----- Original Message -----
From: <keithazel(a)btinternet.com>
To: <powys(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Sunday, July 17, 2011 4:13 PM
Subject: [POWYS] Mary Ellen DANIELL 1849 - 1863
My current research into the Rev, William DANIELL, of Y Wern,
Esclusham
Above, Wrexham 1810-1894 identifies that >he married a Mary THOMAS, bn
c.1814, in a civil marriage at Welshpool in 1846 ... The 1851 census for
Leighton parish, >Neston, Wirral, Cheshire shows them with their first
daughter Mary Ellen, bn 1849. born at Berriew, Montgomeryshire >where her
father was a Congregational Minister ... My request for help is firstly,
to ascertain whether there are Berriew birth >records for 1849, likely
Congregational.and secondly, would some lister check whether further
details of Mary Ellen’s >birth / baptism are recorded please.
The published list in "Cofrestri Anghydffurfiol Cymru/Nonconformist
Registers of Wales" suggests that some baptismal registers of Ebenezer
(Cefn-y-faenor) Congregational Chapel, Berriew (or Aberriw),
Montgomeryshire, 1838-1884 are deposited in the National Library of Wales.
That is quite fortunate since most congregational chapels - being
independent - were free to please themselves regarding the maintenance or
non-maintenance of registers
http://www.llgc.org.uk/index.php?id=486 [scroll
down?]. A few earlier entries from 1825-1837 were amongst those records
transferred to the National Archives. You might, of course, be able to
obtain very similar information from Mary Ellen's birth certificate.
I wonder whether this William Daniell could possibly be the same person who
is mentioned on the Surman Index of Congregational Ministers
http://surman.english.qmul.ac.uk/using.html as "Daniel, William, n.d.-n.d.",
minister at Tal-fechan, Brecknock, 1829-32 (?) , and formerly of Ynysgau,
Merthyr, Glamorgan. Surman's original Welsh source, "Hanes Eglwysi
Annibynnol Cymru", provides no further clues.
I’m also wondering why a Llangfihangel lady should be in or near
Berriew
at that time, and to marry a Congregational minister in a civil ceremony?
As others have suggested, he might not have wished to marry in the
established church (Church of England/Church in Wales), and most
nonconformist chapels were not licenced for marriages at that time (although
a few of them were so licenced provided that the Superintendent Registrar
was present in order to make the official register entry, which would then
remain in his custody).
AJ