Piecing together the family tree (3) - to Llansawel Post Office and Utah Mormons
This is the third of four posts setting out what I have pieced together about my paternal ancestry, working back from my grandparents, Thomas and Isabella. My second post traced back the family tree from my great grandmother, Sarah Jane Rees, back through the Rees family to the parishes of Llanelly and Llangyndeyrn.
In this post, I will follow the ancestry trail back through Sarah Jane's mother, Margaret, to another part of Carmarthenshire - the village of Llansawel. From there, I will also show how the family tree links with Welsh emigrants who headed to Pennsylvania and Utah - and became pioneer Mormons.
Margaret Williams - my 2nd great grandmother
BIRTH 1818 • Llansawel, Carmarthenshire, Wales
DEATH AFT. 1861 • Pontypridd, Glamorgan, Wales
CERTAINTY: HIGH - matches with census and other records
Margaret Rees's birthplace is recorded in the 1861 census as Llansawel, a village about 20 miles north-east of Carmarthen. However, without any record of my second great grandparents' wedding - and I've still not managed to trace one - I did not have a maiden name to give to Margaret. However, a bit of 'detective work' solved the mystery.
A key clue came from an old letter that I found amongst my father's files. This was a 'death notice' for a Mrs. M. Williams that was posted in 1904 to 'Mrs. Thomas' - my great grandmother Sarah Jane - at their then family home in Wood Road, Pontypridd. For years, I had no idea who the woman pictured on the card might be. However, it was the 'Williams' surname that provided the answer.
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| The card posted on Martha Williams' death - and Llansawel Post Office in 1885 |
By putting together pieces of the family tree - backed up by some DNA matches as I explain below - I worked out that the woman pictured must be Martha Williams, née Davies, the second wife of David Williams, a couple recorded as living in the Carmarthenshire village named on the card in the 1871 and 1881 census. The address on the card is given as 'Post Office, Llansawel' and the census records confirm that David was local postmaster and shopkeeper, and that Martha continued as postmistress after his death. There even appears to be a stone still bearing her name in the village, laying claim to a wall!
A little more digging confirmed that David 's sister was Margaret Rees - née Williams - my second great grandmother. Both have baptism records showing that they were born in the village - in 1822 and 1818 respectively - to my third great grandparents, Charles and Sarah Williams. Margaret's record says that her parents were then living in 'Trehelig' - still used as a street name on the edge of modern Llansawel, while, by 1822, the parents were living in the 'village' itself.
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| David and Margaret - both children of Charles and Sarah Williams |
Charles Williams - my 3rd great grandfather
BIRTH 1794 • Myddfai, Carmarthenshire, Wales
DEATH JAN 1873 • Llansawel, Carmarthenshire, Wales
CERTAINTY: HIGH - backed up by records and DNA matches
On Margaret and David's baptism records, Charles Williams is listed as a 'tailor' That's also the profession listed when he is married in Llansawel to Sarah née Morgan - my 3rd great grandmother - on October 24th 1814:
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| Charles Williams marries Sarah Morgan in 1814 |
By the time David Williams marries Martha in 1867, his father has become a "tavern-keeper". In fact, the Llansawel census records suggest Charles was, at different times, landlord of at least two different pubs in the village - the George Inn and the Red Lion Inn - as well as still being a tailor.
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| Charles, a 'tavern-keeper' in David Williams' marriage record, 1867 |
An 1898 'History of Llansawel' published by a local man, Fred Price, makes clear that Charles would have had plenty of competition for trade. It explains that there were seven public houses in the parish, even though it's total population was only 898! There's also an intriguing reference in an online extract from the book to a "favourite old song of Charles Williams [teilwr]" - sadly, the words of the song aren't extracted - which might well refer to my ancestor. I'll have to find an original copy!
The 1871 census records the widower Charles as still being the 'publican' at the Red Lion Inn, at the good age of 76, although the record of his burial in the village - on January 17th 1873 - gives his final abode as the 'Post Office' - the address that was under Martha Williams' picture that gave me the original link to Llansawel.
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| Charles Williams' last address - the Post Office, Llansawel |
Sarah Morgan - my 3rd great grandmother
BIRTH 1794 • Llansawel, Carmarthenshire, Wales
DEATH SEPTEMBER 1868 • Llansawel, Carmarthenshire, Wales
CERTAINTY: HIGH - backed up by records and DNA matches
Charles and Sarah Williams had at least ten children altogether. The correctness of the ancestry that I have set out is supported by the fact that the descendants of two of their other daughters - Mary and Sarah - provide ten different "4th cousin" DNA matches on the Ancestry database, with Charles and Sarah as the common link. Interestingly, these are all descendants of emigration from Wales to the USA - but more on that below.
Their marriage record (above) shows that Sarah's maiden name was Morgan. The 1861 census records the couple living with Amelia, one of their youngest daughters, at the Red Lion. Sarah is described as an "Innkeeper's Wife', born in the village of Llansawel in about 1795:
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| 1861 census: Charles, Tailor and Innkeeper; Sarah an Innkeeper's Wife |
She appears to have lived all her life in the village - baptised there in February 1794 and buried there in September 1868 - with her last abode being the 'Red Lion':
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| Sarah Williams - her last abode, the Red Lion, Llansawel. |
Charles Williams - my 4th great grandfather
The census records for Charles Williams - my third great grandfather - suggest he was born in 1794 in Myddfai, a village on the other side of Llandovery to Llansawel, on the edge of the Brecon Beacons.
I have traced a matching baptism record for 8th October 1794 showing that Charles was born to another Charles Williams - and another tailor. However, his wife's name has not been added to the record. Without any other leads to go on, this is the end of the trail for this branch of the family tree.
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| Charles - son of Charles Williams - near the bottom of this 1794 register |
David Morgan - my 4th great grandfather
But what of the family tree of Sarah Morgan? Again, I have been able to trace a baptism record that fits with the evidence provided by the census records. It records a Sarah Morgan being christened on 14 February 1794, with the father's name given as David Morgan of Trehelig, Llansawel. This is a place name already mentioned above.
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| Sarah f: David Morgan, Trehelig, Febry 14, 1794 |
Further parish baptism and marriage records show that there is more than one possible 'David Morgan' who might be Sarah's father - so this pair of fourth great grandparents can't be reliably traced (although I do have some 'best guesses'!)
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| The Williams/Morgan part of the tree - with my 'best guesses' too |
The start of another story: from Llansawel to Pennsylvania and Utah
The Three Sisters of Sarah Morgan
This might be where this branch of the family tree ends - but there's an important final tale to tell. There are three more records that probably can be fully relied upon - and that's because of the dozens of further Ancestry DNA matches that at least one of them throws up when the family trees are connected - definitely far more than a chance coincidence! They are matches that also tell an interesting story.
The three records are of Llansawel parish baptisms for three other daughters of "David Morgan of Trehelig" - Elinor in 1793, Mary in 1797 - where her father is described as a 'labourer', and Esther in 1803 - where David is now recorded as being a 'butcher'. They are the sisters of Sarah Morgan, my 3rd great grandmother.
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| The baptism records for three other sisters of Sarah Morgan |
DNA matching to my American (fifth) cousins
Tracing my family tree downwards through these sisters has revealed dozens of previously unknown - if distant - American cousins. The fact that my DNA matches are skewed so heavily to the US is, of course, a reflection of the fact that the Ancestry DNA database is skewed to the US as well. However, it also tells a tale of Welsh migration to the United States being borne out in my own family tree. It's a tale that's worth telling in more detail but, for now, here is a brief account.
Of the sisters recorded above, it was Mary Morgan's details that opened the door to dozens of reliably traced "fifth cousin" DNA matches. When I connected Mary's details to the family tree that I keep on the 'Ancestry' website, fifty new potential DNA matches appeared almost at once! Even if a few of them are in error, the majority will not be - especially because some of the matches' family trees are put together by people who take their ancestry seriously - members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - the Mormons (LDS).
A quick look through the history of Wales will show that it's no surprise that many of my emigrating ancestors seem to have headed first to Scranton, Pennsylvania. This is the city where thousands of Welsh miners and their families arrived to work in its anthracite mines.
But some were also drawn to emigrate through religious convictions. There's an interesting passage in the 'History of Llansawel' quoted earlier which states that the "Latter Day Saints ... visited Llansawel about 1847, and created quite a stir by their preaching and teaching. They baptised many persons in the river. Thomas Thomas of Pantmawr, and Daniel Davies ["saint"] of Old Red Lion, and their families went with them to Utah". Mary Morgan's sons in Cynwyl Gaeo seem to have been similarly persuaded.
One story from my family tree - Morgan Lewis, son of Mary Morgan
As a personal illustration from my family tree, I'll look at the life of Morgan Lewis, one of the sons of Mary Morgan and Joseph Lewis. I'll compare what I can find in my ancestry records with an LDS history on Morgan that I found online. It's an account that shows how a real biography tells far more than formal records can - revealing for example that Morgan was brought up speaking Welsh, and could not speak English when he arrived in Pennsylvania:
The LDS history states that: "Morgan Lewis was born 1st of March 1826 ... at Cayo, Carmarthenshire, South Wales, the son of Joseph and Mary Morgan Lewis. His father was a labourer and farmer, and slate maker, the slate was used as roofing for houses. His parents were industrious people, his mother worked in the field to earn extra money at harvest time, and when her babies were little they were tied on her back with a shawl when restless, and while they were good they were placed on the shawl on the grass to play".
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| Morgan Lewis - baptised (not born) on March 1st |
"When Morgan was six years old he was apprenticed out to a farmer where he received his board and his parents paid for his clothing. He worked for this farmer getting promotions as he grew older until he became foreman of the farm. When he was about twenty-two years old he left the farm and worked at a foundry, later going to the iron mines to work. At the age of twenty-five he married Mary Bowen, daughter of Henry and Jane Harris Bowen".
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| Morgan Lewis, a miner, marries Mary Bowen in Llanwrda in 1852 |
"Mormon missionaries came to this locality and he and his wife were converted and joined the church. They came to America for their religion in winter of 1856, spending six weeks on the ocean in a sailing vessel. Mary Lewis was sea sick all the way and was very thin and worn out when they finally reached land. They had one child, Joseph, at the time, their first child, David, having died in infancy. They sailed on the ship Caravan from Liverpool. Morgan and his wife Mary were each listed as being twenty-nine years of age, and their little son, Joseph was two years old at the time they left Liverpool on the 18th of February 1856".
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| Arriving Passenger Lists - Morgan (miner), Mary and Joseph |
"The family lived in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where Morgan gained employment in the mines. He could not speak the English language, but his wife Mary could, so she went with him to secure work. ... When he had saved enough money he moved his family to Illinois where their two daughters, Mary Jane and Sarah were born. They worked in Illinois until they had saved enough money to outfit them for the trip to Utah".
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| Morgan, Mary, Joseph and Mary Jane - Coal Valley, Rock Island, Illinois, 1860 |
"They spent three months crossing the plains using a covered wagon and yoke of oxen for their trip. ... They arrived at Hoytsville, Utah, the latter part of November 1862. ... Later they moved to Kamas, Utah. His wife Mary died on 29 May 1886 at the age of fifty-nine years. He died at the age of eighty years and two months on the 6th of April 1907. He was lonely the last twenty-one years of his life without his beloved wife, Mary. After his children were married he used to visit for a few days now and then with them. I (Doris Lewis Hair) can still remember his amused look and the twinkle in his black eyes as he held me on his knee when I was a young child and taught me to count in the Welsh language".
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