Grant & Linda's 2016 Trip Report No. 2

Ebbw Vale: Not Knowing Enough Beforehand

But still ending up in the right place. Maybe it's the deep mysteries of jumbled memory. And it could be the Spirit guiding through my confused ignorance.

There is never enough time. On the last day of opportunity in Wales, I wanted to visit Gwent Archives. I had already been through the indices online and I didn't think they had the documents that I would have liked to review. So, like the boy searching for the lost quarter under the street lamp because the light was better, I looked at some things in close proximity hoping they might give some hint I could follow. It still may be there in the notes I collected from handling original 1840s Vestry Minutes from the adjacent parish, but it may take a concerted effort with my cousin collaborators to sort anything out.

They were most friendly at the Archives. The friendliest yet. But then I was deep up in the industrial valleys of South Wales. The roads aren't too bad either, mostly modern winding around, over, and above most of the industrial tracks and villages of workers' houses tightly squeezed along the valleys, row upon row. The coal mines and iron foundries are gone. Some replaced by other industry. Some just incongruously flat land lying empty in the narrow valleys of mountains.

The guy who checked me in was a real Welsh kidder. Asking if I had a county readers card, I showed him the one I had obtained at the University Archives in Bangor. I'm pretty sure that it's good for all archives under the National Library of Wales, but he said, "Oh, we're not all as fancy as that!" So I signed some day authorization as I gave a general background of what I knew about my ancestors and the sources I've checked. "So, you've done your homework, you have." In response to newspaper accounts about arrests for "drunk and disorderly" he said, "So, you think they were Welshmen, do ya. Sure they weren't the Irish?" I said I was sure pointing out my surname again. He also asked if I was, "from Canada or America?" I didn't correct any geographical certainties thinking Canadians probably appreciate the distinction these days.

The Archives were in a Victorian building of some official stately nature. It is currently County offices but I need to check to see if its origins are offices of the Steel Works. There is a very modern building attached holding the actual archived documents. And there is a beautifully new educational center of a community college nature on the slopes of the mountain behind.

Gwent County Offices and Archives, Ebbw Vale

Modern Archive Storage

A Possible Uncle Willie Sighting

Cyfarthfa Ironworks by Night (1825) by Penry Williams

This isn't by any means certain, but the age, profession, temperament, and location of this lad's story are a pretty good fit. The major problem is that William Vaughan (1855-1922), son of John (1825) and Maranah (1827) Vaughan had a sister born in 1864 in Durham and this report is from 1865 in Merthyr Tydfil. Considering how the family moved around all over the valleys of South Wales and then to Durham as set out in our chronology, it is possible that young Willie was left in Merthyr for a time with relatives or friends, particularly as he apparently had a position in the Cyfarthfa Ironworks.

Finding Maranah

By Judy Vaughn Atwood:

I still recall my parents coming home from a visit to the Genealogy Library in Salt Lake City. I was a young teen and remember the smiles as they came in the door.  The first words were “We found our great-grandmother, Maranah!” They discovered her christening in the town of Penrhos, Monmouthshire, Wales, Maranah Watkins, the daughter of William Watkins and wife Hester, christened 17 June 1827. At that time I knew very little about our Family History, but I had a curiosity about those that came before me. I love the name, Maranah.

When I had a chance to research on my own, I went in search of Maranah. She did not read or write so her name was not always spelled the same. I found her listed as Maranna Watkins, on the 1841 Census in Llantilio Crossenney, Monmouthshire, Wales; she was a 15 year old servant on a farm, a short distance from Penrhos. Our relatives found the marriage certificate showing when John Vaughan (1825) married Maranah Watkins (1827) in Llanfoist, Monmouthshire, Wales; on 10 September, 1846.

John and Maranah Vaughan were found on the 1851 Census in Llanfoist with their first two sons George John and Thomas. Together, family members found parish records of the birth of their children, but not much more. Of course, one of the biggest finds was when they found her on L.D.S. Church records. She was baptized in the Stockton Branch, Durham, England in 1883. Other Vaughan family members also joined the Church in the early 1880’s. All of John’s and Maranah’s sons left England with their families and settled in Ogden, Utah from 1884-1888. Maranah stayed in England.

Judy's Trip Home . . . to Wales

This is by Judy Vaughn Atwood:

For many years I had a dream of visiting Hay on Wye, Breconshire, Wales. From the first time I got interested in family history, I was fascinated by the town of Hay. This is the home of our Vaughan family, the place of our known beginnings. Our earliest Hay ancestor was John Vaughan born in 1789 to Hannah Vaughan an unmarried woman; we do not know who his father was.

Hay is on the east bank of the Wye River on the border of Wales and England. It is just inside the Welsh border; Cusop is a nearby town just across the Dulas Brook in England. Our family has history in both of these towns.

At the time that our ancestors lived in Hay, it was a small market town. Now it is most famous for its books. Thanks to Richard Booth, the town has an abundance of book shops including the one at Hay Castle. So the town has had a rebirth and the local economy has been transformed.

Elaine, Judy, Lucille, Linda, & Grant - one of many book shops in Hay

In 2010, I had the chance to join cousins, Kathleen Nielson, Grant and Linda Vaughn and their friends Lucille and Elaine on a trip to the UK. It would be a genealogy tour, a sightseeing adventure, and a 30th anniversary trip for Grant and Linda.

The Mystery of John Vaughan 1825

This was prepared by our expert Researcher, Judy Vaughn Atwood, descended from John & Elinor through John Vaughan 1825, Thomas Vaughan 1850, George Robert 1886, and Augustus "Gus" Vaughan 1912:

John Vaughan was born in Hay, Breconshire Wales in 1825 to John Vaughan and Elenor Jenkins.

In 1841 he was age 16, with his family in Llanfoist, Monmouthshire, Wales and listed as a laborer on the canal wharf.

Llanfoist Wharf on Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal looking over the Usk Valley & Abergavenny to Sugar Loaf
Courtesy Pip Rolls, Creative Commons License