John Davies, Miller, Carmarthenshire

[tenterfieldjulie]

Name: John Davies (first son's surname birth recorded at Baptist Chapel as David then altered to Davies)
Date and place of birth: 1805 Llangunnock, Carmarthenshire, Wales
Names of parents: Unknown
Date and place of baptism: Unknown
Marriage: From IGI 5/10/1826 Newchurch, Carmarthenshire, Wales to Mary Bowen (Bowen Davies used on son's death cert) Batch 7115322.So. 1235283
Occupation: Miller (probably Corn)
Addresses: Llangynog (Llangunnock), Wales. Children's Birth's recorded at Ebenezer Baptist Chapel All parish of Llangunnock, Carmarthenshire - 1827 Melin y cwm, 1831 Langffgnon (hard to read), 1833, 1835, 1837 Black bridge, Corner Cottage, The Green, Llanstephan, Carmarthen, Wales
Date, place and cause of death: The Green, Llanstephan, Carmarthen September 1890
Date and place of burial: 22/9/1890, Llanstephan, Carmarthen, 85 years.
Details of will: Unknown
Memorial inscription: Unknown
(Son Thomas married in Adelaide, South Australia 1855 - Have not found his shipping entry. There were a lot of choices, narrowed it to 1851, 1853 and 1854, but have not checked them out.) Only certainty is that John was a Miller, he married a Mary and they came from Carmarthenshire in Wales.

[kiterunner]

What were his children's names, please, Julie?

[tenterfieldjulie]

In the list my cousin download about two years I think from Family Search she couldn't find Thomas (Davies) 1827 but a very clever lady on GF found him as David, Margaret/Margret 1828 was down at Llandynog (think should be Llangynog) hasn't been found, Righard 1831 at Ebenezer and duplicated as Richard at Llangynog. On the list David was down born 1833, but on the original transcripts births from the Ebenezer Baptist chapel at Llangynog also registered same day are Sopheah 1835 and Jane 1837.
The last three births were down at Black bridge, in the Parish of Llangunnock in the County of Carmarthen. I haven't established if any of them died.

[kiterunner]

This looks like the family in 1841 then, although John's occupation doesn't match:
Cwmalin(?), Llanstephan, Carmarthenshire
John Davies 30 Farmer Y
Mary Do 30 Y
Thomas Do 15 Y
Margrat Do 10 Y
David Do 9 Y
Sophiah Do 6 Y
Jane Do 5 Y ([I]looks like James, but the age is in the female column)
Elizabeth Do 3 Y
Richard Do 1 Y

There is a Davies couple next door, Thomas and Anna both 70, both born in county, Thomas's occupation Ag Lab, but of course this could well just be a coincidence.

[kiterunner]

And here they are in 1851:
Maenllwyd, Llangunnock, Carmarthenshire
John Davies Head Mar 50 Farmer of 65 acres employing 2 sons Carmarthenshire Llangunnock
Mary Do Wife Mar 45 NK (= not known)
David Do Son U 19 Employed on Farm Carmarthenshire Llandilo Aberconvier(?)
Jane Do Daur 16 Employed in house Do Do
Richard Do Son 11 Employed on Farm Do Llanstephan
William Do Son 9 Do Do
Anne Do Daur 7 Do Do
John Do Son 5 Do Do
James Do Son 3 Do Llanelly
Henry Do Son 1 St Peters Carmarthen

[kiterunner]

1861 at Rythyndyon, Llangynog (says Llangunnock on the actual sheet)
John Davies Head Mar 60 Farmer of 19 Acres & Ag Lab Carmarthan Llangunnock
Mary Do Wife Mar 55 Do Newchurch
Henry Do Son 12 Scholar Do Llangunnock.

1871 at The Green, Llanstephan:
John Davies Head Mar 67 Laborer Carmn Llangunnock
Mary Do Wife Mar 64 Carmn Llan-newydd(?)
Henry Do Son Unm 20 Grocer Carmn Llangunnock
Caroline Prytherch Lodger W 64 Annuitant India - British Subject
Agnes Do Lodger Unm 25 Carmarthen
John Do Lodger Unm 27 Mariner Carmarthen

[kiterunner]

1881 still at The Green:
John Davies Head Mar 80 Lab Carmarthen Llangunnock
Mary Davies Wife Mar 76 Lab Wife Do Newchurch.

1891 at Corner Cottage, Llanstephan
Mary Davies Head Wid 84 Living on own means Carmarthen Newchurch Welsh
Henry B Davies Son M 38 Do Do Do Do St Peters Both
Agnes D Davies Daur in Law M 44 Do Do Do Do St Peters English

I'm guessing that the "B" in Henry's name stands for Bowen and that Agnes is the lodger from 1871.

Fancy Henry living on his own means at the age of 38! I wonder whether John Davies left a will - won't be very easy to find, lol. Won't take a minute to see if Caroline Prytherch did, though... yes, she did, in 1875, but she only left £100 so I don't suppose that allowed the Davieses a life of luxury! There are some more Prytherchs who died in 1890 and a William Davies, station master, was their executor, but I haven't got time to look into that now to see if he's your William Davies or a different one, as I have to go to bed! I'm guessing John Davies left a will but looking for John Davies dying in Carmarthenshire between 1881 and 1891 is definitely a task for another day!

[tenterfieldjulie]

Kate that is brilliant thank you so much. My ancestor is the oldest Thomas and all that would fit in. The only confusion is why Thomas called him a Miller. Possibly his farm grew grain which he milled I suppose. I matched the marriage correctly to Newchurch and that Mary came from there which was a guess. Newchurch is the English translation of Llannewdd is I remember correctly. Whether Thomas left because of involvement in the Rebecca riots which originated at Newchurch or whether the lady from India paid his way. You'd think she would be related in someway wouldn't you.
Ooh so much to absorb and wonder... yipee!!

[kiterunner]

Maybe he was a miller before he became a farmer. It could be that his father was a farmer and he worked as a miller while he was waiting for his father to pass the farm onto him.

[kiterunner]

I had a look through the National Probate Calendar but I didn't find an entry for your John Davies. But I haven't looked under Davis.

[tenterfieldjulie]

I started Googling Rececca Riots and Newchurch and there is a report on the sacking of Carmarthen Workhouse.The people converged on Newchurch, conservative figures of 300 on horses and 2000 on foot ".. Only one rider was disguised .. he symbolised Rebecca .. woman's clothes and had long ringlets of horsehair. .... As the fantastic horseman passed he winked at the boy, who recognised him as Mike Bowen of Tre-lech."
History of Carmarthenshire: "Census of 1676 ... parish of Newchurch ... The Bowen family,the mainstay of these Nonconformists were already taxed for four hearths in 1670"
One could imagine Thomas being caught up in these riots which involved his mother's family. I just wish I could definitely prove he was part of this family, Thomas Davies son of John and Mary being two a penny in Wales.
I think it could be his entry into SA on the Hydaspes, 25 Aug 1851, but the register only says Thomas Davies age 23, so not even sure of that.

[tenterfieldjulie]

When I was in Carmarthen last year I went to the Record Office and a very kind man let me have copies from the death registers of my Davies ancestors buried at Llanstephan. The entries gave me John & Mary Davies address as at the Green at Llanstephan and their ages which tie in with the information on the Census. John Davies, The Green, buried 30 Sep 1890, aged 85 years. I do not think I found this burial on the index and so I am wondering if his name is recorded as David on the Death Certificate!!
The address in the 1891 Census says Corner Cottage, the Green, Llanstephan. At the pub:D, a very nice lady told me where to find Corner Cottage, (she couldn't pronounce the name as it was written in Welsh) but could tell me where it is located. So we walked back down to the Green, which is on the edge of the river estuary and found it "Bwthyn Cornel," a very tiny place from the front, but it wraps around the back. It was so special to be there and we even got an invite to return next day to a birthday party at the pub. Took photos of the castle, the church, the chapel and even the cat .. a great day's outing.
Many many thanks to Kate who found all the Census images which took me from Llangynog and Newchurch (which I had visited previously) to Llanstephan.
Now if I could only find their records of births in the chapels, but there were so many Non-Com chapels and with a name like Davies/David and even Bowen .. very elusive. Jule