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I would like to thank Cas in particular for her fantastic help & thanks also to Ciderdrinker.

After 25 years of trying I now know who my Great Grandfather Edward Jones really was. He was born 22nd Feb 1855 in Oswestry Workhouse as Matthew Edward Jenkins, father unknown, Mother Elizabeth Jenkins born Oswestry 1838. Her parents were James Jenkins & Mary Mansell who ran the Albion on Church St in the 1840s.

Timeline 1855 born as Matthew Edward Jenkins
1861 Mathew E Jones
1871 Edward Jones
1876 marriage to Annie Williams in Morton, line through the father.

He was taken in by Joseph & Elizabeth Jones a childless couple & brought up as a Jones.

Elizabeth Jenkins married John Turner in Liverpool in 1863 & had a daughter Alice Turner 1866 Flint & Eleanor Turner 1869 Liverpool.

Alice married Joseph Baybut & Eleanor married Charles John Vernon. I have no idea if Edward & the two girls knew about one another or not.

Through building a tree out I have 4 DNA matches now.

One back to Elizabeth's brother James Jenkins Oswestry 1839, two from Alice through the Baybut's & one directly back to Elizabeth thanks to a lady no longer with us who put her DNA onto Ancestry when she was 81 years old!

I have now met her daughter & another match so far.

Thanks again for everyone's help

Hi All

With Shropshire Archives only open on Thursdays & impossible to contact on the phone.
Can anyone confirm that they have Oswestry Workhouse admissions / Discharge registers mid 1800s in particular 1855

According to an AI chat bot it says they do in PLU/Osw/5 but when I search the catalogue that does not show up, only admission/discharge from 1916. I asked the chat bot again & got this reply.

Direct answer: The Oswestry Workhouse admissions and discharge registers do exist at Shropshire Archives, but the reference you tried (PLU/Osw/5) is part of their internal catalogue system, not always visible in the online search. That’s why you’re seeing “no results found” when you search the website.

🗂 Why the reference doesn’t show online
PLU/Osw = Poor Law Union, Oswestry.

The number (e.g., /5) refers to a sub‑series within their physical catalogue.

Shropshire Archives’ online catalogue doesn’t always expose these internal references. Some records are only listed in the black Poor Law Union catalogues in the search room at the Archives.

This means you won’t necessarily find them by typing “PLU/Osw/5” into the online search box.

📜 What records survive
Shropshire Archives holds Oswestry Union records including admission and discharge registers covering roughly 1836–1930.

These registers are part of the Poor Law Union collections, alongside guardians’ minutes, accounts, and other workhouse records.

This is from a standard AI bot nothing to do with the Shropshire Archives.

Does anyone know for sure one way or the other, it's 140 mile round trip for me!

Regards
Ed

Just read your message again "Does your family history have any other links to Shropshire other than Edward & family that could belong to the 30cM match you have?"

The examples I gave you of Elizabeth & my dad are obviously from Edward's family.

So I will dig deeper!

Regards
Ed

In the census of 1851 with a Couple called Joseph Jones & Elizabeth Jones in Oswestry is Mary Morgan aged 3, visitor, at nurse. In 1861 she is aged 13 & a servant for another family.

This suggests to me that the Jones couple had taken her in short term.

In 1861 the Jones’s have with them a Mathew E Jones aged 6 (1855) a Boarder, Birthplace N.K
In 1871 they have Edward Jones aged 16, Boarder, Born Oswestry.

On 21 July 1876 the man I know to be my Great Grandfather Edward Jones marries Annie Williams at Morton Parish Church Oswestry aged 22 (The maths based on what I think was his DOB makes it 21/22 On the certificate he is a Collier).

On Edward’s marriage in 1876 there is a line through the father.

When my Grandmother was born in a year later in 1877 he is recorded as a Coal Miner. In later censuses he is a well sinker / pump sinker.

In 1891 Edward Jones is with Joseph & Elizabeth Jones & Joseph is the head of the house & he is calling Edward Jones his Son, his is calling Edward’s wife Annie his daughter in Law & he is calling Edward & Annie’s Children his Grandchildren.

Joseph Jones died in 1897 & in 1901 Edward is head of his house & Elizabeth Jones is with them & Edward is calling her mother. I have looked for the correct birth certificate for Edward Jones c1855 & there are over twenty of them c1853/1855 & feels like I have bought most of them with no success.

A few days ago I put out a request for help on Rootschat & I was sent the birth index for a Matthew Edward Jenkins 1855. I ordered the certificate & it said 22nd February 1855 Matthew Edward Jenkins, Father not named, Mother Elizabeth Jenkins, Oswestry Workhouse.

So I think that in 1855 Matthew Edward Jenkins is born in Oswestry Workhouse & at point probably not long after birth he is placed with the Jones’s who already have a track record with Mary Morgan aged 3 in 1851

In 1861 he becomes Mathew E Jones aged 6, Boarder, birthplace NKIn 1871 he is Edward Jones aged 16, Boarder, birthplace Oswestry

1876 he married Annie Williams, he is aged 22 & no father named on his marriage.

I have found an Elizabeth Jenkins born Oswestry 1837/8 to James Jenkins & Mary Mansell. She is also referred to as Betsey or Betsy Jenkins. Her parents James Jenkins & Mary Mansell ran pubs, they’re in an unnamed establishment on Church St, Oswestry in 1841, Betsy aged 4. Both parents died late 1840s & Betsy is in the Albion Pub in 1851 aged 13 being looked after by Margaret Gee who is running the Albion. Margaret Gee was a sister to Betsy’s Mother Mary Mansell.

Margaret calls her Niece. With both of Betsy’s parents having died when she was about 9 or 10 then you can see how the wheels fell off for young Betsy. She then ends up in the workhouse & gives birth to Matthew Edward Jenkins in February 1855

I have a 30cM DNA match to an “Ewporie” not been online for a year. She goes back to James Jenkins & Mary Mansell’s Son James born 1836, when you see the Ancestry tree of adgysart2 she has those people plus James’s Sister Elizabeth Jenkins in 1837

I am hoping for a smoking gun, such as payments to the Jones’s or a bastardy order which may or may not exist. I cannot find a Matthew Edward Jenkins in any census, or death, & nothing for Matthew E Jones either (beyond that 1861 census reference)

So my question to those of you have read & absorbed my thought process, my question is do you consider there is sufficient evidence to say that;
MATTHEW EDWARD JENKINS BORN 22ND FEB 1855 IN OSWESTRY WORKHOUSE
MATTHEW E JONES AGED 6 BOARDER, BP N.K WITH THE JONES’S IN 1861
EDWARD JONES AGED 16 BOARDER, BP OSWESTRY,WITH THE JONES'S IN 1871
EDWARD JONES AGED 22 MARRYING ANNIE WILLIAMS IN 1876 WITH A LINE THROUGH HIS FATHER
ARE ALL THE SAME PERSON!
I welcome your thoughts
Regards
Ed