Looking for Merthyr/Myrther

[Phyl Stewart]

My grt grt grandmother was Mary Merthyr (or Myrther on her marriage cert).

She married Josiah Claridge in London in 1853, but we believe she may have come from Wales. Her parents were, I think, John and Nancye.

I have had no luck finding the family on censuses - Mary and Josiah left for NZ before 1861 but I should think there would have been others who stayed.

Is Merthyr a Welsh surname and what county could I look for it? It's not on the surnames lists suggested.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Phyl

[gareth]

Phyl
There is no such surname, either spelling - not on the Wales 1881 census index, or the Glamorgan 1851 index.
There is of course the town/parish of Merthyr Tydfil in Glamorgan, plus another 2 parishes with Merthyr in the name.
Also a parish called Merthyr in Carmarthenshire.

Not listed in the Oxford Names Companion.

What was her father's full name on the marriage cert ?

[Peter Goodey]

That's a sticky one!

1881 has very very few soundalikes for that name. I checked Merthyr, Myrther, Merthagh, Merthugh. Murther etc. The handful that there were were in Lancashire, Cheshire, Staffordshire & Yorks WR.

I'd suspect Irish rather than Welsh, despite the apparent similarity to the Welsh town.

[Phyl Stewart]

Thank you for your responses. At least I know where not to look.

On the 1853 cert Mary's father is James Myrther (deceased) - I put John in the original post.

No relevant people are at the address in Peckham on the cert in the 1851 census (1 Basinghall Yard), and I haven't been able to find James' death on Free BDM yet. Mary's grandaughter, my Gran, was named Merthyr - the Welsh spelling? That's possibly why the family story is that they came from Wales.

I have been told that the Irish Murtagh is pronounced in a similar way. So perhaps it was an Englishman who could spell the Welsh version who wrote it down.

Interesting!

[watties]

Hi,
You come from a similar line to me. Robert Hazelton Sheppard was my Great Grandfather so Mary Mertyr would be my Great great grandmother.
I'm John Watts. I have been researching most lines on both my father and mothers side for a number of years now. I live in Auckland but Mum and Dad lived most of thier life in Tauranga. Mum is still with us but we lost Dad(Goeff Watts) last March.
Luckily when Mum moved into care 5 years ago I received all of her papers which included a very extensive family tree(author unknown) starting with James Claridge and Mary Allaway. More recently I got a copy of the family tree by Sharon Cornwall with the same starting point but different layout . This has been invaluable identifying people downwards but I have found the same issues related to pushing back into history to determine the english connection.
My record show Mary and Josiah arrived in Wellington on the Oliver Lang on the 19th December 1856 with his brother Charles. However I have yet to go looking for either his her or her siblings and the expanded network from that point.
I find the whole thing rather facinating. It would be great to email info if you wih.
Look forward to making contact

Regards

John Watts
fascia1 AT xtra DOT co DOT nz

[Procat]

Hi John,

Unfortunately Phyl has not visited the forum since 2006 so may not see your post. Your could try sending him a Private Message as it may increase your chances. To do this, left click on his user name be side one of his posts and select Private Message. Unfortunately he has not enabled the option to send an email.

PS: it is not a good idea to post an email address on the open forum as spammers do harvest them. I have edited it in an attempt to avoid this happening.

[Orielbenfro]

My grt grt grandmother was Mary Merthyr (or Myrther on her marriage cert).

She married Josiah Claridge in London in 1853, but we believe she may have come from Wales. Her parents were, I think, John and Nancye.

I have had no luck finding the family on censuses - Mary and Josiah left for NZ before 1861 but I should think there would have been others who stayed.

Is Merthyr a Welsh surname and what county could I look for it? It's not on the surnames lists suggested.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Phyl

Do you know any siblings to Mary Myrther, perhaps you can then side track Mary and still follow the ancestral line.

I note the birth of Anne Myrther is noted in 1852 in the St Olave Southwark Reg District of London close by to Camberwell. Have you searched for her in 1861?

Residential movement around the city was almost constant.

I can confirm the surname does not appear in Pembrokeshire.