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Neal relations at Cuckoos Cup, The Wrekin

Category: Watkins

  • Merthyr, more than a temporary abode

    The time has come to add Merthyr Tydfil to the list of significant places in the family’s history. So far I have tended to treat it as a place that great great grandfather Levy Watkins arrived at in the 1850s, married his wife Phoebe Griffiths, worked for a while and then moved on to the Rhondda, where the Welsh side of the family developed. But the place is worth a bit more attention than that. It was, after all, the biggest town in Wales for  » »

  • The electrical connection

    The electrical connection

    Welsh bright sparks

    Welsh bright sparks One of the most interesting photographs in the collection held by cousin Islwyn is this one of the electrical shop in Llanelli. Known to Islwyn as Thomas Brothers, that doesn’t appear to be the business name in 1937 (19th January to be precise). The white-coated person is Bill Walters, husband of great aunt Miriam Watkins. Bill Walters outside Llanelli electrical shop, January 1937 As very few of the old photos are dated (many don’t have any label), perhaps there is something significant about  » »

  • Cracking a family myth

    Wales to Wilkes-Barre USA

    Wales to Wilkes-Barre USA Great excitement at Cutlock Towers. Wednesday’s visit to cousin Islwyn in Knighton didn’t just fill in missing details on already known relations but, with just the briefest further research, has now revealed where the tales of Pennsylvania connections came from. These connections had become rather mythical to me, as the idea that a part of the Watkins family was born abroad just didn’t stack up. I came back with old birth, marriage and death certificates, burial records from the 1860s to 1880s,  » »

  • A recognised anthracite miner of Pennsylvania

    Family tales of ancestors on the Watkins side of the family are beginning to have some substance. At the weekend, mum’s cousin Islwyn handed over a photocopy of a ‘Certificate of registration of Sub-Board No 1’ for my great grandfather John Watkins (given as “of Forest City”, although he came from, and returned to, Tonypandy in Wales). Dated 7th May 1893, it has been issued at Carbondale Pa, under “An Act to provide for the Examination of Miners in the Anthracite region of this Commonwealth etc”  » »

  • A quick look at family gravestones at Trealaw

    It is now two weeks since my visit to Trealaw cemetery, near Tonypandy, checking out as many grave plots as possible of my mum’s immediate and extended family. High time for some photos and a few notes. Monday 18th April was a fine day. We (my brother and myself) got out of the campsite a few miles away in good time and found the cemetery without much bother (it is rather too large to miss). We were a little perplexed to start with by a film  » »

  • The Tonypandy that Mum knew

    I spent a few days last week visiting the old coal mining area of Rhondda in south Wales with my brother. The Tonypandy environs was where the previous couple of generations to mum lived, worked and many died (often at a good age but not all were so fortunate), along with plenty of cousins, aunts, uncles etc. We spent a long morning in Trealaw cemetery tracking down as many related gravestones as we could, followed by an afternoon exploring the town, in particular Blaenclydach, finished off  » »