Swansea Family History

  They say fashions and trends come and go. 1903 and 2023 have something in common. Let’s look at the latter first, September 2023. This month Wales will see the national speed limit reduced to 20 mph. Are there any other countries around the world who have the same speed limit of 20 mph?  Basically no. The joys of motoring in the years to come! With that in mind, and before we get to 1903, we must look at the earlier years, and the different changes that were made towards motoring. So, let’s go back to 1835, with the passing of The Highways Act. This Act allowed the Parish Surveyor to control highways, and to pay for their maintenance from funds which were raised from rates paid by the local residents. The Act stipulated that penalties be paid by anyone who might cause a nuisance by riding on the footpath. There were fines put in place if anyone was hurt in an accident ranging from twenty shillings rising to 40 shillings. It was also decided that the direction of traffic would be on t

  Everyone likes a good mystery. During 2020, during the first national lockdown, I wrote blogs when bay   wasn’t being published. I would look at interesting newspaper articles and found one published in  The Cambrian Daily Leader  on 7 December 1914  (below centre) . It was about the last veteran of the Indian Mutiny being buried at St Cattwg Church  (below left)  in Port Eynon. So, who was this veteran?  The Indian Mutiny, or Sepoy Mutiny or Indian Rebellion of 1857 (1857-58) was the widespread rebellion against British rule in India which was started by Indian troops (sepoys) in the service of the English East India Company. The rebellion erupted into other mutinies around Northern and Central India. The rebel-lion posed a considerable threat to the British power in the region. At the conclusion of the Indian Mutiny, the British had victory, resulting in the creation of the British Raj, from the former East India Company. Lands were either returned to their former owners or confisc

Ed.   Charles  recently carried out research for a bay reader who wrote to me to say how thrilled she was with what   Charles  had found out about her family tree. “Several months ago, I won a small competition in the  bay  magazine which was run by Charles Wilson Watkins on his family history page.     I was so impressed with the work he did that I went on to ask him to do my family tree.      I am just writing to acknowledge and thank you and your resident genealogist for the brilliant work he did. His research has discovered a family secret that I am now pursuing with the TV programme Long Lost Relatives.     I don’t know where this will eventually end, or what we will discover, but it would never have come to light without his determination to uncover the truth on our behalf.      I am so grateful that I decided to enter that competition that day, which has taken me on this journey of discovery.”    Many, many thanks. Sincerely  Christina Grant Copyright - The Bay Magazine, Septemb

  When I first started writing Family History articles for  bay  in 2015, my first three articles covered the topics of Birth, Marriage and Death certificates. Eight years on and even more family history  information is available from the many family history websites, however some of these sites can  be a minefield for users trying to find and retrieve information. In this article I will be looking at the importance of certificates and using information on composer  Morfydd Owen  (pictured right), who is buried in Oystermouth Cemetery (below). The inscription on her headstone reads as follows. “ Morfydd Owen Wife of Ernest Jones October 1, 1893 February 6, 1917 September 7, 1918 ”   So, let’s look more closely at these dates.  October 1st, 1893  is clearly wrong as her Birth Certificate (below) states that her birth was on October 1st, 1891, and the place of birth was Treforest, Pontypridd.  Morfydd  was the daughter of  William Owen , a draper and  Sarah Jane Owen . It is very unusual