Filling in the blanks on my family tree
I’ve been trying to solve a puzzle for about 50 years. I may have finally got at least closer to an answer.
I must have still been a boy when my Dad first explained to me that our surname was ‘Powell-Davies’ because his father had been adopted and raised as ‘Tom Davies’ by the Davies family. However, he had then added ‘Powell’ to his surname when he found out that the name of his actual birth mother was ‘Mary Powell’. And ‘Powell’ turns out to be the surname he was first listed under in the 1891 census record for Pontypridd:
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| The 1891 census showing my grandfather as an 'adopted son' |
But who was Mary? – and who was my grandfather’s actual father? Nobody really knew. When I first started trying to find out, there was no such thing as an internet search! Instead, I went to the records office to track down a copy of my grandfather’s birth certificate – but that threw up as many questions as answers:
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| My grandfather's birth certificate |
It confirmed that his mother was, indeed, ‘Mary Powell’ and, in agreement with family stories about her being a servant at St. Donat’s Castle, she is recorded as a ‘dairymaid’, with the birth taking place in Llantwit Major. But it said nothing about the father. There was just blank space on the certificate where his name should have been.
Puzzle One: who was my grandfather’s father?
Family lore put the paternal responsibility on one of the ‘Nicholl-Carne’s’ – the landowners of the St. Donat’s estate on which Mary worked. Could that explain why Tom had been well looked after, despite being an illegitimate child? Was there some financial support provided to the Davies’ towards his upbringing?
Personally, I didn’t want to have any DNA ties with a family whose wealth, so my research showed me, had some of its origins in the Liverpool slave-trade. So, when I took an Ancestry DNA test, I was relieved to find that there were no matches suggesting any links between me and any of the descendants of the Nicholl-Carne’s. Instead, there were various unexpected DNA matches suggesting that my actual great-grandfather was Timothy Burke, a miner, originally from Kilbrittain, Co. Cork. His family had moved from Ireland to Wales in the early 1850’s and had settled in the Llandow area, near to Llantwit Major, and the Nicholl-Carne’s Nash Manor.
By 1880, when my grandfather was born, Timothy Burke was already married with two children, but to another Mary, not my great-grandmother! But the DNA matches - including a strong match with a newly-found probable 'second cousin' who was brought up in that part of South Wales - point the finger very clearly at him.
So, I'm fairly certain that this part of the puzzle is solved.
Puzzle Two: who was my grandfather’s mother, Mary Powell – and/or Mary Davies ?
For years, it seemed that I would never be able to come up with any definite answers about the roots of my great-grandmother, Mary. For a start, the birth certificate had added a further complication by describing her as “Mary Powell formerly Davies”. Should I be searching for Mary Powell or Mary Davies in the ancestry records? And, as both of those are extremely common Welsh names, how could I work out which was the right Mary?
a) Start at St.Donat’s
The 1881 census for St. Donat’s Castle had provided a likely starting point. It lists the 64-year-old John Whitlock Stradling Nicholl-Carne as Head of the household and his second wife, 29-year-old Mary – who was apparently his former housekeeper – as ‘Lady of Manor’. But there’s also a listing for a laundrymaid, 26-year-old ‘Mary Powell’. Mary is recorded as being ‘unmarried’ (although ‘Powell, formerly Davies’ suggests she may have been a Mary Davies that then married to become a Mary Powell?), and born in Glyn-neath, Glamorgan.
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| The record for St. Donat's Castle in the 1881 census |
b) Head to Glynneath
If this ‘Mary Powell’ is - as seems very likely - my great grandmother, then she was born in Glynneath, at the top of the Neath valley, and should appear in the local census record for 1861 – but as an unmarried ‘Mary Davies’. The ‘best fit’ to be found – one that I have pencilled in for a while as her most likely roots - is the record for a 7-year-old ‘Mary Ann Davies’ listed as a ‘boarder/lodger’ at the shop of a William Davies, a grocer and draper from Llanddeusant, a village to the west of the Brecon Beacons. Her birthplace is listed as ‘Cadoxton-juxta-Neath’ – but that’s just the name of the parish that Glyn-neath is found in – so the 1861 and 1881 censuses both match. However, there’s no reliable matching birth registration – there are just too many Mary Davies’ listed to be sure.
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| Part of the 1861 census for Glyn-neath |
The shop was situated on ‘Oddfellows Row’ – a road that still exists today, joining the High St. I found a mural to Max Boyce – a more famous resident of the town, and a favourite with my Dad when we’d watch Wales win at rugby! - a short distance away, on the side of the Dinas Rock pub.
But also, why is Mary Ann Davies living as a lone ‘lodger’ at the age of 7 at a shop in Glyn-neath? That’s a puzzle that I may at least have a possible answer to!
Puzzle Three: Identifying my 2nd great-grandfather
If I only had the hundreds of different ancestry records for ‘Mary Powell’ and ‘Mary Davies’ to rely upon, then this puzzle was never going to get solved! However, recent matches on the Ancestry DNA database flagging up possible third and fourth cousins, who had also submitted their DNA, started to suggest some answers.
a) Seeing if DNA 'matches' can help find a solution
Of course, DNA matches are no ‘magic bullet’. Only some of your relatives will have taken a DNA test and only some of them will have also shared a public family tree that can then be used to trace any common ancestry. What’s more, as I found out by confirming with my cousin James’ results, the random way in which genes are shuffled and dealt means that the strength of a distant cousin’s “DNA match” can be unpredictable. So, for example, we both have a match with an “Anthony Burke” – but while it’s a strong ‘130cM’ for James, it’s only a weak ‘17cm’ for me. However, it can still be enough to go on. For example, the fact that we both had a group of DNA matches with individuals that could all trace their family trees back to the Burke family can really only be explained in one way – we share common ancestry. That’s why I think Timothy Burke is my great-grandfather.
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| Charles Williams' gravestone in Llansawel |
Some of our other grouped DNA matches can be explained through known family roots. In some cases, the matches are very clear and numerous. For example, the family tree going back through my other paternal grandmother can be securely traced back to my third great-grandparents Charles Williams and Sarah Morgan in the Carmarthenshire village of Llansawel.
I have over 60 known DNA matches that can be traced back to descendants from the village, mainly in the United States. Some migrated as miners to Pennsylvania and some as early Mormons to Utah (and, as they are keen on tracing their ancestry, a lot of these relatives have taken DNA tests!).
What I needed was to identify other groups of DNA matches that could NOT be explained through my known family tree – because that could point the way to the common ancestors of Mary Powell of St. Donat’s – and I think it has!
b) Tracking back from Pennsylvania to Cadoxton-juxta-Neath
One group of three unexplained US-based DNA matches could all be traced back to a Welsh-born coal miner, William S Davies, who had emigrated to Pennsylvania with his family in 1888. According to the US census of 1900, he had been born in October 1859, and married to his wife, Mary, for 22 years. These were valuable clues!
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| US census record for 1900 for William S Davies and family |
I found that a man who matches those clues was born on 8 October 1859 in …. Cadoxton-juxta-Neath, the same place as my great-grandmother Mary! Could we therefore all have the same father – matching the DNA records that suggest that the DNA matches and I were probably third cousins? There are also two further unexplained DNA matches that can be traced back to William’s siblings, one descendant now living in Australia, the other still in South Wales. These would also suggest that our shared common ancestor is William Davies’ father.
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| William Davies' parents listed on his US death certificate |
William Davies’ Pennsylvania death certificate lists his parents as being Sarah James and David Davi(e)s. That provided more useful clues!
I tracked down a single record for a marriage between David Davies and Sarah James in the Neath registration district, for the year 1851. A baptism record shows that Sarah was the daughter of a collier, and born in Cadoxton-juxta-Neath in 1829. There's also a matching census record for 1861 which has the couple living, along with William and his elder brother David, in Onllwyn - just outside Glyn-neath, also in the parish of Cadoxton-juxta-Neath.
With the location and several DNA matches all pointing back to Cadoxton-juxta-Neath around the time of Mary Ann Davies’ birth there in about 1854, surely David Davies must be her father - and my second great-grandfather?
c) So had Mary Ann Davies, in turn, been born ‘out of wedlock’ ?
If David Davies is Mary Ann’s father, she certainly isn't listed in the 1861 census as being part of the Davies family in Onllwyn, alongside her brothers David and William - who is listed with the right age of 'one' for an October 1859 birth:
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| David Davies and family in the 1861 census for Cadoxton-juxta-Neath |
Instead, Mary Ann's living apart as a ‘boarder’ in Glyn-neath. I strongly suspect that's because my great-grandmother, like her son will later be in Lllantwit Major, has been born ‘out of wedlock’. Sarah isn't her mother. That may even be a possible reason for why I can’t trace a matching birth certificate. Instead, I think there’s evidence in the census records that Mary Ann has been sent to a cousin’s to be brought up there.
The census record above shows that David Davies is a blacksmith from Llanddeusant – the same village name given in the 1861 Glyn-neath census posted under 'Puzzle Two' above as the birthplace of William Davies, the shopkeeper that Mary Ann is boarding with. But now compare that with the 1851 census record for the same part of Glyn-neath (confirmed by the fact that the ‘Dinas Rock Inn’ – now with its Max Boyce mural – appears just two pages earlier in the census record):
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| The 1851 census for William Davies' shop in Glyn-neath |
As in 1861, the shopkeeper William Davies from Llanddeusant is listed, once again with enough income to be employing a servant as well. But the other occupier is an eighteen year-old ‘David Davies’ also from Llanddeusant – and as a ‘cousin’ of the shopkeeper. Now David’s age doesn’t quite match a birth year of 1829 (but they don’t always match up in successive censuses!), but if this is the same David Davies as my 2nd great-grandfather, then his daughter, my great-grandmother Mary Ann Davies, is lodging with his cousin in 1861. Could this have been a family arrangement to look after an illegitimate child? I think it might have been.
Just as a further thought – although this is definitely based more on conjecture than fact - a brief visit to the graveyard in Llanddeusant confirmed that there are plenty of Davies’ buried there – although I haven’t yet delved back further to see if a family tree can be drawn linking David Davies to his ‘Cousin William’.
However, I did trace two possible baptism records for David from the parish registers. One – from 1831 – lists him as the son of a tailor – perhaps more in keeping with his cousin being listed as a ‘draper’ in 1861. But the 1829 listing has him recorded as an ‘illegitimate’ son of a servant – with no mother’s name listed. If that is in fact my 2nd great-grandfather, then there’s clearly a long line of illegitimacy in this branch of the family tree!
The final puzzle – so who is Mary Ann’s mother, my second great-grandmother?
a) This time, track back from Australia to Pont ar Hydfer
To try and solve the final part of the puzzle, I again turned to DNA. Recently, an unexpected ‘third or fourth cousin’ strength match appeared in both my cousin’s and my DNA charts. He was a descendant of another Welsh miner, Gershom Evans, who had migrated to Australia in 1860 – probably as part of the ‘gold rush’.
Fortunately, a more obscure biblical name like ‘Gershom’ is easier to trace in the ancestry records than ‘Mary’! Gershom was born in 1836 in Trevethin, Pontypool, the son of an iron ore miner. The family moved to Aberdare, where the iron industry was booming, in the late 1840s. Gershom married Jane Davies in 1857 - registered in the 'Merthyr Tydfil' district - but the baptism record of their first daughter, Elizabeth, shows the couple were living in Mill Street, Aberdare.
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| The records - both pointing to '11a 477' - confirming Gershom and Jane's marriage |
Others have reliably traced Jane’s roots back to the village of Llywel in Breconshire, where she was baptised in 1834 at the ‘Saron’ Chapel:
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| Jane, daughter of Sarah and David Davies, Smith of Pont ar Hydfer, born Nov, 6th 1834. |
Jane’s mother was ‘Sarah’ and her father was (yet another!) ‘David Davies’ – again a ‘smith’ – living in Pont ar Hydfer – which can still be found on today’s Ordnance Survey map, just south of Trecastle and Llywel – and not far from Llanddeusant. Could these two blacksmith families have known each other?
Now my Australian DNA match suggests that the match approximates to either a 'third' or ‘fourth cousin’ relationship. If it's a fourth cousin, then our common ancestor must be this (‘Llywel’) ‘David Davies’, our common 3rd great-grandfather.
Just to strengthen the hypothesis, I’ve also found four other supporting DNA matches that also link back to the 'Llywel' Davies’, one through his daughter, Mary; one through his son, Timothy; and two more - and with stronger matches - through his daughter Jane, alongside the original DNA match that first highlighted the link.
b) So which of the sisters is Mary Ann Davies' mother?
As I'm looking for a mother for Mary Ann Davies from this common ancestry, then she must be one of the 'Llywel' Davies' family daughters.
Three daughters are listed in the 1851 census that shows the Davies family living at ‘Pentre Bach’ - somewhere to the south of the village of Ystradfellte, not far from the ‘Plas-y-darren’ still marked on today’s maps. That's also close to Glyn-neath where the 'Llanddeusant' David Davies is recorded as living at the time. The children's places of birth suggest that the family had moved from Llywel to Ystradfellte - on the other side of the Brecon Beacons - in the mid-1840s.
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| Part of the 1851 census for Ystradfellte |
But even the eldest of these girls, Mary - aged 11 in 1851, would only have been about 14 when Mary Ann was conceived - so it's not impossible that she is her mother, but not likely. However, the census shows that the eldest daughter, Jane, had already left home in 1851. There's a separate census record - although the recorded age doesn't match entirely - suggesting Jane may also be living in Ystradfellte, but working as a servant for a small farmer at 'Pen-fathor-uchaf', a farmstead on the other side of the village:
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| The 1851 census for 'Penyfathor Uchaf' Ystradfellte |
So, in 1851, Jane Davies is living away from the family home and in a village just a few miles up the valley from Glyn-neath where the ‘Llanddeusant’ David Davies is living. With both families perhaps already known to each other through the blacksmith trade, it's certainly very possible that they could have met.
It's also certainly possible that in 1854, when Jane was 20, that she had a child with him - and that arrangements were then made for the illegitimate child to then be brought up in Glyn-neath as proposed above. Of course, it's impossible to be sure, but the DNA links also point to Jane as being the most likely mother of Mary Ann.
If this is the case then, in just a few years, Jane Davies - soon to become Jane Evans - will have left her first child far behind. By 1857, she is living in Aberdare, and married to Gershom Evans. By the end of 1860, she is living in Australia.
It also means that I have located the burial place of my second great-grandmother - far away in the Mount Egerton cemetery, about 50 miles west of Melbourne:
A puzzle at least partly solved?
So, in conclusion, my ‘best guess’ is that Jane Davies gave birth to my great-grandmother, Mary Ann Davies, in Glyn-neath around 1854, who, in turn, became the mother of my adopted grandfather in 1880. Both fathers - David Davies, then Timothy Burke - were married men who left their children to be brought up by others.
My adopted grandfather thrived in the care of the Davies family in Pontypridd (although how they became to be the foster parents is another puzzle that is hard to solve).
Sadly, I’m not sure that his mother, Mary Davies / Mary Powell fared so well. There are no confirmed records of what became of her after 1881. My Uncle Mervyn insisted that she came to visit her son when the family were living in Pontypridd, but my father insisted that he was wrong.
Whatever the precise truth, hopefully the pieces that I have put together have helped to fill the missing spaces that previously existed in my family tree.
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