Allen Family History

Sources of Information: 1. Llangyfelach, Glamorgan, Wales Bishop's Transcripts (FHL #0104478)

ROBERT ALLEN PROJECT SUMMARY

[williamlancelot022505 / 0346] 10 March 2005

OBJECTIVES Seek parents of David William and Mary Lancelot.

RESULTS Identified probable parents of Mary Lancelot as Jeremiah Lancelot and Ann Jeremy.

Found probable brothers Jeremiah and Thomas Lancelot.

Found probable uncle Rees Lancelot, the son of Ludowick Lancelot.

Found another Lodowick Lancelot and his siblings Lemuel, Margaret, Mary, and Sarah, children of Jeremiah.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Read original parish registers of Llangyfelach onsite in Wales for Lewis, John, Evans, William, and Lancelot.

Find the above families in the Tithe Maps of 1840.

Find estate records for Llangyfelach, and try to trace families there.

ROBERT ALLEN RESEARCH REPORT

[williamlancelot022505 / 0346] 10 March 2005

One thing which has bothered us as we have worked on this family is the fact the marriages for John Lewis and Margaret John, and Enoch Evans and Susan Williams are not in the International Genealogical Index1.  This is strange, since all Welsh were required to be married in the Anglican Church, despite the probability they were non-conformists.  The latter point means these entries would not appear in the International Genealogical Index.  
One marriage we had wondered about was John Lewis to a Margaret John on 12 July 1782 at Colwinston parish.  We checked the Family History Library Catalog2 for information on this parish, and obtained the Parish Registers of Colwinston3.  We checked the marriage information, which was accurate, but as we checked the christenings from 1782 we saw this couple stayed in this parish beyond the calculated date of John Lewis, Jr.’s birth date of 1788.  This indicates the marriage is not ancestral.
We decided to re-examine the Bishop’s Transcripts of Llangyfelach4, where we found the following entries:

1713/1714, Mar 2 Rees, son of Lodwick Lancelot christened 1726-1713 gap in records 1734, Dec 17 Jeremiah Lancelot md. Ann Jeremy 1763, Dec 3 Jeremiah Lancelot md. Anne William 1764, Jul 16 Ann, dau of Jeremiah Lancelot christened 1766, Nov 23 William, son of Jeremiah Lancelot christened 1769, May 27 David William md. Mary Lancelot 1769/1770, Jan 2 Thomas Lancelot md. Catherine Rees 1769/1770, Jan 3 Thomas, son of Thomas Lancelot and Catherine, chr. 1770, Apr 30 Jeremiah, son of Jeremiah Lancelot christened 1772, Jul 17 Thomas, son of Jeremiah Lancelot christened

We checked other non-conformist records in the area, starting with Gelli-Onnen Chapel - Presbyterian5.  There were no Lancelots in this parish, so on to the Mynydd-Bach Chapel - Independents6 which was actually too late to be of use.  This was followed by the Tirdunkin Independent Chapel7 in Llangyfelach, where we found the following Lancelot entries:

1696, Jun 22 Lemuel, son of Jeremiah Lancelot christened 1699, May 14 Margaret, dau of Jeremiah Lancelot christened 1710, Apr 10 Mary, dau of Jeremiah Lancelot christened 1703, July 4 Lodowick and Sarah, children of Jeremiah Lancelot christened

This was encouraging, so we now were a bit puzzled.  We looked at the published volumes of the Llangyfelach Parish Registers previously, but we still could not quite understand why the family was not in them.  We discovered the originals of the Llangyfelach Parish Registers8 were available on film, and we turned to them next.
We quickly identified the problem - from 1744 to 1737 either was missing or illegible, and from 1728 earlier was illegible.  This is in relation to the filmed version of these records, although we were able to read many parts between 1744-1737.  What we need to do is to read the originals in Wales, where we can probably make out more of it.  
Nevertheless, we carefully went through these records, and noted the illegible parts and the percentage we could not read.  The entries we discovered were:

1749 partly illegible 1748, May 2 Jeremiah Lancelot buried; marriages & christenings illegible 1747 partly illegible 1746 illegible 1745, Apr 13 Jeremiah Lancelot buried 1745, Apr 28 Morgan, son of William Jeremiah christened 1744 Partly illegible 1743 may be missing 1742 mostly illegible 1741 30% illegible 1740 christenings and marriages illegible 1739 50% illegible 1738 may be missing 1737 marriages and burials illegible 1736 marriages illegible; christenings 40% illegible 1735 40% illegible 1734, Dec Jeremy Lancelot md. Anne Jeremy; 60% illegible 1733 may be missing 1732 complete but no family names 1731 50% illegible 1730 80% illegible 1729 80% illegible - switches to Latin 1728 90% illegible 1727 80% illegible 1726-1712 illegible 1711-1692 illegible

From the combination of the records searched, we were able to reconstruct a fairly complete family chart9 of the Lancelot family [document #1].  Due to the rarity of the Lancelot surname, we see Mary Lancelot who was born about 1742 - right in the range which is hard to read.  Mary was the daughter of Jeremiah Lancelot and Ann Jeremy, with potential brothers Jeremiah (md. Ann William) and Thomas (md. Catherine Rees).
Jeremiah Lancelot (md. to Ann Jeremy) was born about 1712 (illegible range), buried 2 May 1748, and his probable brother, Rees Lancelot christened 2 March 1713/1714 at Llangyfelach.  Rees is a known son of a Lodowick Lancelot (Lodowick is the Latin form of Llewylln).  
A Lodowick Lancelot, christened 4 July 1703, was the son of another Jeremiah Lancelot, born about 1672.  Jeremiah’s other children were:  

Lemuel, bapt. 22 Jun 1696 at Tir Dunken Independent Margaret, bapt. 14 May 1699 Tir Dunken Mary, bapt. 10 Apr 1701 Tir Dunken Sarah, bapt. 4 Jul 1703 Tir Dunken

The combinations of unusual given names and surname are especially helpful in Wales.  It is likely the Ludowick who was the father of Rees (and probably Jeremiah), was a brother of Jeremiah who had a son Ludowick in 1703.  It was a very time-consuming task reading nearly illegible records, but was worth it considering what we found.  What is even more exciting is we have enough information to search estate records in Wales, which could extend the pedigree further.  
An outline search revealed a complaint again Jeremiah Lancelot, labourer of Llangyfelach in 1758.  Apparently, his cattle had gotten into the pastures of a gentleman, whose bailiff confiscated the cattle.  Jeremiah took them back without permission.  It is uncertain if this refers to the ancestral Jeremiah Lancelot, or his son [document #2].10
This also means we need to go back through the originals in Wales and work on the other family names on the pedigree, namely John Lewis, Margaret John, Enoch Evans, and David William.  We could possibly find them as well in the estate records, since many of them would be in the Tithe Maps of 1840.
It has been a pleasure to assist you in researching and documenting your family history.  We look forward to continuing research according to your instructions.

2005 Price & Associates Incorporated JMK/mh

ROBERT ALLEN RESEARCH CALENDAR

[williamlancelot022505 / 0346] 10 March 2005

Sources of information: 1. Marriage Index: Grooms (Fiche #6400050)