Mary Griffiths -Thomas Baden Roberts

[forestlea65]

My mother Mary Griffiths married my father Thomas Baden Roberts in March 1928 at Mynyddbach Chapel Swansea. At the time of the wedding my mother lived in Morriston. I've been able to go back on my father's side but as I was brought up in care the only information I have for my mother was that she was born in 1908 and her father was Thomas Griffiths. I know that it is like looking for a needle in an haystack but any help would be highly appreciated.

Thanks

[ChristineR]

Was her father's occupation recorded on her marriage?
Are the witnesses family members?
Are there any other family members named on your original birth certificate?

If anyone can help, as these are relevantly recent times, please remember not to post any information about living persons on the open forum.
:)

[forestlea65]

Hi Christine

Nice to hear from you. On my mother's marriage certificate her father thomas Griffiths is shown as a corporation labourer and the witnesses were T Griffiths and William J L Roberts. At the time of the marriage Mary's address was down as 15 Graig Terrace, Morriston, Swansea.

Thomas Baden's father was John Earnest Roberts, my grandfather, was a colliery labourer. My father's address at the time of the wedding was Caemawr, Ynystawe, Swansea.

Thanks for your help

[John Nicholas]

I see that Thomas Baden Roberts's birth was registered at Swansea in 1900. If you think that Mary was also born there and if you are fairly confident about 1908, then that narrows the possibilities a lot. I searched FreeBMD for Mary Griffiths at Swansea throughout 1907 -1909, and only 5 came up. Two of those also had second christian names, which might rule them out for you. If you restrict the search to births in 1908, the numbers are 3 in total, of whom 2 were simply Mary.

So you could take a chance on getting one or more birth certificates, or you could wait for Glamorgan to be transcribed on the 1911 census and see whether that helps.

John

[forestlea65]

Thanks John

I have a copy of the marriage certificate for my parents wedding in March 1928 on which my mother's age is shown as 20yrs old, from which I take it that she was born around 1907-8. I searched the BMD for that period and as you say came up with five possibles (assuming that she was born in the area which is more than likely given the difficulty in travelling). I also came across the recorded death of a Mary A Griffiths aged 0 for the same year.
Two were registered at the Pontardawe office which I later found out were kept at Neath. I applied for these stating that her father's name was Thomas Griffiths but the search there proved negative. I then tried the Swansea office which returned a certificate for a Mary Griffiths -father Thomas who married a Gertrude Latch. However I'm not quite sure that this is the correct one - I may have to wait for the 1911 census for Wales to confirm the facts

Appreciate your help

[John Nicholas]

It seems you are farther along with your researches than I guessed from your first post. Don't forget that some people were very creative with their ages, both in censuses and particularly when they got married! So you might need to widen your date range if you can't find a sensible match.
John

[forestlea65]

Thanks for your encouragement John I'll do what you suggest and widen the age gaps.