The Irish in South Wales - and me

Until I took an Ancestry DNA test, there was little in my family tree that linked me to Ireland. This post is based on the potential DNA matches that I have made, which hint that the 'missing father' on my grandfather's birth certificate could have been an Irish migrant to South Wales in the 1840s. 

The parishes referred to in the 1851 census record for the Burke family (see below)

My adopted grandfather's unknown heritage

As I have explained in two other posts on this blog, my Welsh grandfather, Thomas, was adopted by the Davies family and brought up in Pontypridd. His birth certificate shows he was born elsewhere in Glamorgan - in Llantwit Major in April 1880. His mother's name is given as Mary Powell, a dairymaid, but the space for the name of the father has been left blank - and it has always remained unknown.

Family lore has always suggested that the father was one of the sons of the Nicholl Carnes, landowners of the nearby St. Donats estate. There is, indeed, a "Mary Powell", originally from Glynneath, listed there as a laundrymaid in the 1881 census. This is very possibly the census record for my great grandmother:

Mary Powell in the 1881 census for St Donats Castle

I was hoping a DNA test might reveal a potential match with one of the Nicholl Carne's descendants who might also have results in Ancestry's database. So far, nothing has come up. However, there has been a reasonably strong match with a previously totally unknown person, who I am now in touch with, whose family was originally from South Wales. In addition, another connected person shows at least a weak match to my DNA record. Both of these individuals turn out to share the same great grandmother - Mary Jane Jones, née Burke. She was born in Nantymoel in the Ogmore valley in 1882. So could Mary Jane Burke be a common relative to me too? Again, there's no proof, but here's how it could be ...

The Burkes as part of nineteenth century Irish migration

The sea crossing from Ireland to Wales has always provided a route from Ireland to Britain. In the 1820s, some Irish families moved to the growing industrial towns of South Wales to seek work and then, following the famine of the late 1840s, migrated there in much greater numbers.

A book on "The Irish in Wales" (which I now need to read!) argues that "A significant number of the Irish diaspora settled in Wales during the nineteenth century. Initially, there was little evidence of Celtic solidarity and the Irish often met with violent hostility from the Welsh. Nevertheless, by the late nineteenth century the tortuous process of integration was well underway and appeared to be relatively trouble free in comparison with the Irish experience in many other parts of Britain".

As far as I can tell from the 1851 census record, Mary Jane Burke's father and grandfather migrated from Ireland in the early 1840s - before the famine:

The 1851 census for the parishes around St Donats and Llandow

The 1851 census for the four parishes around St Donats includes two families from Ireland, the Mehegans and the Burkes. It indicates that William and Mary Burke must have travelled from Ireland with three sons and three daughters, the oldest of whom are now working on nearby farms. Their youngest child, Nora, aged 7, has however then been born locally in Llandow - so they have probably been living there since around 1843 or so.

The parents, William and Mary, appear to have then remain settled in the area so perhaps did integrate successfully into the local community. Both have their burials recorded - Mary in Llandow in 1863 and William in Coity, Bridgend, in 1874. 

Little Ireland - Greenhill, Swansea

There aren't many further confirmed records for most of the Burke children. There is a record of the burial of Margaret Burke in Llandow in 1873 - but with her final abode being "Bridgend Union" - presumably at the Workhouse. So perhaps times got hard for the Burke family.

Margaret Burke - buried in Llandow in 1873

A 'Nora Burke' also appears in the Poor Law Union Records for Swansea on three occasions in 1907/8. Her brother, Thomas, may also have lived nearby because there is a record of a 'Thomas Burke' living in Well Street in 1893 and a burial in the same name in Swansea's Danygraig Cemetery in 1900. 

Whether these are the same Burkes - or perhaps different ones - it's no surprise to find Irish surnames in the area of Swansea around Well Street. It was situated in the Greenhill area of the city, which became the centre of the Irish community, and known as ‘Little Ireland’. Its electoral register includes a range of Irish names:

Thomas Burke on the 1893/4 electoral register for Swansea

James Burke 1: General Labourer

There are a number of records for 'James Burke' in the South Wales census listings for this time. However, working out if any of them are the brother of Nora, and the other Burke siblings, is difficult. It's made harder when it also appears that the information they may have presented to the census officials may also have changed as time goes on! 

There is a record in the 1881 census of a 'James Burke' living in Glamorgan with the right age (born in about 1837), but his reported birthplace is not Ireland but Llandow. I think there's still a chance that this is the right James - perhaps trying to integrate himself as 'Welsh' by giving the name of the village where he grew up, rather than his actual birthplace of Ireland. If so, James and his family are living at Mill Cottages, St Fagans, right by where the National Museum of History now stands. (And here's some additional history that could be added!)

The 1881 census showing James Burke living in St Fagans

It doesn't help that the same man, married to the same Mary Ann (née John), and with the same children, also has his name listed in the 1871 and 1891 census records as 'Thomas' Burke! Was this a census error or was it another attempt by James to make himself appear more 'Welsh'? (After all, I have certainly taught children in London who have called themselves by more 'English' names for similar concerns).

However, if it is the same man, then it looks like James - aka Thomas - and Mary Ann bring up a family in St Fagans who go on to live in the Cardiff area. 

James Burke 2: "Tinner. Gipsie"

There is another James Burke in the Welsh census records, who some have linked to the 1851 Burkes from Llandow in their Ancestry family trees. However, I don't think that's likely because this James' first three children are born in Radnorshire, and the first in 1850 - which is not a good match with the unmarried James Burke in the 1851 Llandow census. Nevertheless, it's worth telling a little of this other James' tale to show that the census officials also recorded people of Irish descent living as travellers in South Wales at this time.

In 1861, the census officials record that James Burke, a 'tinplate worker' from 'Ireland' is living with his wife, Bridget, and their children on Tyisha Lane, Llanelli. However, as they have clearly written at the top of the page, this is part of a "list of persons not in houses":

List of persons not in houses - 1861 Llanelli

In the 1871 census, the family are recorded as living in Haverfordwest and then, in 1881, at Plasmarl, outside Swansea, presumably as part of a traveller/gypsy group, as they are listed alongside others recorded as 'Tinner, Gipsie' or 'Hawker, Gipsie'. Owen Mychan, also listed in this Plasmarl census, is the husband of James and Bridget's daughter, Margaret. They are also listed as being 'Gipsie':

1881 census for Plasmarl, Swansea

Owen and Margaret had been married the year before at St Joseph's Catholic Church in Swansea - the main church serving the Greenhill ("Little Ireland') district. However, when James Burke died in Morriston, north of Plasmarl, in December 1900, he was buried in the Anglican churchyard in nearby Llansamlet. However, instead of the vicar conducting a Church of England service, it is stated that the ceremony was performed by his wife, Bridget. This was now allowed under the "Burial Laws Amendment Act" of 1880.

As a final footnote, the 1901 census records the widowed Bridget as still living in Globe Street, Morriston, together with her sister-in-law, Mary Riley, both being given the profession of 'general-hawker'. However, they are also both recorded specifically as coming from 'Roscommon' - at least giving these Rileys more precise geographical roots than the generic 'Ireland' usually given as the census birthplace.


... and finally, Timothy Burke 

As I stated above, the DNA records point to at least some degree of a match between me and two others. The common genetic link between the two others appears to be their great-grandparents, Job Jones and his wife Mary Jane Jones, née Burke. They were married in the Bridgend district in 1904.

Job was born in 1878 in the old parish of Cefnllys, near Llandrindod Wells in Powys (then Radnorshire). This is also where he and his father, Thomas Jones, were living in the 1881 census. The Jones family didn't move south - to Pontypridd - until about 1890. So, with my grandfather being born in 1880 in Llantwit Major, neither Job nor Thomas Jones can be the unknown father that might explain our shared DNA. That leaves, as the only other obvious candidate, Mary Jane Jones' father - who is none other than Timothy Burke, the remaining son of William and Mary from the 1851 Llandow census record posted above.

Tim is still recorded as living in Llandow in the 1861 census as well - but now as one of the "2 boys" employed by farmer 'Hopkin Hopkins'. (Another page of the same census lists his brother, Thomas Burke, as working for 'John Hopkins' - another small farmer in the village):

Timothy Burke in the 1861 census - Llandow

In the 1871 census "farm servant" Timothy Burke is working for a different farmer, 'William Jenkins', in the hamlet of Llanbetherey, near the village of Llancarfan, between Llantwit Major and Barry. 

Timothy Burke in the 1871 census - Llanbetherey

... but whereabouts is Mary Powell?

The 1871 census record shows that Mary Powell from Glynneath is also working as a servant to a small farmer, 'David Morgan', on the Ty Mawr farm in Pentyrch parish, further north towards Pontypridd.


The two farms that they are working on in 1871 are some distance away from each other, perhaps too far for them to have met. However, is it possible that their locations then changed so that they could have done? 


We know that Timothy Burke moves to the Bridgend area where he marries his wife, Mary Wallen, around 1875. Mary's family had moved to Wales from Somerset in the 1860s and were recorded as living in Tythegston, near Bridgend, in the 1871 census. The 1880 baptism records of Timothy Burke's first two sons confirm that the couple were living in Pen-y-fai, just north of Bridgend. But could he also have been seeing Mary Powell if she was working somewhere in the Bridgend area too?
Timothy and Mary Burke living in Pen-y-fai around 1877-1880

Is it likely? Is it possible?

Could Mary Powell have been known to Timothy Burke? There's certainly no proof - but it would explain the DNA match. Would a recently married man also be having a child with another woman? Again, it's certainly not unknown. 

By the 1881 census, the Burkes had moved to the Ogmore Valley where Timothy then spends the rest of his working life as a coal miner. Mary gives birth to Mary Jane Burke in 1882 (who becomes the wife of Job Jones) and, as the 1911 census shows, has by then had a total of eleven children, nine of who are still living:

Timothy and Mary Burke in the 1911 census for Nantymoel in the Ogmore Valley 

But the census also suggests that Timothy is 71 and Mary only 52. If, as is stated, they have been married for 38 years, that would mean Mary may have only been 14 on her wedding day, but Timothy 33! Might this also be a consideration? Who knows!

As for Mary Powell, the census records don't show what became of her after 1881, when she was listed as the laundrymaid at St Donat's Castle. Her elder sister, Johannah can be found in the 1911 census, where she and her husband are  listed as running the St Ives Inn in Old Market Street, Neath - still a working pub and hotel today. However, there is sadly no trace of Mary, my great-grandmother.

Finally, how was the adoption arranged?

There's another puzzle that will never really be solved. What was the link between Mary Powell and the Davies family who adopted my grandfather and brought him up in Pontypridd? How was the adoption arranged?

Thomas Davies was already known as a Baptist Minister - so perhaps there could have been a church connection? Pentyrch parish, where Mary Powell was working in 1871, borders the Llantrisant and Llantwit Fardre parishes where both Thomas Davies and his wife, originally Barbara Morley, grew up. In fact, in 1871, Thomas Davies is living in Cross Inn, only about a mile from Ty Mawr, where Mary Powell is a servant. Could this help provide an explanation?


Whatever the explanation - for both the 'unknown father' and the subsequent adoption - my grandfather was certainly fortunate to have been so well looked after by the Davies family in Pontypridd. 

He must have puzzled about his past - as I am doing now. Time means that anyone who might have known the answers is long gone - but at least DNA testing means there's another way to at least guess at what might have been the truth! But guesses can be wrong of course ...

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