Hi Sherry,
You may not get as much help as you expect from the Hermon Baptist Chapel
records. (Try Googling <Hermon Baptist Chapel, Aberystruth>) The problem
is that Hardwicke's Marriage Act, which was in force from 1754 until 1837,
made the Church of England the only legal place to marry, except for Jews
and Quakers. You would be better looking for a marriage in the local Parish
Church.
I belong to Mike john's Monmouthshire Family History Group and this has lots
of transcriptions:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~monfamilies/monfh.htm
Membership is free and you can lots of advice and help by joining, although
you don't have to join to look at the site. (See the Join Here button on
the page above.) If you follow the links on the same page for Parish Record
Transcriptions, you will eventually get to this page, which has some items
that may interest you:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~monfamilies/aberystruth...
I hope this helps,
Peter Williams
----- Original Message -----
From: "sherry raleigh-adams" <raleighadams(a)hotmail.com>
To: "Blaenaugwent" <blaenaugwent(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Tuesday, August 10, 2010 2:01 PM
Subject: [BLAENAUGWENT] Davies/Lewis of Aberystruth
I have just had a long-awaited break on my Davies and Lewis line, but it
appears that I'm now a bit out of my depth in reaching the next step. I
could sure use some advice as to how to proceed at this point.
I have a marriage certificate for my ancestors, Wm. Davies and Elizabeth
Lewis for Oct 21, 1846. The certificate indicates that they were married
at Hermon (Baptist) Chapel in District of Abergavenny, Counties of
Monmouthshire and Herefordshire. At the time of their marriage, both
parties were living in Coalbrook Vale, Parish of Aberystruth, Monmothsh.
The father of the groom is listed as David Davies, a miner, and the father
of the bride is William Lewis, also a miner. Witnesses were Thomas and
Leah Evans.
I was excited to finally learn the parentage of my Wm. & Elizabeth, and
thought for sure I could identify them in the 1841 census, but it is much
more difficult than I expected. Subsequent census records for Wm. &
Elizabeth indicate that Wm. was born in Blaina, Aberystruth, Mon. & that
Elizabeth was born in Bedwellty, Aberystruth, Mon. I have exact
birthdates for both of them (from the family Bible) - He was born in 1814
and she in 1823.
It appears that Wm., being in the 25-28 age group for the 1841 census, was
probably living with another family or on his own. There are several
candidates for him in Aberystruth in 1841. I feel that the best way to
identify the David Davies who was his father and his unnamed mother would
be to find his birth or baptism at an Aberystruth church. Since he was
married at Hermon baptist chapel, I'm hoping that his family belonged to
that church and that their membership prior to the organization of that
church (I think it was in 1822) might be documented.
I think I might have found Elizabeth with her father, William Lewis and
mother, Rachel, in the 1841 census of Nantyglo. If it is her, she has
several brothers and sisters, but proving that it is her is the problem.
There are so many other near-matches in the area. I am hoping that if
Wm.'s family weren't members of the Hermon Baptist chapel, that Elizabeth
Lewis' family was and that I can track them from those records.
Is anyone familiar with the Hermon Baptist Chapel in Aberystruth and
whether or not birth registrations, baptism records or documentation of
the membership for the early years are available? Is there another way to
prove relationship to these families that I am not taking into
consideration? Looking forward to any input you may have.
Sherry Adams - Jonesburg, Missouri, USA
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