Hi all,
I wonder if anyone knows anything about Irish Catholic tinsmiths (tinkers,
tinmen, gypsies) who moved to Wales? I've done Welsh research before for my
husband's THOMAS/MORRIS families, but they were Welsh-born and I knew
specific locations - this is a different kettle of prawns altogether.
The family I'm looking for is RAFTERY; also spelled RAFTREE, RAFFTERREE,
RAFFERTY and various other versions. They seem to hail from counties
Roscommon, Mayo and Galway and are found in Welsh censuses as early as 1841,
right through to 1901. Living in tents and caravans (in houses in later
censuses), they are usually enumerated at the very end of a district - when
they are enumerated at all. They must have had some pretty big hedges to
hide behind when Mr Census came along asking his personal questions...
Being travellers, they lived and had children all over Wales, although
Glamorgan seems to be one of the most recorded counties. I've read George
Borrow's "Wild Wales" which gives an insight into the times and
circumstances of some Irish migration to Wales, but I wondered if there were
any records. Probably a bit hopeful on my part - they were Roman Catholics
according to a descendant, but their wandering lifestyle may not have been
conducive to registering births, deaths and marriages. As far as I can
gather from census records they kept to their small communities and stuck
close together. I've also looked at Romany and Traveller sites, but the
Irish gypsies are not connected to them in any way.
It's such a broad area and time frame that I don't know where to start, and
hoped that maybe someone else had come across a similar problem and would be
able to offer suggestions.
Many thanks,
Loretta
Melbourne, Australia