I sent the following the RootsWeb Denbighshire message board which
says it's gatewayed to this list - but it hasn't turned up here or in
the archive. I hope no-one therefore minds me sending a copy here too.
I've been researching my Cefn Mawr roots for some time from a
distance, and just read the thread in the message board from May
concerning the missing censuses for Cefn Mawr, which sheds some light
on my difficulties. I'm trying to locate my great-great-grandparents
families before they were married - both from Cefn Mawr according to
later censuses - and they married in the late 1850s. I'm wondering
if anyone can suggest how I can follow this up in the light of the
missing census information, and if anyone local can fill in some of
the many shadows in my understanding of the locality below, particularl
with a question about Froncysyllte at the bottom of this email.
Husband: Thomas GRIFFITHS b abt 1839, butcher and farmer, who briefly
moved out to Garth Draw/Farm to raise children in the 1870s before
returning to Cefn Mawr at 33 High St. in 1881 and 66 High St., also
marked as "White Horse Inn" (I think he was a publican too - my
great-aunt remembered the name Grosvenor Arms also) on the 1891 census.
In 1901 he is widowed at Vale View Shop, Rock Lane, still a butcher.
Wife: Mary Jane EDWARDS, b abt 1837, who died sometime before 1901. Much
Edwards family tradition exists in the family, including a corroborated
story of her breaking into the Cae Coch graveyard to open a coffin of a
child she wasn't sure about! There still exists this rather weathered
Edwards family monument (one of only a couple of large ones standing I'm
told) in the graveyard on Cae Coch, of which I have been kindly given
photos that I am trying to decipher for dates. I'm unsure whether this
is just a graveyard for the Zion/Seion Chapel, if they are the same
chapel, etc., but I'm trying to find the link from names there to Mary
Jane - likely to be her parents at first guess. I'm also repeatedly told
of an ill-defined link to the James Coster Edwards family of Brick and
Tile company fame who lived in Trevor Hall, but I've so far been unable
to work out the link exactly - a cousin maybe, possibly by marriage. It
seems probably from censuses that Garth Farm was intimately linked to
Trevor Hall earlier in the century.
I'm unable to travel and a long way away so unfortunately can't visit
the Clwyd FHS centre: is there any other way I could get access to 1851
census records? Also I'm not local and know very little of the area
apart from what reading and map-gazing I can do, so if anyone can shed
light on any of the geographical details above I may have missed, that
would be so useful.
Children of Thomas GRIFFITHS and Mary Jane EDWARDS:
* Mary Ellen ca 1858
* Frances(s) 1867
* Emily 1870
* Minnie 1873
* Rosanna H 1875
* Edward T 1879
Possible parents of Mary Jane Edwards from inscription: Thomas b abt
1810, Stone Merchant of Cefn Mawr, Frances b abt 1814. Other children
on the gravestone include: Henry b 1834, died 1870, Edwin b abt 1847,
died age 7, and an unreadable daughter who died at the age of 1.
Secondly, in trying to trace Thomas's line, I've just found a family of
Griffiths in Froncysyllte in 1851 who seem to correspond well: the
father John b abt 1805 was a butcher, and seems to have progressively
sent off each of his sons to either work on wealthy farms in Cysyllte,
or who become butchers - 3 or 4 of his children do so, including a
Robert Griffiths who seems to do very well as one in Cefn
Bychan/Newbridge, and spawns yet another generation of butchers. The
ages and details match well for Thomas matching the youngest brother in
this family and of course the family profession matches - but he always
describes his birthplace on censuses as either Ruabon or Cefn Mawr. I
know nothing of the geography - is it likely that someone born in Fron
would be happy to call their birthplace Cefn Mawr if they lived there
decades later, or in the 1880s would they still be seen as very distinct
towns?
Any advice, geographical corrections, or colouring in of the shadows on
the connections between places gratefully received! Also, any advice on
how I may be able to search the 1851 census for the parents' previous
families would be much appreciated.
Paul Mitchell