesses Elizabeth Hazel and Thomas Hadlaw (?) were all seemingly illiterate and have given their marks....so wouldn't know that Jane's surname was incorrect. I can't find a Murcham birth to correspond.

So there may be more than a grain of truth in all this.

Thinking on Richard....he could have been a boatman taking coal from Wales to Wiltshire I guess....it still doesn't explain why Ann moved to Llangattock if of course the family in Llangattock in 1871 is the correct family.

That Ann had given birth to a daughter Fanny (according to the trees on Christmas Eve 1860 - so she couldn't be Richard's child) in Trowbridge, was in the Union Workhouse in Trowbridge in 1861 census, and then decamped to Llangattock?

Jude

I think you need a lie-down in a darkened room dear as this is clearly getting to you!

Have you considered spending your pocket money on this?

Births Mar 1861
MERCHANT Fanny Melksham 5a 105

My Robbins ancestors were Boatmen from Devizes. They carried coal from the Somerset coalfields, tobacco from Bristol and beer from Devizes. They used the Avon & Kennet Canal and berthed at one of three piers in the Southwark area of London.

Toodle pip
Chris

Christine lol!

Yes I was debating which certificates would yield the most benefit :-)

I have loads of boatmen and they are an absolute pain.

One, Thomas Latchford, I find him only once in 1841 and he dies in 1858. In between he managed to father eight children :-)

Jude

Notes Henry Wells just happens to be in King Street, Llangattock 1861, lol.

Chris :)

Well...having worked out that I have spent at least £80 on credits in the last six months on FMP...I just subscribed :-)

.1871 census has Henry as son to Mary Ann Hadlan (as subscribed) - this is too much of a coincidence with a witness Thomas (I thought) Hadlaw at the wedding....can anyone find a marriage of Mary Ann - George didn't die until 1864 (I think)

Jude

"One, Thomas Latchford, I find him only once in 1841 and he dies in 1858. In between he managed to father eight children".

There's not much else to do on a barge!

On a more sensible note - I suppose Ann had family still in Trowbridge, so she could have gone back to visit.

Births Sep 1865 (>99%)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
HADLAM Mary Watkins Jane Bedwelty 11a 115

1871
HADLAW, Mary Ann Head F 43 1828 Monmouthshire
WELLS, John Henry Son M 22 1849 Monmouthshire
WELLS, Alfred Son M 18 1853 Monmouthshire
WELLS, Joseph Son M 14 1857 Monmouthshire
HADLAW, Mary Jane Daughter F 5 1866 Monmouthshire
WILTSHIRE, Daniel Boarder M 48 1823 Somerset
Piece: 5316
Folio: 93
Page: 18
Registration District: Bedwellty
Civil Parish: Aberystruth
Municipal Borough:
Address: King Street Jo Jones House, Aberystruth
County: Monmouthshire

(does above Birth fit, also below?)


Marriages Mar 1863 (>99%)
--------------------------------------------------------------
BURCHELL Enus Bedwelty 11a 110
HADLAM Thomas Bedwelty 11a 110
WATKINS Mary Ann Bedwelty 11a 110
WESTWOOD Margaret Bedwelty 11a 110

1881
A HADLAN, Mary Head Widow F 53 1828
N.K, Oxfordshire
WELLS, Joseph Son Single M 23 1858 Coal Miner
Brynmawr, Brecknockshire, Wales
HADLAN, Mary W Daughter Single F 15 1866
Rhymney, Monmouthshire
Piece: 5308
Folio: 98
Page: 2
Registration District: Merthyr Tydfil
Civil Parish: Gelligaer
Municipal Borough:
Address: Factory Rd, Gelligaer
County: Glamorganshire

Chris :)

(good to see you on FMP!)

Well this is a tangled web :-)

There are two likely baptisms for Mary Anne Watkins - both at Abergavenny St Mary

One in July 1825 child of Benjamin/Hannah and one in July 1827 daughter of Henry/Elizabeth

George Wells married Mary Ann Michael in 1847. She is a widow and her father's name was Henry Watkins a mason.

Mary Ann Watkins married John Michael in 1844. Father Henry a mason. John Michael appears to have died in 1845

Mary Ann Watkins married Thomas Hadlan (mis transcribed as Hadlam) in 1863. Annoyingly I can't find an image on FMP for this to check the father's details. But suspect George was still alive (only death I can find that vaguely fits is in 1864).

Mary Ann Hadlan has to be Mary Ann Wells......more shenanigans!

Caroline Watkins was a witness at both the marriages I can see images for. A Caroline Morgan was the informant of the death of George Wells.....EDIT - Caroline Watkins married John Morgan in 1838 but to dash the whole thing SHE was the daughter of Benjamin AND of course she would then have been Caroline Morgan as witness to both weddings

More complications, what a lot they are!.

At least you can find your Parish Records now, instead of me staring at screen without a clue on areas, lol, mind you, it's a learning curve!.

Chris :)

edits (don't forget your Llewellyns, think you'll be quite busy!)

Chris :-)

Even I find all this a bit strange area-wise. They are listed as Llanelly Breconshire and I had to Google to check it out because the only Llanelli I knew was in West Wales!

Only one of my grandparents was Welsh. Two were English and one Scottish. And then my Welsh grandfather's mother was English (that's the Marchants)

But none of them did me any favours with their names....

The Scots are Irvine and Pattie - a bit like Smith and Jones

The English are Marchant, Hyde, Cording, Cox and Homer - not quite Smith and Jones but there are a lot of each of them in the areas that they came from.

And my Welsh Llewellyn. But if I go back one more generation...Evans - doh?!!

Back to this tangle - I wonder if Benjamin and Henry Watkins were brothers?

Jude