Common Ancestor Tales

Mary Owens was born in Brilley Herefordshire. Her parents James Owen and Martha Lea and her Owen and Lea grandparents were farmers in the Wellington/Kings Pyon and Bromyard areas of Herefordshire.

Mary was baptised in May 1918 in Brilley just outside Hay on Wye close to the border with Wales. She was the eldest of 6 children – the rest were all boys.

Not long after she was born the family moved to Eardisland, Herefordshire and all of her siblings were born there (or close by).

When Mary was about 20 (1841) the family moved to Romer’s farm just across the border in Brockleton, Worcestershire. By this point her father James Owen is described as a farmer.

In 1945 James and his family move to Kyre Green farm about a half hour walk from Romers farm. Their neighbours there are a William and Hannah Gollins.

In the 1951 census we can see James, Martha and 3 of their children living at Kyre Green Farm, namely: Martha aged 30, George 29 and James aged 25.

The previous entry in the census is for a William Gollins who lives up the road (probably on Whitelands farm). William is a wheelwright and he has his 22 year old nephew staying with him who is a wheelwright journeyman.

Clearly Mary and young Frederick got to know each other and as a result Mary became pregnant. In 1851 a girl was born at Kyre Green farm out of wedlock – the child was named Mary Owens and the father is not given on her birth certifcate.

Mary Owens mother Martha Lea died in 1856 at Kyre Green farm.

Frederick and Mary did eventually marry despite their 10 year age gap in Tenbury Wells when Mary was 41. The 1861 census finds them living together in Tenbury Wells. I can find no baptism for the child and the wedding appears to have been a registry office one rather than in a church. This was not the custom for the Owen or Gollins families.

Martha Gollins was born the year after her parents were married in 1862 and was baptised at Great Kyre church presumably with family present. The baptism record states that the couple are living in “Sutton near Tenbury” which is a small village half an hours walk outside of Tenbury Wells, Worcestershire.

The next two years are not good ones for Mary. Her brother George Owens and father James Owens both die in 1864 at George’s home, Church house in Thornbury.

In 1865 her older daughter Mary and her husband both die from small pox.

This would have been the start of a difficult time for Mary and her only remaining daughter Martha. Since both her parents are dead and her closest brother George and both Frederick’s parents. She may have had other Gollins family around but I have not been able to trace where her other siblings were.

In 1871 Mary is working as a housekeeper to John Williams at St Mary’s farm in Kingsland. Kingsland is where her father was born so I imagine there was some old connections there. Her daughter Martha is boarding fairly nearby at a small school at number 2 Bridge Street, Leominster. She is 9. There are some other younger girls in the boarding house.

By 1881 Mary is herself living in Leominster at 51 Bridge street. It says that she is living off “income from houses”. So perhaps she did inherit some property or money from her family. Martha is by now 20 years old and working as a teacher in Buckinghamshire.

Mary died in 1882. It says on the death certificate that one of her neices Mary Gollins is present at her death. I can’t find an obvious candidate for this Mary in my research. So it looks like I am missing some of her siblings children.

Frederick Gollins was born in Richard’s castle Shropshire in 1828 to James Gollins , a carpenter (born in Kyre Magna, Worcestershire) and Martha Robotham (of Brimsfield, Shropshire).

He was the 5th child in the family. The eldest two had been born in Brimsfield namely: Richard (1814-1884) and Harriot (1816 – 1881). Charlotte (1822 – ) was baptised at Richard’s Castle. James (1825 – 1899) was baptised at Ashford, Shropshire.

St Michael’s church at Brimsfield where his parent’s were married and the eldest two siblings were baptised is an ancient building the tower of which has stood there since the 13 Century.

Frederick himself although born at Richard’s castle was baptised at a small church right on the Welsh borders at Llanvir Waterdine.

Frederick’s mother died the year after he was born in 1829. Frederick’s father James quite quickly found a new partner – Elizabeth Powell and had 4 more children in Richard’s castle. Henry (1835), Eleanor (1837), George Crawford (1841) and Edwin (1843). I found Elizabeth’s maiden name on George Crawford’s birth certificate.

I have not found Elizabeth and Jame’s marriage record but all the childrens baptisms are in the Parish records at the church of St Bartholomews. The chuch is on the site of an ancient castle. It is a very ancient church with a seperate church tower. It is quite special.

Henry, George and Edwin were later to move to the United States and have many descendents based mainly in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Oregan and Washington State.

Eleanor married James Perks in Stourbridge. They had 11 children (plus James had two more from sons from a first marriage!). At least two of Eleanors daughters also went to the USA ending up in Chicago, Illinois and Ohio.

In the 1841 census James, Elizabeth, Charlotte (James daughter from his first marriage) and the three eldest of the couples children are all living at Hill top farm in Richard’s Castle.

Frederick can be found in a sepreate entry working on a farm at Leinthall Starkes about 4 miles away from where his father is living. He was 12 years old. He probably did not stay there long as the farmer Jonathan Lowe died a couple of years later.

In 1851 Frederick can be found living and working with his uncle William Gollins in Kyre who is a wheelwright. Also living there is Hannah Gollins (nee Twigg) who is the widow of another uncle Richard Gollins.

It is whilst living with his Uncle that Frederick struck up a relationship with Mary Owen who lived very close by resulting in the birth of a child. As he is not named on his eldest daughter’s birth certificate it is not clear how soon Mary and Frederick actually set up house together.

Fredricks father James Gollins died in 1860 in Kingswinford near Stourbridge. There is no mention of he fact that he was a widow or even of Elizabeth. It mentions that a Charlotte Downing was present at his death. I have tried to see if this is his daughter Charlotte who I have not managed to trace after 1841 but can find no marriage to a Downing.

Frederick and Mary did marry in 1861 and his daughter took on the name of Gollins. In the 1861 census they are living in Sutton outside Tenbury Wells. A second daughter Martha Lea Gollins was born in 1862. And they baptised Martha at the church in Great Kyre near Mary Owen’s fathers farm. By this point Mary Owen’s mother has died and both Frederick’s parents. Perhaps her father James Owens hosted the event.

Elizabeth Rowlands was born on a farm in Llangwyryfon high up on the hills between Aberystwyth and LLanon.

The Rowlands family came from just north of Aberystwyth and her father Richard Rowlands (b 1783) and Grandfather the Richard Rowlands (b 1745) was originally from Capel Bangor, Llanbadarn-Fawr. Her mother Mary Maria Evans came from Cnuc-y-Barcut farm, Llanrhystyd.

Richard and Mary had 10 children. Initially they lived at a farm near Llangwyryfon called Pen-y-gaer. The farm belonged to Evan Evans who was Mary Maria’s father. By
the time their 3rd child Mary was born they moved to Abermaid, Llanair. There is still a house on this site but it was built in the 1870’s after the family had moved away. The house would have been set close to a river with a hill behind it. This is the place that Elizabeth spent most of her childhood.

In about 1828 the family moved to another farm Carrog, in Llanddienol. This farm was to be a focus for the Rowland family for many generations to come.

Elizabeth married David Morgan in 1842 at St Deniols church which is a short walk from Carrog farm. When Elizabeth and David got married a formal indenture was drawn up around their marriage.

This must have proved successful because David became a wealthy businessman. Elizabeth’s younger sister Jane Rowlands (a year younger than her) went on to marry David’s youngest brother Evan Morgan (later to become a Vicar). David’s younger sister Ann Morgan also went on to marry Elizabeth’s youngest brother Evan Rowlands. So Elizabeth and David’s children were double cousins with the children of these two other couples.

On his wedding record David is recorded as being a maltster and still living at his father’s farm of Pantamanlwg. In fact he had taken on ownership of Felinfor brewery in 1837 from Evan Morris his brother in law (Evan was married to his older sister Mary). He renamed the business Aberclydan Brewery.

The baptism records and birth records for the couples’ first three children show them living at “Green Castle”. Green Castle Inn was the name of a pub on Bridge street in Llanon. So it seems likely that David was brewing and also running a pub. David carried on Brewing until his death in 1882.

By the time their 4th child Richard was born in 1849 Elizabeth and Richard had rented Alltlwyd farm, which is set just above the road from Llanon to Llanrhystyd (on the way to Aberystwyth). They lived their for the rest of their married life.

The farm has lovely views over Cardigan Bay. It is a large farm and the census show how many people were living and working there reaching a peak in about 1861. The farm had 4-6 lime kilns as part of it’s property so David also operated those.

Elizabeth and David had a large family of 10 children. However in 1869 tragedy struck and they lost their two oldest boys Lewis (25) and Richard (20) to tuberculosis in the space of a couple of months. Over the next 15 years they were to lose three more young adults to this terrible illness. David was present at the death of the first four children. They are all buried at St Ffraids.

David had lost six siblings the same way during his own childhood who were also buried in the same church.. And his brother Evan (married to Elizabeth’s sister Jane) also lost six young people who are all buried there too. I can see why the couple became very tied to St Ffraids church where so many of their children and other young family were buried.

David died in 1882. It was possibly quite unexpected. He was 68.

David Morgan was born at Pantamanlwg farm up on the hills above Llanon. His father Lewis Morgan’s family had been farming the land up there for several generations.

David experienced a great deal of death in his childhood as six of his siblings were to die young as a result of tuberculosis. It must have felt a cruel blow for this to be repeated amongst his own family and that of his brother Evan.

David was an enterprising fellow and by the age of 29 he was a fairly successful “maltster” and seems to have had ownership of the Green Castle Inn.

His marriage to Elizabeth took place in 1842 and the young family moved into Llanon to the Green Castle. He then took on Alltlwyd farm and the associated Lime Kilns in early 1849.

The lime kilns had been there since the early part of the 1800’s. They were situated on the beaches directly down the hill from Alltlwyd farm at a place called Craiglas. They are now grade II listed. Here is what the listing says about them: “Four early C19 lime kilns and separate walled enclosure marked on the 1846 Tithe Map as part of the Alltlwyd estate. At this time the owner of the kilns was John Hughes and they were being operated by David James and Evan Morgan. One of the kilns was built by Captain William Davies who also built one of the four ship yards in Llansantffraed, Abercleddan, at the mouth of the Cleddan, near Felin For. The last operator of the kilns was David Morgan (1814-1882) of Alltlwyd. “

Boats carrying limestone and coal would have beached at high tide on the shallow shelving beach, and the cargo unloaded directly underneath the limekiln just above the shoreline.

There are 130 lime kilns between Aberystwyth and Milford Haven in 40 different sites. But there are rarely 4 placed together. In fact looking at the site, historians think there were probably 6 lime kilns here – two having fallen apart. The lime was burnt to make lime used for limewash and also fertilizer for the fields. Between 12 and 14 boats from both further North and further South, brought lime here in the season, which is winter time and then the kilns would burn 24 hours a day, for months on end,

In 1864 David modernised the Brewery he had taken over in 1837 using a patented steam operated method. He continued Brewing for another fifteen years. The Brewery was transferred to Messrs Davies & Jones of Llandovery in 1879; But Davies and Jones went bankrupt in 1886 some years after David had died.

The Morgan family clearly still had a sizeable interest in the business because it was Elizabeth who gave the order to sell everything in 1889. Apparently the sale was sucessful and they managed to sell most of the stock and equipment.

The site became Aberclydan Stores managed by David Morgan’s son Evan until 1913. The stores were serviced by the coasters ‘Jane’ and ‘Joanne’.

The arrival of the railway at Aberaeron brought an end to the coastal trading. In the mid 20th century the premises operated as Penarwel Club and caravan site where some of Davids grandchildren used to holiday in the 1950’s. Later it became Plas Morfa Hotel and restaurant.

David died at home at Alltlwyd farm aged 68. His brother in law John Williams was present at his death.