Thursday, June 19, 2008
Great great Grandfather, William Brown
I finally figured out why I haven't been able to find the William Brown family in the 1861 Welsh census documents. It's because in 1861 William, his wife Hanna (Owens) Brown, and their son Thomas were living in Bridgend in the county of Glamorgan. And it just happens that portions of the 1861 census have been lost, including four neighborhoods in Bridgend. Yesterday, I was able to find the birth records for Thomas Brown, who was born in 1858 in Bridgend, and my Great Grandmother, Isabella Brown, who was born in 1862 in Bridgend. I'd say that the span of births of the two children are proof-positive that the Browns were living in Bridgend in 1861 and are, therefore, among those whose census records have been lost.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Saying goodbye to Dudley
With more research, I discovered why the Davis family decided to move back to Wales after just a few years in Dudley, Worcestershire County, England. I was fortunate to glean the following information from a FamilyTreeMaker.com site devoted to the ancestors of Clark Jay Holloway:
Mr. William Lee, a government investigator, made a survey of the town of Dudley, Worcestershire, in connection with the Public Health Act of 1848. When the Health Act was passed, Dudley was a center of English industrial activity. In the preceding ten years the population had increased from 30,000 to 40,000, but the health of the people was appalling, for scarcely a year passed without some fearful epidemic occurring. For instance, in 1832, six hundred people were killed by cholera alone and, in 1847 the town was swept by Typhus, to be followed in 1849 by another outbreak of cholera.
Throughout these epidemics there is no evidence that the local authority ever took any preventive action and the public Health Act of 1848 was completely ignored. The greatest defects of Dudley were the lack of proper drainage system and the inadequate supply of water. The disposal of refuse was very simple. The more respectable people had a cesspit, but the less respectable people kept a bucket in the house and this they emptied into the roadway during the night, hoping the wind, rain or roving pigs would have removed the contents by morning. The large mass of the people, however, made ‘privies’ of every unoccupied corner of the town.
The report also dealt with the inadequate water supply and compared the health statistics of Dudley with other industrial areas. The average age of death was a very rough indication of the health of a community. In 1853 (after the Davis family had left) the life expectancy for the village of Dudley was sixteen years.
Now I understand why they left! To have a life expectancy in Dudley that low, the majority of children must have been dying before their sixteen birthday.
Mr. William Lee, a government investigator, made a survey of the town of Dudley, Worcestershire, in connection with the Public Health Act of 1848. When the Health Act was passed, Dudley was a center of English industrial activity. In the preceding ten years the population had increased from 30,000 to 40,000, but the health of the people was appalling, for scarcely a year passed without some fearful epidemic occurring. For instance, in 1832, six hundred people were killed by cholera alone and, in 1847 the town was swept by Typhus, to be followed in 1849 by another outbreak of cholera.
Throughout these epidemics there is no evidence that the local authority ever took any preventive action and the public Health Act of 1848 was completely ignored. The greatest defects of Dudley were the lack of proper drainage system and the inadequate supply of water. The disposal of refuse was very simple. The more respectable people had a cesspit, but the less respectable people kept a bucket in the house and this they emptied into the roadway during the night, hoping the wind, rain or roving pigs would have removed the contents by morning. The large mass of the people, however, made ‘privies’ of every unoccupied corner of the town.
The report also dealt with the inadequate water supply and compared the health statistics of Dudley with other industrial areas. The average age of death was a very rough indication of the health of a community. In 1853 (after the Davis family had left) the life expectancy for the village of Dudley was sixteen years.
Now I understand why they left! To have a life expectancy in Dudley that low, the majority of children must have been dying before their sixteen birthday.
The Mystery of Mary Davis
I've discovered another mystery with the Davis family. My great great great grandfather, John Davis, had a daughter named Mary. I always assumed that she was born in Wales with the rest of her brothers and sisters. But upon closer examination, I discovered that the census gatherers in 1851 recorded that Mary was born in the English town of Dudley, Worcestershire county, in 1846. Dudley is almost 100 miles north of the Welsh town of Blaenavon where the Davis family was living in 1841. When I looked at the 1861 census document, Mary is reported as being born in "Berbehard" in the county of Shropshire. Now, since the distance from Dudley to the Shropshire/Worcestershire border is quite short -- less than ten miles I believe -- they could have been living near the border. However, I've found no town named "Berbehard" anywhere in the vicinity.
From what I've read on the web, Dudley was not the nicest place to live during the 1840s. Back then, this area was referred to as the "Black Country" for the dense clouds of smoke belched continuously from thousands of coal-fired hearths and furnaces. These polluted the environment with vast amounts of soot. In addition to highly concentrated manufacturing enterprises, Dudley was associated with the invention of the steam engine (it was first operated near Dudley Castle in 1712) and in 1821 the first iron steamship was built in the Dudley area at the Horseley Ironworks.
By 1851, the Davis family had moved back to Wales and were living in the village of Trevethin, only six miles from where they were living in 1841. I'm sure it was no easy task in the 1840s to pick up and move 100 miles away to a new city. Certainly, work must have been plentiful in Wales in the 1840s. Wales was the industrial capital of the world back then. So why did they move and almost immediately move back? I would love to find out.
The mystery as to why the Davis family wasn't consitent in reporting Mary's birthplace may, in part, be due to the fact that there were numerous changes to county boundaries over the years. In some cases it was done to tidy up historic anomalies, such as tiny detached pieces of one county being entirely surrounded by another. Such changes have taken place piecemeal over many years, with some such detached areas surviving to as recently as 1974. One notable example is the northern piece of Worcestershire containing the town of Dudley, which was originally entirely surrounded by Staffordshire.
So, maybe the Davis family meant to say Staffordshire when they told the census worker "Shropshire" in 1851. If that were true, then the mystery of Mary's true birthplace could be easily solved.
From what I've read on the web, Dudley was not the nicest place to live during the 1840s. Back then, this area was referred to as the "Black Country" for the dense clouds of smoke belched continuously from thousands of coal-fired hearths and furnaces. These polluted the environment with vast amounts of soot. In addition to highly concentrated manufacturing enterprises, Dudley was associated with the invention of the steam engine (it was first operated near Dudley Castle in 1712) and in 1821 the first iron steamship was built in the Dudley area at the Horseley Ironworks.
By 1851, the Davis family had moved back to Wales and were living in the village of Trevethin, only six miles from where they were living in 1841. I'm sure it was no easy task in the 1840s to pick up and move 100 miles away to a new city. Certainly, work must have been plentiful in Wales in the 1840s. Wales was the industrial capital of the world back then. So why did they move and almost immediately move back? I would love to find out.
The mystery as to why the Davis family wasn't consitent in reporting Mary's birthplace may, in part, be due to the fact that there were numerous changes to county boundaries over the years. In some cases it was done to tidy up historic anomalies, such as tiny detached pieces of one county being entirely surrounded by another. Such changes have taken place piecemeal over many years, with some such detached areas surviving to as recently as 1974. One notable example is the northern piece of Worcestershire containing the town of Dudley, which was originally entirely surrounded by Staffordshire.
So, maybe the Davis family meant to say Staffordshire when they told the census worker "Shropshire" in 1851. If that were true, then the mystery of Mary's true birthplace could be easily solved.
Monday, June 16, 2008
59 Days and Counting.
That's right, my last day at the Nevada Department of Public Safety is just 59 days away. When I started this Blog I had six months left. The time has flown by so fast, I find it almost startling.
If you're just tuning into this blog, welcome. I created this space to chroncical my future trip to the United Kingdom once I retire from state government where I have spent the last twenty-five years. My intent in going to the UK is to search for the various towns and villages where my paternal ancestors lived for generations before immigrating to America, hence the focus here on family genealogy.
If you have any questions or observations, please make use of the comments section and I'll be happy hear from you.
Cheers!
If you're just tuning into this blog, welcome. I created this space to chroncical my future trip to the United Kingdom once I retire from state government where I have spent the last twenty-five years. My intent in going to the UK is to search for the various towns and villages where my paternal ancestors lived for generations before immigrating to America, hence the focus here on family genealogy.
If you have any questions or observations, please make use of the comments section and I'll be happy hear from you.
Cheers!
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