Dear List,
My ancestress Margaret POWIS (nee Meredith), widow of Richard Powis was married in
Llanelly Parish Church, Breconshire to Ellis Rees in 1848. Ellis Rees signed the register,
as did two witnesses but nothing is to be found in the space where Margaret should have
signed her name/made her mark. Their son, James Rees was born the following year. However,
in the 1851 census of Gilwern, Margaret Rees is shown as married but also as the head of
the household, i.e. Ellis was not present and is nowhere to be found anywhere else on the
1851 census index. It is perfectly reasonable that he was just away visiting or working
which is nothing out of the ordinary, but when considered in conjunction with the other
oddities in this family it takes on a greater significance. By 1853, Margaret had
remarried for the second time. Husband number three was Thomas Jones. A search of the GRO
marriage indexes has found four entries of marriage for a Thomas Jones in the Crickhowell
RD between 1851 and!
1853 including two in the June quarter of 1852. However, none of them correspond with an
entry for a Margaret Rees. Although in the June quarter of 1852 a Mararet POWIS was
married in Crickhowell RD. It is quite a rare name and no other POWIS family is known in
this area, certainly no Margarets of a marriageable age so I am beginning to wonder if
Margaret married Thomas Jones under her first married name. There is something very
peculiar about her marriage to Ellis Rees because on James Rees' marriage certificate
he names his father as Thomas Jones and not Ellis Rees as named on his birth certificate.
Could Thomas Jones have been more than James' step-father? Why didn't Margaret
sign her second marriage certificate? What name did she use on her third marriage
certificate? Why didn't she mention her previous marriages on her children's birth
certificates? I would greatly value any comments, observations and suggestions.
Best wishes
James