RootsChat.Com
Wales (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Wales => Monmouthshire => Topic started by: Thom123 on Thursday 17 November 11 15:15 GMT (UK)
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Hi,
I am trying to find out more information about my Grandfathers family, his name was John Thomas and he was born in Llanhilleth 1913. His father was William Thomas b1863 and his Mother Sarah Ann Thomas (formerly Price) b1871 Ebbw Vale.
I have the 1901 and the 1911 census details but thats as far as I've got at the moment, I am more or less a beginner at family research so any help or advice to find out more and go further back would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks for reading.
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Hi
Welcome to Rootschat. As Sarah Ann's father was William, as in the 1901 census, this could be her family in 1881
RG11; Piece: 5244; Folio: 13; Page: 23
15 Himalaya Range, Tredegar Bedwelty
William Price 36 Coal miner Racca, Breconshire, Wales
Mary Ann Price 35 Beaufort, Breconshire, Wales
William Price 11 Tredegar, Monmouth, Wales
Sarah Ann Price 8 Ebbw Vale, Monmouth, Wales
Thomas M. Price 6 Ebbw Vale, Monmouth, Wales
John Price 4 Tredegar, Monmouth, Wales
Morgan R. Price 8 mths Bedwellty, Monmouth, Wales
Do you have William and Sarah Ann's marriage certificate as this would give their father's names.
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Hi,
thanks for the welcome, and many thanks for the information ;)
I do not have William and Sarah Ann's marriage certificate but I think I have found the entry for it, so I guess the next step is to order it and hopefully the names etc will match up.
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Be prepared to spend a lot of money ordering birth and marriage certificates! :D ;)
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Hi,
I can see what you mean, I can imagine it can be quite expensive because there are so many family members the further back you go, but it will be worth it if I can find out more.
Have you been researching long, how far have you got?
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Early 1800's, late 1700's. That's from Birth records, census and marriage certificates. It gets harder the further you go back, although chances are some people have already done some of the work for you. The less common the surnames, the easier it is.
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My search for more info on William Thomas and Sarah Ann Price continues, I now have a wedding certificate which I'm pretty sure is them, the only doubt I had was that on the Cert it states that William is 4 years older than Sarah, BUT on the census returns for 1901 and 1911 he is apparentley 8 years older, so I asked one of the rootschat members for some advice, which was kindly given, she thought he might of fibbed to make the match seem more respectable, which makes sense, because most of the other daetails seem to match and I can't find any other wedding index's for them.
I'm just wondering why I cant seem to find any other info them such as earlier census records?
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From my experience, ages can vary quite widely, someone can be older, then younger. Normally you can expect a difference of one year. Women might have reduced their ages a bit. Perhaps they did not know or remember how old they were.
Try finding the census returns for 1871 for William, he was probably married then. Try not to be too specific with the searches, perhaps a wider search is needed. Also try and get the marriage certificate for them from the GRO. This will give you both parents names and the locations where Sarah and William lived. You can move back further then.
Unusual names are a good help, William would be very common, he might also be recorder as Wm for short.
My advice would be, get a subscription to one of the family tree research sites, order the marriage certificate (if you can find it) then do more searches. This works piece by piece. You will get a sense of achievement when you find something out. Also, don't assume anything. A family can look like your relations, but in fact they are someone different! I ordered loads of certficates, even the odd one which was not related to me in error.
Prepare to spend a lot of time on this!
Good luck! :D
Richards74
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Hi Richards74
Also try and get the marriage certificate for them from the GRO. This will give you both parents names and the locations where Sarah and William lived. You can move back further then.
Thoms123 already has what he thinks is the correct marriage certificate for Sarah and William in 1889, it says that the father of William is John Thomas, and the father of Sarah Ann is William Price. The couple have been found in 1901 and 1911 (with Sarah's father living with them) but not in 1891. I found Sarah in 1881, but can't find William. It appears that he was born about 1863.
If this is the correct marriage in 1889, it would have made Sarah only 17 or 18. I believe that William may well have changed his age on the certificate as 22 year old marrying an 18 year old sounds better than a 26 year old marrying a 18 year old.
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Hi,
Cheers for that.
If the ages were different, the family unit names would be the same, and they were probably living in the same area.
;)
It can be confusing if someone moves location and or is not living with family. If the ages changes it can really throw you off. What would help here is the location of birth on the census records.
;)
Richards74
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Hi
From what I can see in the later censuses both were born in Ebbw Vale, Monmouthshire. I can't find the Price family in 1891 either, any idea if some of the censuses for Monmouthshire are missing?
Jan
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For information, here is the family in 1901 in Llanhilleth Monmouthshire
RG13; Piece: 4947; Folio: 93; Page: 28
William Thomas head 38 coal hewer Ebbw Vale, Monmouthshire
Sarah A Thomas wife 30 Ebbw Vale, Monmouthshire
Mary A Thomas dau 9 Ebbw Vale, Monmouthshire
Iveveor Thomas son 1 Ebbw Vale, Monmouthshire
Morgan Price brother 14 Ebbw Vale, Monmouthshire
William Price father in law 61 donkey driver Ebbw Vale, Monmouthshire
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Hi Groom and Richards 74,
thank you for taking the time to help ;)
On the 1901 census return it says there is an Iveveor Thomas, this is misspelt, it should be Trevor Thomas, he was my Grandads brother. Its funny to see the variations in the spelling, one site I looked at had Trevors name as Saverio!
William Thomas's occupation is different on the wedding cert to the entry on the census we've found, it says Haulier, but that could still be at the mine, and people might often change jobs there, (on the census he was a coal hewer).
Thanks again,
Karl.
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If you use a research site you can often access the real scans of the census documents. When you read these, you will often notice transcription errors where the computer version is wrong compared to the hand written version. You can appreciate how hard it is to trace some family members if you throw in a transcription error, age difference and location changes! ;) Once you go back to 1841, you will want to go back even further... to gather even more information! Then it becomes hard. :'(
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I know what you mean, I have seen the originals and you are right, sometimes the handwritten copies are a bit far from the mark, making it a bit confusing at times :-\ Thankfully this is doesnt happen very often.
I have used a research site and the local library has a good site which can also be used.
Have you come across any other members of your family who have added to your tree? This would help to keep things movig along and add more details. My cousin has helped a lot with my Grandmothers side of the family.
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Hi,
I have seen other peoples trees, they have added some of my info to their sites etc.
Are you in Llanhilleth now?
:D
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Hi,
sadly no :'( I am living in Birmingham, I still have family in Mid Glamorgan that we keep in touch with, (and probably a lot more family in Wales somewhere).
How about you, what part of the U.K are you in?
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I'm in Caerphilly county, aka Mid Glamorgan.
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you are just down the road from my cousins who are in Nelson.
Happy Christmas to all in Wales, hope to be back soon ;)
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Same to you!