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
