Hi List
I thought I would post my tale of never giving up!! As Pauline can confirm, I have been
trying to trace my Francis family of Llanelli for nearly 30 years – my one aim has been to
confirm the snippets that my father passed on, with little success until recently. He
told me that we had relations in Herefordshire, had Gower connections and that a cousin
played for the Scarlet’s and Wales before dying of TB in hospital in London – my
g.grandfather left Wales for London in the 1870’s but my grandfather lived in Llanelli for
a time and my father used to holiday there in Glanmor Place with his g.uncle Walter
Francis.
I had such trouble confirming these but recently more Welsh information has come on line
and I found that an Elizabeth Francis married a Noah Jones in 1861 at St Pauls, Llanelly
and he was a farmer from Michaelchurch Eskley, Herefordshire where they settled –
Elizabeth was the sister of my g.g.grandfather and it would have been her and Noah’s
children that my father used to visit as a child.
The next query was the Gower connection which I now realise I have had for many years. My
ancestor Margaret Francis (David) was born in 1783 and did not die till 1880 so appears on
a few census returns. In 1851 & 1871 she is down as being born in Llanelli but in
1861 her place of birth is given Park Mills, Glamorgan – after 30 years the penny has just
dropped that it is Parkmill which, of course, is on the Gower!! As she did not die till
1880 this would mean that my g.grandfather would have been in contact with her family and
again would have visited there with my father when he was a boy.
I am still working on the Scarlet’s connection and also the tale that one of the family
had a castle in the grounds of their farmhouse!! These two should be quite easy, I don’t
think!!
This story just shows that we should never give up and keep on chipping away.
Libby Orme