Can anyone help me with my search for Evans ancestors from Dinas Mawddwy?
On 8 December my great great grandmother Jane Evans (54) died at Bryn Dovey, Dinas Mallwyd
from an ‘umbilical hernia, disease of stomach.’ A search in 1987 for her grave in the
village cemeteries was fruitless. Bryn Dovey is a row of cottages in the main street with
back gardens sloping steeply down to the river Dovey. On her death certificate her
husband, John, was described as an ‘engineer.’ Her death was registered in March 1875 by
Catherine Rowlands, who was present at the time, and I have the original certificate in my
family collection.
My great grandmother Catherine Elizabeth Evans, d. of John and Jane, was born in 1857 in
Lambeth, but I can only find an index entry for a Kate Evans born in Bermondsey in the
last quarter of 1856 [1d 92, so I have not ordered the certificate yet. Kate married
pianoforte-maker Victor Youatt and died after five years leaving him with two children,
Mary and Jack. I have my grandmother's photo of her.
Early in 1839 the marriage of a John Evans was registered (Vol. 27 p.147) in Machynlleth.
Again, I have not ordered the certificate as it is a common name. The chapel registers
of Dinas Mawddwy show lots of Evanses, most of them christened John, Jane and Catherine.
The IGI has recorded the registers for the Ebenezer Congregational Independent Chapel, but
there were also Methodist and Baptist chapels in the village as well as the parish church
in Mallwyd.
When Kate married Victor her address was 74 Regents Park Road, and her father is described
as "gentleman" which presumably meant he had retired. I have found a John Evans
of about the right age in the 1881 census living in Lambeth with a housekeeper.
If Jane returned to Dinas Mawddwy when she was ill, I wonder if I have cousins still
there? Perhaps Catherine Rowlands was her sister?
I now live in Bearsted, Kent, and one of my neighbours comes from Mallwyd.!
Judy Buckley