I wonder if I can get some advice on where to go next to try and break down
my brick wall.
- 1826 marriage record from Goytrey Parish BTs shows that he is "of the
parish of Lanover" at that time but no indication of birth place of course.
- 1841 census of Goytrey, MON shows place of birth "not in the county".
- 1851 census of Goytrey, MON shows place of birth "Radnorshire, N.K.".
- 1861 census - he seems to be one of the estimated 65 people whose entries
for Goytrey are missing. At least the farm from 1841 and 1851 is missing but
reappears in 1871 and 1881 (with different residents). He is not living with
2 of his sons whose entries I have found for this census (one in Goytrey and
one in Govilon) but I haven't yet found the other son, Thomas b. abt 1836
(who didn't marry until 1865 at which time HIS residence was shown as
Llanwenarth) in this census.
- 1871 census of Vaynor, BRE (where he is living with Thomas and family
shortly before his death)shows place of birth "Llangunider, BRE" but this is
the same place as some of his son's family.
The above records (and his death certificate) indicate a date of birth
approx 1793-1796
I cannot find any of his children's baptisms in either Goytrey or Lanover
BTs so it is possible that he was non-conformist or maybe his wife (Mary
LEWIS) was or maybe they just didn't do church stuff!!
I cannot find any VAUGHANs in the Llangunider BTs around the 1790s
Radnorshire is a big place but one researcher has kindly informed me that
they have done a lot of research into that area and a) there are very few
VAUGHAN baptisms 1790-1800 and b) there is only one William VAUGHAN that
they have found for whom they do not have a descendant line identified and
that is the son of William & Elizabeth VAUGHAN of Nantmel, baptised at
Nantmel on 22 Oct 1796. I am tempted to plump for this one but it is not
100% for me yet.
Can anyone suggest where else to go to look for evidence? I had hoped for
the 1861 census to 'break the tie' between Llangunider and Radnorshire -
failing that (which does now seem doomed to failure although it is
conceivable he might still show up living with Thomas somewhere as his wife
Mary had died in 1852 and I don't know if he would have been able to keep up
the farm on hs own if Thomas had moved away by then - my best guess being
along the heads of the Valleys area between Abergavenny and Merthyr although
the ever unreliable family notes do indicate he was probably still in
Goytrey) I suppose I should take the earlier censuses as the most likely to
be reliable (less time for facts to get forgotten, blurred in memory,
distorted by word of mouth, considered to be of no consequence any more or
simply made up by a daughter in law who could have been the one who provided
the census enumerator with the info).
My one big worry is that the family might have been non-conformist in which
case the Nantmel records are meaningless but the only evidence I have for
this possibility is that I cannot find established church baptisms for his
children.
Any suggestions would be much appreciated....
Diolch
Hugh Vaughan Wallis