Looking for mother of Annie Jones, born Jan. 6, 1868 in Llanberis, Wales.

Question

Annie's father was Hugh Owen Jones, born on Anglesey, and according to Annie's death certificate her mother's surname was Williams.Annie's mother died prior to 1886 when she and her father came to US. I would like to verify this information and find other family members of the Joneses in Wales.

Comments

Hi D Smith

Having a look at Anne Jones profile.  Just to confirm - her surname is Jones and she married John Hugh Jones - both have the same surname?

Is this correct?

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Apologies - my mistake - it's bright and early where I'm living - will have a search to see what I can find.

Just to let you know I've edited the marriage from 1967 to 1867

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Have you any idea when Anne's mother died? The censuses were in 1871 and 1881 so it would be helpful for identifying the family.

How certain is her mother's name Grace on wikitree? I see Anne had four daughters and it's a pretty fair bet that at least one them was named after her mother.

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I don't know when Anne's mother died, but I'm thinking possibly in childbirth.

As for the certainty of Anne's mother being Grace - that is the name Margaret (Jones) McNeese (her daughter) provided on Anne's death certificate.

Answer 1

I think I've solved the myster of Anne's mother now. My attention was drawn to Mary Owens (48) mother-in-law in the 1871 census entry found by Martin and her daughter, also Mary (13).

Hugh Jones      Head           M     24     Llanfaelog, Anglesey
Ann Jones        Daughter     F     3     Llanberis, Caernarvonshire
Mary Owens     Mother-in-law     F     48     Llanddyfnan, Anglesey
Mary Owens     Daur of above     F     13     Holyhead, Anglesey

After some searching I found them in the 1861 census back on Anglesey

Thomas Owens     Head           M     33     Llandyfrydog, Anglesey
Mary Owens          Wife            F     34     Llanddyfnan, Anglesey
Grace Owens        Daughter     F     10     Llangadwaladr, Anglesey
Mary Owens          Daughter     F     3       Holyhead, Anglesey

"England and Wales Census, 1861," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M7GF-NW2 : accessed 8 June 2016), Grace Owens in household of Thomas Owens, Amlwch, Anglesey, Wales; from "1861 England, Scotland and Wales census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing PRO RG 9, The National Archives, Kew, Surrey

Mary's age has gone crazy but apart from that everything matches. Note the 10 year old Grace. Here they are back in 1851:

Thomas Owens     Head          M     23     Llandyfrydog, Anglesey
Mary Owens          Wife            F     28     Llanddyfnan, Anglesey
Grace Owens        Daughter     F     5 MOS     Llancadwaladr, Anglesey
Mary Morris           Mother        F     56     Llandyfrydog, Anglesey
John Williams        Lodger        M     22     Llanidan, Anglesey

"England and Wales Census, 1851," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QKVB-FXSH : accessed 8 June 2016), Grace Owens in household of Thomas Owens, Holyhead, Anglesey, Wales; citing Holyhead, Anglesey, Wales, p. 16, from "1851 England, Scotland and Wales census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing PRO HO 107, The National Archives of the UK, Kew, Surrey

Mary's age is back to where it should be, and Grace is 5 months old indicating a birth in October 1850. There are no other children. So Grace Owens must be Hugh Jones's deceased wife. It struck me that his mother-in-law coming over from Anglesey (with daughter) suggested a recent death rather in childbirth and sure enough there's a death for a Grace Jones, age 20, in Carnarvon (which covers Llanberis):

Name     Grace Jones
Event Type     Death
Registration Quarter     Jan-Feb-Mar
Registration Year     1871
Registration District     Carnarvon
County     Caernarvonshire
Event Place     Carnarvon, Caernarvonshire, Wales
Age (available after 1866)     20
Birth Year (Estimated)     1851

Of course this means Grace was ridiculously young when Anne was born - just 17 - and it wasn't a surprise to discover that the marriage was actually slightly after her birth. I'd always believed that births outside wedlock were a huge deal in the 19th century but I've since found several Welsh ancestors who had a similarly "relaxed" attitude to getting round to marrying. As long as there was a clear intention to marry, and they did eventually do so, it doesn't seem to have been a big deal.

Anyway I believe the marriage was January 24th registered under "Bangor" which covers Anglesey. It look a little finding because it's been transcribed as Grace Owen but if you look at the image http://www.wikitree.com/photo/jpg/Jones-41399 its clear Grace signs her name Owens. It means that Anne's birth was almost certainly registered as Anne Owens if you're looking for a birth certificate but there's so many it's a needle in a haystack.

The findmypast version nicely confirms the parents names too:
First name(s)     HUGH
Last name     JONES
Birth year     -
Marriage year     1868
Marriage day     24
Marriage month     Jan
Spouse's first name(s)     GRACE
Spouse's last name     OWEN
Parish     BANGOR
Bride's first name(s)     Grace
Bride's last name     Owen
Bride's age     Full
Bride's father's first name(s)     Thomas
Bride's father's last name     Owen
Groom's first name(s)     Hugh
Groom's last name     Jones
Groom's age     Full
Groom's father's first name(s)     Owen
Groom's father's last name     Jones

So I believe that "Williams" is incorrect and that Grace Owens was Anne's mother. Perhaps Hugh remarried and Williams was her step-mother's maiden name? There are several possibilities for that.

Answer 2

England & Wales births 1837-2006 Transcription:

Hugh Owen Jones birth year 1839 birth quarter 3, Anglesey, Wales, Volume 27 Page 337.

 

Anglesey Baptism - Hugh Owen Jones, Born 1839, Baptised 27 July 1839 – Cerichiog, Anglesey, Wales.  Son of William Jones and Mary.

Marriage: Hugh Jones and Grace Williams – Bangor, Caernarvonshire, Wales – Oct/Nov/Dec 1860 Quarter.

Volume 11B, Page 894

Answer 3

The 1871 census in Llanberis gives an Ann Jones born 1868 daughter of Hugh Jones age 24 born in Anglesey . He is a widower and mother-in-law is present Mary Owens.

The most obvious marriage is Hugh Jones and Catherine Owens in Caernarvon 1866.

You did have to choose two if the commonest Welsh names!  I wonder of the High Owen is a reflection of the wife's maiden name.

Comments

No, the Owen would not come from his wife's name which appears to have been Owens anyway. This entry looks promising except that his mother-in-law should have been called Williams. The age of Hugh also rules out some promising looking 1839 births - which doesn't necessarily mean it's wrong of course.

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Is there any evidence that Hugh remarried? Could the Williams come from that?

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First between 1838-1848, there are only two Hugh Owen Jones in Carnarvon (covers Llanberis):

Surname     First name(s)          District     Vol     Page
Births Mar 1842   (>99%)
JONES     Hugh Owen          Carnarvon     27    340     
Births Sep 1843   (>99%)
Jones     Hugh Owen          Carnarvon     27    315      

 

The only marriage of a Hugh Owen Jones( between 1859-1870) was registered in 1860, Pwllheli --Elizabeth Griffiths.

Annie's death certificate lists her mother's maiden name as Williams; you suspect Grace Williams.

Interestingly, a Grace Williams marriage is recorded in Carnarvon in q March 1868, but appears to be silent on her spouse!
 

Surname First name(s)  District Vol Page
Marriages Mar 1868   (>99%)
Jones Edward  Carnarvon 11b600
Jones Ellen  Carnarvon 11b600
Williams Grace  Carnarvon 11b600
Probably Martin's 1871 census is correct, which gives two possible deaths for a Grace Jones in Carnarvon district:

Deaths Jun 1868   (>99%)
Jones     Grace     25     Carnarvon     11b    355

Deaths Sep 1869   (>99%)
Jones     Grace     25     Carnarvon     11b    310

Answer 4

This is my candidate for Anne's father. Note that his father is Owen (hence Hugh Owen) and his mother is Anne. He's probably the same person as Martin's census entry since he would be 24 at the time of the census in 1871 and the birthplace (Llanfaelog) matches.

Name     Hugh Jones    
Gender     Male    
Christening Date     21 Jun 1846    
Christening Place     LLANFAELOG,ANGLESEY,WALES    
Father's Name    Owen Jones     
Mother's Name    Anne   

"Wales Births and Baptisms, 1541-1907," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X1TS-KB1 : accessed 8 June 2016), Hugh Jones, 21 Jun 1846; citing LLANFAELOG,ANGLESEY,WALES, reference ; FHL microfilm 104,523

Comments

A great big THANK YOU to all who have answered my question. Each of you have given me good, useful information. I added some biographical information in Anne's profile Jones-41398  that may or may not shed some light on her family. 

 

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That matches the place of birth in the 1871 census I gave exactly.

I've just had a closer look and he is definitely 24 and mother-in-law is definitely Mary Owens aged 48. She was born in Anglesey and has another daughter Mary aged 12 also born in Anglesey.

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Just a further thought. There are a lot of Mary Williams marrying Owens during the right period in Anglesey. So second marriage?

But that doesn't explain Grace.