Seminar presented at the Great Plains Welsh Heritage Festival, 5 October 2013. Beginner level information about discovering Welsh family history and heritage.
9. Key Dates in Welsh Genealogy
• 1538 christening, marriage and burial records begin
• 1597 Bishop’s transcripts begin
• 1754 pre-printed forms for marriages
• 1813 pre-printed forms used for christenings & burials
• 1837 civil registration
• 1841 census records begin, done every ten years
23. Start with a marriage index
• Marriages indexes serve as a good finding tool
• FindMyPast has many Welsh parish registers at
https://www.findmypast.com/
• Use FindMyPast for free at a FamilySearch Center
27. Christenings
Christenings often show:
• child’s given name
• Father’s name
• Mother’s name
Sometimes included:
• Family residence such
as the village, street or
farm name
• Father’s occupation
32. David Thomas Howell Death Notice
On the 11th inst., aged 75 years, Mr.
David Thomas Howell, landlord of the
Star Public house, Llanguicke. He was
for many years a consistent member of
the Independents, and was highly
esteemed and beloved by all who
knew him.
52. Local Histories
There was another poet living in
the district known as Howell
Gellilwca, who was grandfather to
Evan Evans, superindendent of
police in Neath at this time, but
who was born and brought up in
Betting Ganol.
56. Strategies for Success
• Kill off your ancestor
• Find your ancestor in every census
• Always search both the Parish
Registers and Bishop’s Transcripts
57. Strategies for Success
• Use indexes
• Don’t trust indexes
• Watch for patronymics:
David Thomas Howell is a clue
Records are associated with certain jurisdictions. Parish registers, poor law and census records at the parish level, court records at the county level and probate records at the archdeaconry or diocese.
1750 burials in Llangiwg, Glamorgan showing three people still using the patronymic naming pattern. These burials provide evidence for the two preceding generations. One person, William Morgan John, was old enough to be married and with an estimated span of thirty three years between generations this burial record moves the pedigree back about 100 years.
Cambrian Newspaper, 26 March 1842.
I’m typing in the parish name of Llangiwg but the system does not have the parish listed under that spelling.
Margaret died at age 29 and Samuel remarried but it would be difficult to prove this with the parish registers only. The burial is on Family History Library DGS number 425322, image 30,