Dear List:
In a prior email I said that I was having no luck finding a ggg-grandfather, John Jenkins,
in Cowbridge burial records in 1830. I was looking for him on that date and place because
of a family genealogical record which listed his death on 4 November 1830 in Cowbridge.
Following a suggestion to look on the National Burial Index on Findmypast (which one might
expect me to have looked at already!!) for the burial of my ggg-grandfather John Jenkin(s)
in 1830, I did find a John Jenkins buried on 9 November 1830 in Neath St. Thomas Church.
His age was 46 which would put his birth about 1784. After finding that information, I
looked in the parish records and found the record for John Jenkins, book seller. At the
baptism of John's last child, his occupation was listed as book seller. And his
father was "of Neath" on that father's marriage information.
Having found that information makes me ask why someone might leave his family of young
children (anywhere in age from 17 down to 8) in the town where I believe his in-laws lived
(with the real probability that his wife died not long after the last child was born), and
travel from Cowbridge to Neath where he must have done something with regard to selling
books, where he died?
We've also been looking for the death of his father, Evan Jenkin(s). Evan and his
wife Ann lived in Colwinston at least until 1798 when she died. He was a shoemaker there.
When I was looking for his son John, I found a listing for John Jenkins, widower, of an
age that could be the father of John who was also buried in Neath in 1828. My question
here is: Why would someone who had been called Evan in Colwinston for years, be called
John if he returned to his place of residency prior to his marriage?
Please help me understand this loose use of the name John/Evan.
Thank you,
JoLynn Barneck