Sunday, January 26, 2014

More about Richard (1851-1912)

So Richard (1851-1912) was the one who came over to Wales and started a Richards dynasty in Neath!

Richard was 4 months old during the census of 1851 and at that time he was living at the Hunters Inn, in the parish of Martinhoe, a neighbouring parish to Trentishoe. It's therefore likely that he was born at the inn that his father, John, and his mother, Mary-Ann, kept at the time. The 1861 census shows that the 10 years old Richard was still living in Martinhoe, though whether he and his family were still running the Hunters Inn at that time is not known to me as yet.

As I mentioned in my last post, the 1871 census shows him having arrived in Wales and working as a "stone breaker" so he must have arrived sometime between 1861 and 1871. He would have been a young man, anything between 10 and 20 years of age, though if he came over to Wales (it seems without his parents, though possibly may have been accompanied by his brother Thomas*) one would have thought he was nearer to 20 than to 10. But in those days, anything was possible, and further research may shed some light about his journey to Wales from Devon.

He married Margaret Morgan in St Catwg's church, Cadoxton (a village outside Neath) on 26 November 1873 when he was 22 years old and living in the Pentwyn area of Neath. I am not sure, and trying to find out, which part of Neath that is. Margaret was also from Neath, living at Gellia Fach (a farm?). Richard's occupation at the time seems to have changed to a collier from stone breaker. His father John obviously appears on the marriage certificate, but one wonders whether he was actually present and/or whether any other family members were there. Maybe Thomas stood close to his brother?


It appears that Richard took over and resided at the Duke of Wellington pub sometime after 1888. By this time, he was gathering quite a collection of offspring and the 1911 census shows that he and Margaret had 12 children in total, of which 8 survived. By 1911, only 3 children were living in the pub - Richard (my great grandfather), Kate and Maud**.


He is also noted as a "church sexton" in the 1881and 1891 censuses.

As far as I understand, his son Richard (my great grandfather) took over the Duke on his father's death in 1912.

* An interesting story for another blog post is Richard's brother Thomas. Ancestry.com website shows that was born in 1853 at the Hunters Inn and was two years younger than Richard. He was married to Mary in 1874, a woman born in Lynton, Devon. Were they married before they left Devon? Or did they leave on their own journey to Wales as young lovers? The 1881 census saw them living in Llantwit Lower, an area of Neath near the village of Tonna and appear to have remained there at least up until 1911 Wales Census (the census shows him living at "258 Tynyrheol Farm, Tonna, Neath" in the parish of Llantwit Lower). His death date is not recorded on ancestry.com. What is interesting is that the 1911 Wales census shows his occupation as both a farmer and coal merchant. As my own father, and my grandfather, were coal merchants, I wonder if my grandfather got involved (apprenticed?) in the coal business via his "uncle" Thomas, as my great grandfather does not appear to have been involved himself. Maybe. 

** Maud, or Clara Maud L Richards per ancestry.com, appears to have only died relatively recently in 1975 but it is not a name that I have come across before in family discussions. Another interesting future blog post!


The Richards move to Wales

I'm still trying to work out how to post an image of the family tree which would make things a whole lot clearer to others following this blog and my thought processes.

In the meantime, here is a narrative version of my line, starting from me and going down the paternal line:

Philip Roger Richards  (b.1968)
Clayton Windsor Richards (b. 1944)
Richard Richards (b. 1913, d. 1979)
Richard Richards (b. 1884, d. 1947)
Richard Richards (b. 1851, d. 1912)
John Richards (b. 1815, d. 1897)
Richard Richards (b. 1790/2, d. 1875)

The initial research goes beyond this, currently to Baronet Sir John Richards (b. abt 1640) but there is some evidence that the tree is not accurate from the last person mentioned in the list above, and in any case it's not relevant for the point of this post.

The point of this post is to identify which of the Richards' from Devon were the ones who came over to Wales. In turns out, according to the research of Angela Manning (who still lives in near Trentishoe, Devon, and appears to share my ancestry) that of John Richards' (1815-1897) nine children, four of them went over to Wales. This included Richard (in bold in list above) who is my great-great grandfather, and who was the one who started my line of the Richards' in Wales. The 1871 census shows him inn Wales at that time as a "stone breaker", a "collier" in his marriage certificate to Margaret Morgan in Cadoxton (a village outside Neath where I was brought up) before it appears that he took over the Duke of Wellington pub sometime after 1888.

The other children of John and his wife Mary-Ann who went over to Wales, according to Angela Manning, appear to be Thomas, Grace and William Richards. According to the current information on Ancestry.com, Thomas appears to have lived in Llantwit Lower (which is in/near Neath) - I wonder whether him and his brother Richard were close? Grace married a Thomas Phillips, and at one time lived for some time in the Cardiff area (Canton is mentioned as her residence in the 1901 census). William, according to Ancestry, was not the son of Mary-Ann and there is no evidence on Ancestry of where he lived in Wales.  

6/11/14 update : Angela Manning of Combe Martin (who is also a relative) has  drawn to my attention that William Richards, Richard's brother, lived  close by to Richard at 35 Rosser Terrace, Neath (1901 census) and at 35, Sydenham Terrace, Penydre, Neath (1911 census). The Penydre area of Neath is no more than half a mile from the Duke of Wellington pub. 



 

Monday, January 20, 2014

Combe Martin to Trentishoe - the trail moves

My father, Clayton Windsor Richards, celebrated his 70th birthday on 3 January 2014. As a treat, the family organised a get together in Combe Martin for a few days and we had a very enjoyable stay at the Sandy Cove Hotel (link).
Dad and grandchildren at the Sandy Cove Hotel, Jan 2014

Dad knew that his family originated from the Combe Martin area but knew little more than that. In fact, he had never visited the village before. Beforehand, I had managed to contact some knowledgable local experts via Facebook (link) who managed to clarify the Richards story somewhat. Trevor Dunkerley who lives in the village, and a deft hand at the ancestry.com website, had informed me that the family had actually lived in Trentishoe, a hamlet and parish a few miles outside Combe Martin towards Lynton. An interesting twist in the story is that my great great great grandfather John Richards (1815 - 1897) ran the Hunters Inn in the Heddon Valley, close to Trentishoe. Today, the inn remains very popular with locals and tourists (link) and we met the current owner who himself is looking into the history of the inn. It was John's son, Richard (1851-1912), who appears to be the one who left the Devon nest and ventured over to Wales and started the Richards line over there.

Before leaving for home, we visited St Peter's Trentishoe and paid respect to the graves of John Richards and his wife Mary Ann (3rd pic below with John's name right at the bottom of the gravestone) and his father Richard Richards (1790/2-1875). The line beyond there needs further work. The initial research kindly undertaken by Trevor suggests that the line moved to Trentishoe from Lynton, a nearby small town. The line - for the moment at least - ends tantalisingly with the name Baronet Sir John Richards, born in Toulouse (France) about 1640 and christened in Lynton. Further validation work, yes, but surely exciting!

location map -- click to enlarge

Richard Richards 1790-1875

John Richards (1815-1897), his wife Mary-Anne Richards and daughter Eliza Richards (not captured in picture) 

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Starting out

I suspect most families have at least a vague idea of their ancestors or family tree beyond the second generation. Observe the sentimental scene of grandparents and parents sharing stories with the children beside the fireside on winter evenings. Names of people and places are drawn out from the dusty attics of memory, permeate the room with their presence for a few brief moments, then evaporate quickly into the collective cloud of the past. They are rarely documented. The stories are oral, and are meant to be told and not necessarily written.  In any case, such was the case with myself.

My name is Philip Roger Richards, born 18 October 1968 in Neath, in the county of West Glamorgan, in the principality of Wales which is part of the United Kingdom. I was born to Clayton Windsor Richards and Heulwen Richards (nee Jones) and have two younger siblings - Arwel Wyn Richards and Meinir Eleri Richards. I married Nicola (nee Kirkman) in Neath on 27 May 2000. I have two children, Kirsten Jamie Richards (b. 26 June 2002 in Tilburg, Netherlands) and Luke Clayton Richards (b. 11 June 2007, Stellenbosch, Republic of South Africa). My wife and children currently live in Overton, a village in the county of Hampshire, United Kingdom.
Nikki and I with our children Kirsty and Luke (Somerset West, South Africa 2011)

This blog is meant to provide a means for me to reflect and document the researching of my family tree. I am not a professional family historian/geneaologist so my methods may be inefficient, but I intend to learn something about better methods as I go along and have some fun in the process. 

I also hope that this will be interesting to the rest of my immediate family and to my and my father's extended family and that they may be able to add some information to make the research more accurate and interesting.

A specific note of gratitude to Mr Trevor Dunkerley of Combe Martin, Devon, the importance of whose place of residence will hopefully become clear in the next post. He, together with other members of the Combe Martin History Forum on Facebook (link here ) were both helpful in terms of providing very useful information in getting me started, and at the same time restoring my faith in the potential and usefulness of social media sites like Facebook!