Well it has been about a month since I updated this blog. We have been very busy and then I got sick with a "chesty cold" and was down for a week. I guess it was a result of just doing too much and getting over tired. But it is hard to stop when there is so much to do. We do a lot of work that can't be shown in photos. Although it is a break for me when I can take photos so...
I have created several lengthy timelines to track our research. Timelines for the Bowen family, the Edmond family, Rees David, lists of the documents we have read in the Glamorgan Archive and the National Archive which all have a lot of information and are several pages long. I have also grided the receipts from property rentals paid in Penllegare estate from 1822 to 1830 to figure out who lived where when. There is just a LOT of behind the scenes work as well as looking in the records. Right now I am trying to put together the information for all the families with the last name of David or Davies to try and figure out which is the correct family for our ancestor Rees David/Davis. Tricky!
But I was a out for a week and my mind would not connect the dots. Steve spent his 74th birthday taking care of me and enjoying the greetings from our loved ones. But I am on the mend and have my voice back and my mind as well so we are gearing up. However, being sick increased my blood sugar numbers and made my eyesight blurry. I had them checked yesterday and will get new distance glasses to help me see better while driving until my blood sugars stabilize and things are back to normal.
Because I was sick I could not think clearly enough to write the blog and as a result there are SO many photos from the things we are doing. So hope there are not too many but there were many interesting things to see.
Steve's brother-in-law went home May 30 but before he left we spent a day at the Cardiff Castle and and a day at Margam Park and then a day at the West Glamorgan Archives in Swansea. Pictures follow.
Before JoLynn left on 6 June we spent a little time at the Glamorgan Archives, made a short trip to Costco and then went back to Swansea to check more records. We spent a day in Colwinston going to the Sycamore Inn for lunch where we spoke with the owner and got some information about the age of the Inn. Then we went to a little store and spoke with a man who referred us to his aunt and uncle who had information about the farms around there. He even had a framed collection of various coins, buckles etc. that had been found by way of a metal detector in the farms around Colwinston. Photos follows.
We bought a book about Colwinston called Colwinston: A Historical Journey by Chris Hawker, which had more clues about land ownership. We also had a delightful visit with the aunt who showed us various documents she has about the land we are interested in but the documents were too recent and sadly could not help us. We have been looking for more information about David Bowen who was really David ab Owen or David Owen as we have tracked him back to 1700 but where he came from before that we do not now.
Bright and early on Monday morning we packed our car and left for Aberystwyth. It was a 4 hour drive. As soon as we arrived we got busy in the archives. We paid our £20 for both Monday and Tuesday for permission to photograph. In the course of both days we looked at over 100 documents and scanned many of them. Each had just a little more info but nothing earth shattering.
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We had a lovely flat in Aberystwyth on the 4th floor which had this balcony
so we could see a great distance. |
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| There is something magical about looking over the roof tops of Aberystwyth. |
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This was taken at the National Archives.
I loved how the sun broke through the clouds to shine on the ocean. |
After our 2 intense days at the National Archives we left to drive down the coast to St. Davids in Pembrokeshire. Since JoLynn was with us and since Steve and I did not know if we would make it down that way again we made our way to that area. It was a lovely drive with more beautiful fields and occasionally glimpses of the ocean. We topped at Fishguard where at one time there had been a fort.
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| Loved this craggy view. |
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| Remnants of the fort and some cannons. |
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| Lovely flower on the path. |
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| Waiting for me while I took photos. |
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| Loved this street! |
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| Just showing how narrow the roads are. |
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| Pembrokeshire road. |
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| And again. |
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There has been a lot of rain the past couple of weeks. It is beautiful when it is sunny
but kind of a downer when it rains. But warmer weather is on the horizon. |
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I love these construct gizmos. There is a fair amount of construction
and these traffic lights are always present so flag men are not necessary. |
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This was the view from our bedroom window at Ocean Haze
where we stayed near St.Davids |
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| From the same window. |
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| After staying the night we went to see St. David's Cathedral. |
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| An amazing building! |
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| Front door. |
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| We were told that during the construction there were 2 architects with different visions. The second one came in and left the wrong window it place. |
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| Beautiful! |
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| Awesome floor tiles. |
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| Amazing details. |
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Stopped for a restroom break near the ocean.
Look what the ocean air has done to this phone booth! |
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| Love the ocean. |
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| Lovely view. |
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| We made it to the Pembroke Archive in Haverfordwest. |
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Screen shot of likely grandfather for Steve fourth row up. "William the son of John Thomas and his wife Margaret" in 1772 in Pembroke St,Mary's.
We also got two good clues.
First some information for our grandson-in-law whose ancestors came from Freystrop which was close by so we could go see the church and take some photos and then a mention of a book from that town.
Second one of the staff workers suggested that sometimes tenants were transferred from one estate to another. That might account for why there is no information about David Bowen prior to 1700 in the Manor of
Colwinston. Here's hoping we will know where to look to find him prior to 1700. |
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| Pembrokeshire |
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Pembrokeshire
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We drove on to Pembroke and stopped at The Royal George which was right by St. Mary's church. Pembroke Castle was just next door. We had something to eat before checking out the church.
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This is me just after asking the pub owner why someone would have been charged with "selling beer and ale at less than measure". He explained the size of the glasses we used for our water versus the size of the glasses used for beer. He suspected that she used smaller glasses. He said it was still an offense in this day and age to sell beer and ale for less than measure.
While in Aberystwyth we had found that a Jane Edmond had been charged with "selling beer and ale for less than measure" almost twice a year in Leet court for a period of nearly 10 years in the mid 1600's. Jane Edmond is likely an ancestor of Steve's. So it was interesting to learn about. The funny thing is the although she was charged so many times there is no record of any punishment. |
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| Steve and JoLynn in front of the pub. |
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| The pub owner gave me permission to take a picture of this print on his wall of Welsh women in church. I wonder if all the women owned hats like this? |
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| St. Mary's church where William Thomas was christened. |
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| Front door of St. Mary's church. |
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| Pembroke Castle |
We did not realize there was a castle in Pembroke. It was massive. We did not go inside to see everything. But I did walk around it and took some photos.
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| An interesting rock building across from the castle. |
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| King Henry VII |
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| A nice highway on the way home. |
And then it was time for JoLynn to fly home. The Sat nav routed us through some interesting roads on our way to the airport.
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| Love this road view! |
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| Yes a very narrow road on the way to the airport. |
The next week we booked 2 nights in patron housing at the London Temple. It is a 4 hour drive to get there with lots of traffic even though the temple is in Lingfield which is an hour south of London proper. We were able to spend Tuesday afternoon and all day Wednesday in the temple. What an amazing experience! There is just no other place where you can go to refuel, find peace, clarity and courage to move forward.
If you don't understand very much about temples of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints you can check out this link https://youtu.be/XLXYxmaHWQs
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| London temple. |
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Patron housing is so great! Steve is standing on the entrance steps to the temple and I am taking the photo from the entrance of the temple housing. Just a 5 minute walk.
Before JoLynn left we went a few places and did a few things and there are probably more photos than you even want to see. But here they are:
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| A typical view of terraced housing, with cars parked on the side of the road into the driving lane. |
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| This is Ann Street where we drive every Sunday to pick up a young man on the way to church. This is a 2 lane road but with cars parked on each side. It is only possible to have one car at a time and the oncoming car must pull over and take turns. |
We drove back to Neath for some research and went again to the church in Llantwit-juxta-Neath. This time someone was there preparing for a special meeting and we were able to go inside to see the place where many of Steve's ancestors had worshiped.
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| Headstones imbedded in the walk way. |
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| St. Illtyd's Church |
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| Several of Steve's ancestors were christened in this font. |
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| Note how narrow the benches are! |
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| This is the church in Cadoxton-juxta-Neath which is just across the river from the Llantwit-juxta-Neath church. Many of Steve's ancestors worshiped in this church as well. |
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This is an unusual head stone and is called the Murder Stone. Although the lighting was not good enough to get a good shot of the inscription it reads:
To record
MURDER
This stone was erected over the body
of
Margaret Williams
Aged 26
A native of Carmarthnshire
living in service in this parish
who was found dead
with marks of violence upon her person
in a ditch on the marsh
below the churchyard
on the morning
of Sunday the fourteenth of July
1822
Although
The Savage MURDERER
escape for a season the detection of man
yet
God hath set his mark upon him either for time or eternity
and
the cry of blood will assuredly pursue him
to certain and terrible punishment. |
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| How many of Steve's ancestors passed through this door? |
One day we had been working really hard and just needed a break. I googled parks and found this lovely park tucked away less than 10 minutes from our house. There was a children's playground, tennis courts, soccer field and this lovely spot with a pond.
Every week we drive past this wall a few times. I always loved to see the flowers and one day just took the time to stop and get a photo.
This was in Colwinston at the Sycamore Inn a pub with a history old enough that we know Steve's ancestors, Evan Jenkin, David Bowen and the Edmond family would have been there.
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I think maybe the people in days gone by were shorter.
Steve is about 5'10" and he is almost as tall as the door frame. |
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| Items found in the farm fields of Colwinston. Wonder if any had belonged to Steve's ancestors. |
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| Looking at documents that unfortunately did not help us. |
We decided to take the train to Cardiff to avoid the traffic and parking challenges. But it was a challenge in its own right to FIND the train station. After driving around the town TWICE we asked someone for directions. They kindly drove us there.
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| The narrow lane to the train parking. |
We wanted to see Cardiff Castle. It was a hard day for Steve's walking so he mostly sat while the rest of us looked around. Cardiff is full of amazing architecture. Beautiful!
Most interesting to me was the amazing residence. I guess when you are one of the richest men in the world you can do any amazing thing you want with the interior of your home. It was just incredible. No one lives there now but the building is rented for special events.
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| This marquetry caught my eye and reminded me of the work my grandfather Willy Grawe had done. |
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| this was such an interesting item. The scribes all holding tablets with different inscriptions in different languages - Hebrew, Sancrit, hieroglyphics, Greek and something else. |
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| What a library with lots of shelves and nooks in which sit and read. |
A museum on the grounds held items from the world wars and the Welsh involvement. Many interesting items. And Steve bought a bullet key chain.
A hop on hop off bus drove us around to see many items of interest.
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| An interesting weather vane. |
As we prepared to leave we were amazed to see droves of people, mostly women all over the streets. There were vendors selling various items and also applying sparkly make up. Cadbury was taking advantage of the crowds by handing out samples of their new 'dark milk' chocolate bar. We soon learned that there was a Spice Girls concert that evening in a stadium that would hold 50,000 people. So many people but very few men. There was lots of animal print and sequins. What a sight! We were glad we were on our way home.
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| My handsome husband! |
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| From the train. |
The next day we drove to Margam Park. Last time we were in Wales I was intrigued by a patch of pink I saw on the hillside as we drove down the motorway. It was there again this year only bigger so one day we found its source and learned it was Margam Park so when Jeff and JoLynn were here we decided to check it out.
What an amazing place! We learned that the pink came from hundreds if not thousands of rhododendrons. They are spreading like crazy but a SO beautiful!
The park has a lot to offer but we only looked at a few things. We took the train around the grounds to get an overview. It was spectacular. The weather was supposed to be nice that day but it rained intermittently.
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| Glamorgan cattle with the white stripe along their backs. |
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| Brother and sister enjoying each other. |
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| doing what I like to do. |
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| How can you not want to see this? |
Margam Castle was amazing! Apparently it was the sight for a Robin hood movie and some episodes of Dr. Who. The architecture was indescribable. I loved the chimneys. We were not given access to most of the interior but the exterior was definitely worth the trip.
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| Old Abby ruins |
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| More Abby ruins. |
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| Two tired guys at the end of our day! |
