|
 Old
newspaper cuttings or names and numbers in leather bound volumes at
the record office are all that is left of so many long forgotten lives.
Before the age of photography, names and dates would be recorded on
the flyleaves of the Family Bible which would be on display in a prominent
position in the Victorian home.
One family bible which remains intact in Pwllheli includes a biography
in Welsh of Rev John
Jones (1831-1909) (read it here).
Only a few yellowing pages remain of the bible in which the Wells and
Roberts families recorded births and deaths in Llanelli (see them here).
Records of births, marriages and deaths tell you when and where, but
rarely why and how.Sometimes an inscription on a gravestone or a letter
that wasn't thrown away can tell you more.
•Elizabeth Guest
(1803 -1832) was only 29 when she died of Cholera leaving a husband
and four children - “an exemplary woman, a faithful and industrious
wife” according to a newspaper report.
•When Kate
Jones (1879-1911) died at 32 "after a short illness" leaving
two young children, the widower, Captain
Owen Jones (1871-1915) "was unable to be be present, being
far away in China"
•Letty
Griffith (1905-1918) “a bright child, full of fun and life” was
thirteen when she drowned at Morfa Bychan. Her sister Nevina
(1894-1902) was eight when she died of diptheria.
•Tom
Dewsberry (1871-1953) and his wife Lena
(1874-1918) are buried with three of their children – Arthur, 23,
Margery, 19, and Wilfred “a promising lad” who was 14 when he drowned
on holiday at Llanstephan despite the efforts of rescuers. The headstone
in Box Cemetery, Llanelli says “Thy will be done”.
Among questions that remain unanswered – What was Robert
Gilmore (1812-1881) – a scot – doing in Staffordshire? How did
John Wells (1788-1850)
“Gentleman” arrive in Llanelli two hundred years ago?
•William Lowe
was shot in the head and his body buried in a shallow grave under a
tree near in Tasmania (read about it here).
William Cole, the man charged with his murder had been co-habiting with
his Lowe’s wife Hannah
(1819-1886), described as ‘a most depraved character’.
Lowe’s clothes and possessions were found near Cole’s home.
She was arrested for the killing but denied any involvement, was later
released. She testified at Cole’s trial that Cole had been worried
that she would return to her husband. Cole was found guilty and sentenced
to death in July 1835.
|
