My great grand uncle, John Swain Ellis, was born at Merthyr Tydfil in
1828. He married his first cousin, Sarah Phillipa Bartle, at Llanelly,
Brecon, in 1852. Their children were Edwin Henry (1853), William Bartle
(1855), Thomas (1857), Robert Osborne (1859), Phillipa Mary (1861),
Sarah Elizabeth (1864), Kate (1866) and Hubert Martin (1868). The first
five were born at Llanelly, but the rest were born at Baglan and Briton
Ferry. John Swain Ellis died at Briton Ferry in 1869; Kate died in
1871.
Edwin Henry married Maria James in 1882. Her parents were William James
and Mary Lewis. In 1881 Edwin was working as a washman in a tin works;
they had disappeared by 1891.
Hubert Martin married Minnie Jane Bowen in 1890. Her parents were
Thomas Bowen and Eliza Thomas. Hubert and Maria had a son, Harold
Thomas Swaine Ellis, in 1890. In 1891 they were living in Llantwit
where Hubert was employed as an accountant.
Sarah Phillipa lived on in Briton Ferry, but by 1891 most of the
children had disappeared from the census. Only Sarah Elizabeth stayed
with her mother, working as a school teacher. There is no sign of the
other children in the 1881 UK census. Where did they go?