Allen Family History

Notes:

ROBERT ALLEN RESEARCH REPORT

[WelshLines060203/0346] 21 March 2006

Report on the Lewis and related lines

A great deal of research has been done on the Lewis and allied family lines. It has been the objective of this research period to analyze what has been done by various researchers. It is necessary to discuss each of the following lines, including research performed during this research period: Susan Williams, wife Enoch Evan Robert Davies, husband of Eleanor Owen Eleanor Owens

Susan Williams, wife of Enoch Evans

Much research has been done on this couple, most of it without success. According to some research, the pedigree shows that Susan was the daughter of David William and Mary Lancelot. This couple was married at Llangyfelach Parish, Glamorganshire 27 May 1767. The pedigree chart shows 1769 as the marriage year, and an index shows the year 1768. The date as quoted here comes from the entry as recorded in the original parish registers. The parish registers of Llangyfelach were searched after 1767 for a likely christening of Susan Williams. A search was made from 1766 to 1776, and only one entry was found during this period for a child named Susannah. Her father was Evan David, which seems to eliminate her as a possibility, since we are looking for someone with the name Williams, not David or Evan. Unfortunately, neither the parish registers nor the bishops transcripts give the mother’s name in the entry. Searching after 1767, we looked for any child baptized where the father was David William(s). A child named David was christened March 1768 to a David William, and we strongly believe this was their first child. A son Harry was baptized in March, 1771 to a David William. A Mary was baptized to a David William in November of 1773. Since the mother’s name is not given in the entry, we can not be certain these entries belong to David William and Mary Lancelot. Susan could not have been born much after 1770 since Susan Williams’ oldest child by Enoch Evan, Margaret, was supposedly born in 1786. If Susan was born in 1770, and Margaret’s birth year is correct, Susan would have been only sixteen at the time of Margaret’s birth. Rarely is a woman married that early in Wales. The norm is around 22 to 25. It appears unlikely that David and Mary William had a child Susan christened in Llangyfelach Parish between 1767 (when they married) and 1776. I think the Susan Williams we are looking for was born before the couple we have been discussing here was even married. It has been difficult to see a connection between Susan, and David William and Mary Lancelot. There is no documentation included with material supplied or from the family group sheet for this couple that proves this connection. Family records indicate that Enoch Evan was born in Cardiganshire around 1760. There is a marriage index that covers every parish of Glamorganshire from the earliest period to 1837. It listed no record of a marriage between Enoch Evan and Susan Williams in that county. Since it appears to be comprehensive, we would suppose they were not married in Glamorganshire. That leaves the county of Cardiganshire, where Enoch Evan was born. Perhaps they were married there and immigrated to the Swansea area of Glamorgan County shortly after their marriage. This would seem a likely answer to the question of their origins. To find this out, a search was made of the Glamorganshire 1851 census for Margaret Evan, Enoch and Susan Evan’s eldest child. According to the family group sheet, she married Thomas Richards, and died in 1862. It appears she was found residing in Merthyr Tydfil, a large iron works town in northeast Glamorganshire (document #1). Her age is correct, and she gives her birth place as Penllygaer, Glamorganshire. She was a widow and had a daughter, Susannah, residing with her who was aged 29 (born about 1822). The census states she was born in Penllygaer, as well. Penllygaer would be hard to find in a gazetteer, because the name is a poor rendering of Penlle’r Gaer, originally an estate in the lower end of Llangyfelach Parish, very near to St John’s Church, Swansea. According to the census, Margaret was born about 1786 or 1787, which matches pretty closely with information given in family records about her. The important thing is the birth place she gave. Penllygaer (or Penlle’r Gaer) is in Llangyfelach Parish just north of the town of Swansea. This was where John Lewis and Martha Evan lived when they had their children, and it seems pretty certain it is where Enoch Evan and Susan Williams lived as well. If Margaret Evans was born there in 1786, and she was the oldest child of this couple, it should follow that Enoch and Susan’s marriage should be found there as well; unfortunately, it was not. This suggests that the couple was married before they arrived in the Swansea area. And, although the census states that Margaret was born in Glamorganshire, she may not have been. If she was very young when her parents came to the Swansea area, it is possible she would not remember any other place other than the Swansea area.

More work should be done to trace other children of Enoch Evan and Susan William to see what they say about their origins. It would be interesting to see if any of them give something different than Llangyfelach or Swa