Question

I am trying to go back from my 2 x great grandmother, but as she has a common Welsh name, I am finding it hard.

Mary Jones was born 1832 in Holywell, Flintshire, Wales.  Married Joshua Jennings 24 April 1852 in Holywell, Clywd, Flintshire, Wales.  They had 3 boys Davd Martin Jennings 1855-1903, Thomas Robert Jennings 1861-1938, and my great grandfather John Jones Jennings 1859-1941.  She died 28 March 1871 in Dalton in Furness, Ulverston,Lancashire, England (now Cumbria).

I have come across 1841 & 1851 Census showing similarities but not 100% about these.   I yet to purchase a marriage certificate, but the chances of Mary's parents being on there are slim.

 

Answer 1

Well, her father should be on there, anyway.

Comments

I'm seeing about half a dozen baptism records a year for Mary Jones in that town, so getting father's name from marriage certificate will be useful.

www.gro.gov.uk is a good place to order from  (some family history site charge a big mark up.) I think the reference is Holywell 1852 QJ volume 11B page 558, but you best check for yourself. Alternatively local registry office. Some churches have had their copy scanned and available on some sites but it varies by area.

Sometimes burial records can be useful for eliminating people of a similar age who died young (thus no children of their own) as they often give father's name.

Good luck

Tim

Answer 2

I feel your pain, just did a quick search for you and it looks like you're going to reach the same brick walls I have in North Wales. My Morris and Evans lines in Llangollen become almost impossible before the census.

Occasionally you get a breakthrough, I found its usually through religion! Ros is right, her father should be on the marriage cert and you will also know her religion, my family were Welsh Baptist, therefore nonconformist so I could eliminate all Church of England/Wales records which helped massively! Just an idea? Good luck!

Lizzie

Answer 3

Hi Barbara,

Have you tried Find My Past, the English version of Ancestry Com.  I found this baptism record:

Jennings, John Jones 1859 Flintshire Baptisms Gorsedd, Flintshire, Wales

Unfortunately, like Ancestry this is a paid website and I can't access the actual record or image.  I have allowed my membership to lapse as I pretty much figured out my Welsh heritage.  But when I used it, I found a wealth of data.,

There are 565 results for Mary Jones 1832 Holywell, Flintshire, Wales. Yep, a pretty common name.  .

I was lucky in that my family names were easy in Wales...Williams, Richards, Davies....LOL

Beat of luck.

Comments

Just for information, FindMyPast is not the English version of Ancestry.com. The English version of Ancestry.com is Ancestry.co.uk. FindMyPast is a competitor to Ancestry, which started in the UK but now has sites in other countries too, including the USA (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Findmypast)

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ver·sion: a particular form of something differing in certain respects from an earlier form or other forms of the same type of thing..

Both Ancestry and Find My past started out utilizing the data from their home country.  Both have grown to international records.  Ancestry's roots are in the 1990's in the United States and Find My Past online is basically an upgraded edition of 1837 Online started in England.

Ancestry.co.uk would be considered an adjunct entity to Ancestry.com

Just for your information.

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I suspect this is a classic example of the quote "The United States and Great Britain are two countries separated by a common language." !

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It's all Webster's fault.

Well, not really, but someone always has to take the blame. LOL