Forwarded. Can anyone help Ron Davies?
Betty Pace
From: Ron Davies <welt7(a)shaw.ca>
To: POWYS-L(a)rootsweb.com
Date: Fri, 25 Oct 2002 15:46:58 -0700
Subject: [POWYS] THOMAS WILLIAM DAVIES
Hi All
Please permit me to re-post a message originally posted back in May to
the Welsh `General' list. At that time, I had some fine responses both
brief
and detailed but all to no avail. It is being cross-posted to all the
lists to
which I'm subscribed.
I ask the indulgence of readers who are being again subjected to this
message. I'm hoping something new might have turned up in the past
six months or a new I might tweak the memory of a new lister, even
relative. I also realize that I might do better if I had at least a
single
clue/
pointer for somewhere in Wales, but I just don't and hold little hope of
unearthing one save through these lists.
One gentlemen did write me extensively about the Tamerlane aboard
which he found his own ancestor but I've gotten no further. I've always
appreciated his attempt to help. I also recognize that the re-posted
extract references Cardiganshire in respect to the brig's passengers,
but I post to other lists with hope.
My Great Grandfather was born a little too late to be found in the
original Welsh settlements in Canada but too early - perhaps, but not
necessarily - to be found in Welsh census records.
I appeal as I do since I'm house-bound and unable to get out to do
hands-on research. Besides, I'm rather lost when it comes to Welsh
records. I've tried GENUKI and the Free BMD pages w/o success.
Thank you all.
Ron Davies
Surrey, BC
Canada
************************
For a long while, one of my brick walls has been to local the ancestral
home of my Great Grandfather Thomas William Davies, said to have
been born in 1824 in Wales [he was 66 when he died in June, 1889],
and married in Wallaceburg, Ontario in 1852 by a Wesleyan Methodist
minister who recorded his name as `Davis'. [He signed his own name
and appears later, as `Davies' as do all his children]. Before heading
west to homestead in 1882, local business directories listed TW as
being a `tailor' as was his eldest son, my grandfather.
Ships records to Canada are sparse here with passenger lists even more
difficult to find. I have, however, found that a ship called `Tamerlane'
sailed
for Canada in 1847. Among those on board were 17 tailors. Perhaps one of
these tailors was my Great Grandfather. I'm guessing. I've even wondered
if perchance he was in His Majesty's service in Canada, the victim of a
press gang. TW's first place of residence in Canada is said to have been
Chatham where, in the days following the War of 1812, there was a large
British military garrison and barracks.
Here's where you folk come in. I wonder if anybody has knowledge of
what's available at the National Library of Wales [note reference
following]
especially re passenger lists of emigrants?
Is The Welshman still around - or its archives - and if so, does anybody
know if there might be a list of these passengers? How about other
records such as by whom ever owned the Tamerlane?
Any and all help and guidance including suggestions, will be most
appreciated. It's a shot in the dark I know but that's all I have left
these
days.
****************************
By 1842, emigrants were leaving Cardiganshire in sufficient numbers to
fill ships sailing directly from Aberystwyth to New York and Quebec.
In May 1847, the "Anne Jenkins", sailed from Aberystwyth for New York
with upwards of 80 emigrants.
In the same year , the "Tamerlane" left Aberystwyth with 462 passengers
and crew. The passengers were mainly from the parts of east
Cardiganshire,
such as Lledrod, Mynyddbach, and Taihirionyrhos" (Taihirion, near
Blaenpennal). The brig was bound for Quebec.
The newspaper, The Welshman, identified the male passengers as 75
farmers, 65 labourers, 13 carpenters, 17 tailors, 6 blacksmiths, 5
hatters,
and 10 miners, the latter probably came from the lead mining district
north
east of Mynydd Bach.
A broadside advertising passage on the brig "Credo" from Aberystwyth
to Quebec in 1848 listed passage rates at 3 pounds per adult and 1
pound 10s for each child, plus head money of 5s and 2s 6d, respectively.
Passage to New York was more expensive.
At the National Library of Wales are held Records of Sailings from
Aberystwyth 1842-1851, [Aberystwyth Borough Records F11(a) ]
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