Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12
Results 11 to 16 of 16
  1. #11
    Super Moderator - Completely bonkers and will never change.
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
    Location
    England
    Posts
    9,622

    Default

    With apologies to all our Welsh sleuths, I know what you mean about Welsh place-names.
    I'll confirm that the spelling is Mynyddyslwyn.

    James was one of 120 men killed in the explosion, and there are reports in numerous papers about the accident, afterwards, and the inquest in September that year.
    https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/
    Most of the papers are also available on Findmypast.

    A Hannah Maria Davies married a Thomas Thomas in Bedwelty registration district March quarter 1872, which would make her Hannah Maria Thomas in 1880. Doesn't make it any easier to find her in the 1881 census.
    Nor am I having any luck finding a James Davies born circa 1862 living with a Hannah Davies in the 1871 census. There is a James Davis aged 9, living in Bedwelty (town) with his grandmother and two unmarried daughters, one of whom is Hannah aged 22, so a bit young to be mother to a 9 year-old.

    Pam
    Vulcan XH558 - “Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.”

  2. #12
    Brick wall demolition expert!
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    Lancashire
    Posts
    3,642

    Default

    The National Library of Wales has a collection of historic newspapers which are free to view on line.

    Here is a link to one such article which indicates that James lived in Newtown.

    https://newspapers.library.wales/vie...sca%20colliery

  3. #13
    Newcomer to Brit-Gen
    Join Date
    Jun 2021
    Location
    Ireland
    Posts
    7

    Default

    Thanks for all the help and advice. I wil follow the leads and see where it takes me

    Thanks!

  4. #14
    Newcomer to Brit-Gen
    Join Date
    Jun 2021
    Location
    Ireland
    Posts
    7

    Default

    Another thought, what type of checks would there have been if any against someone claiming to be the mother of someone who has died if no one else comes forward? Is it possible people could have lied on these certificates?

    My theory is that James ran away with a young girl called Mary Thomas born in Carmarthen in 1863 (she is who I am actually following) and he got a job as a labourer at Risca. I believe they might have even had a child together. She would have been around a year younger than him. Obviously, this tragic accident left her stuck and they were too young to be married, so the plan may have been to wait until they were old enough.

    When the accident happened the authorities needed someone to sign the death certificate. As they had run away together to escape their families, Mary may have convinced someone else to pretend that she was his mother in order to not alert the authorities to contact their real families.

    By the way, Mary's sister was called Hannah and obviously Maria is a variant of Mary.

    That's the theory? Could it hold up?

  5. #15
    Super Moderator - Completely bonkers and will never change.
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
    Location
    England
    Posts
    9,622

    Default

    Seems as if you might be trying to make things fit.
    Where and how did this 'theory' begin?

    Pam
    Vulcan XH558 - “Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.”

  6. #16
    Newcomer to Brit-Gen
    Join Date
    Jun 2021
    Location
    Ireland
    Posts
    7

    Default

    I think you are right. It is borne from sheer frustration.

    I was looking for Mary Thomas and in the vain hope, there would be a link to James Davies. I knew already he was 18 when he died and lived nearby. Then when I received the death certificate low and behold Thomas appears as the mother's surname. Then I tried every angle possible to find traces of her, but every angle has left me blank. I know the odds of finding Thomas's or Davies in Wales is quite high.

    So I fall back on theory. I struggle to believe an 11-year-old girl was his mother as one census record for Bedwelty suggests. Assuming she was a Hannah Davies and was married later to a Thomas, I cannot find any probable threads of this marriage locally and there are over 300 results nationally for the 1881 census!

    I won't bore you with the Mary Thomas I am tracking or why. If I can find a hard link to my Mary and James Davies somehow then my quest can move to the next stage. Seems I have hit a wall.

    That's when the crazy theories rise to the surface with me

Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
Select a file: