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GLASCOED PEOPLE & PLACES

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LATEST UPDATES


These pages are a good starting point if you’ve already explored the site and just want to keep up to date on any updates or amendments.

I’ll try to put them all on these pages, so mark this as one of your favourites and revisit regularly.

17th October 2021: Fergus McLachlan, a descendant of John Arthur Morgan of the Hill Farm Morgans, got in touch and has provided me with some additional information and text for John Arthur Morgan and two of his siblings: Mary Susanna and Jane Frances Morgan. Many thanks to Fergus.

10th October 2021: I have started to transcribe the School Attendance registers for Glascoed Board School (from 1882 to 1914). You will find the first 110 names here. It may take a little while to add more. There are fascinating details on here - although Dates of Birth may need to be double-checked with other records. For example Ethel Pitt has falisified her date of birth - she was actually still 2 when she registered for school on 31st December 1883!

2nd October 2021: I have added pages for Rachel Kate Williams and her husband, Edward Bellamy. Kate, as she was known, was born at Rose Cottage in 1871, the daughter of James Williams and Sarah Davies.

22nd November 2020: I was very excited discover a second cousin this weekend - Paula Owen - and also to receive a picture of my Great Great Grandmother, Sarah Davies, from her. I didn’t realise there was an image of Sarah still in existence. Aren’t old photographs fascinating? So thank you Paula! I also found an article from the Monmouthshire Merlin from 1863 reporting on Mary Morgan of Ton/ Tonbolth, widow of Richard, being seriously injured after her son accidentally shot her in the arm.

8th December 2019: Just one little update, thanks to Dena Roach - who kindly corrected one of my guesses about a younger child born into her family. Hilda Edwards of Cherry Orchard WAS the daughter of James and Florence Edwards - born later in their parents’ lives. So I’ve corrected that on the Cherry Orchard page. I’ve also subscribed to FindMyPast recently and come across some really useful records - the Glascoed Board School Admission Books from its beginnings to 1914. Lots of useful information on chldren of families including their dates of birth, Head of Household, place of residence and the school they had transferred from. All potential gold for family historians. I’ll try to transcribe that soon - although personal circumstances will make this challenging as I need to mainly focus on my day to day life at the moment, and for a little while to come. Still -watch this space - it may appear sooner than I think, even though it will take a while to transcribe.

30th March 2018: Quite a number of updates, which I have actually lost track of! The major one is that now my other website (www.pittfamily.co.uk) has combined with glascoed.com. Both web addresses work at the moment, although I will have phased out the pittfamily address by Spring 2019. It will save me time, money and duplication of effort. The NamesDatabase now contains a combination of as many Glascoed people as I have been able to add and the family lines that I am related to. The trees are sprawling but fortunately have a Name index. The most recent pages I’ve added to this site are an updated Homepage (which explains what the two sites are for) and a biography for Martha Meredith. She lived an interesting life - it’s well worth a read.

23rd February 2018: Updates made to the Three Stiles farm (Tri Chwymad) and Lewis Lewis pages, following information from Mary Edmunds. Thank you Mary! I’ve also added a page with a photograph of a list of Lewis and Jane Lewis’ descendants. I also found articles about the Meredith family of Sunny Bank Cottage. In 1871, Caroline Meredith assaulted her sister-in-law, Hannah Lewis from neighbouring Bush Cottage, on Pergoed Lane. In 1872, Caroline’s son, James, fought with another Pergoed Lane neighbour, Elizabeth Humphries - it’s hard to tell the rights and wrongs of this case from the write-ups in the Free Press and Monmouthshire Merlin. In 1869, the County Observer reported how James Meredith tried to save a man, Thomas Harris of the Beaufort Arms, Monkswood, who fell into a quarry.

21st February 2018: The major landowner in Glascoed,The Duke of Beaufort sold off many, or possibly all of his holdings in the village in May 1899 - the Usk Observer article here tells not only who bought the properties, but also who the main tenants were. You should be able to match up many of these un-named properties to the properties in the 1901 census by the Heads of Household on that census. Some of the properties are named in the article. An interesting read.

16th February 2018: Well … finally! After a couple of years with no new updates, following my laptop’s hard drive crash in April 2016, I’ve at last been able to complete the site re-write and upgrade.

Each page has been copied and pasted and re-linked from the pages that were fortunately still on the internet, and back into my web authoring program. There’s a new look and some new records - as you’ll see below, including a transcription of the Glascoed portion of the 1939 Register. Enjoy exploring… Hopefully in the coming weeks you’ll see new pages being added - it’s so much more interesting writing new content than copying and pasting and improving on old content!

9th November 2016: No updates for ages! Sorry about that - the hard drive on my laptop collapsed and the site wasn’t backed up! So I’ve had to rebuild it painstakingly from scratch. I’m still some way off completing the restoration of the site (it takes hundreds of hours sadly) - but couldn’t resist checking out the new 1939 Register on findmypast and transcribing the Glascoed records. I’ve included the Glascoed houses on the Llanbaddock return for that register and have also started repatriating those Llanbaddock houses that were previously in the “Strays” section in earlier censuses. Have a look at my transcription - and findmypast’s records - their 1939 Register for England and Wales is a fabulous new resource.

12th December 2015: Thanks to some new photos of the Morgan family, I have updated the bios for William Morgan and Emma Rachel Price with their photos and some further text. Many thanks Mary (again!). I’ll add the other photos of their children in due course. I’ve also been working on the Rose Cottage house history, so some more updates there too; separating the information into a main History of Rose Cottage and a Rose Cottage today page.

11th December 2015: Several recent updates have been made. House histories have been added for Sunny Bank Farm and Sunny Bank Cottage. I received some interesting information from Mary Morgan, a descendant of the Hill Farm Morgans. Her information allowed me to update William Morgan;s bio (the gold prospector who went to Vancouver Island in 1862 to search for gold with his brother Tom - whose bio was also updated). I also updated William’s wife, Emma Rachel Price’s bio - I had wondered whether she had died before 1881, but the good news was that she lived many years later. Canadian census indexes from 1891, 1901, 1911, 1921 showed the progress of that family - who actually emigrated permanently to Montreal. Thanks again Mary.

1st December 2015: Sarah Davies death certificate added. Also a tweak to Sarah’s bio page.

30th November 2015: House history added for “Bush Cottage” and “The Paddocks”. There are also some amendments to the “Rose Cottage” house history.

24th November 2015: Today I added a house history of Lower Cwmhir.

23rd November 2015: More Registers of Electors added: 1852-53 and 1865-66.

22nd November 2015: I’ve spent some time at Newport Library recently and found some interesting articles. I was particularly excited to find a bit more detail on John Pitt’s run-in with the Meredith family, pretty much proving that his family had moved to Rose Cottage by 1862. I also loved finding letters published in the Free Press from William and Thomas Morgan of Hill Farm, from their expedition to British Columbia, searching for gold - as part of the Cariboo Gold Rush. The level of detail brings them to life! Part 1 and Part 2. David Williams seems to be most noted for marrying a lady (Frances Morgan) 30 years his senior and I assume as a result inherited Manachty Farm, Pontymoile from her. Their horse bolted on the way to Pontypool Market and Frances (then aged 78) broke her arm as a result.

17th July 2015: Update made to the Panta House page, following information received from a descendant of the Mainwaring family, the last known residents (Sandra Curtis). She gave some lovely detail of the layout and feel of the cottage.

21st May 2015: Articles added for the 1850s in the Usk Observer: Sale of Lower Trostra farm on James Lewis’ retirement from farming (1855). From 1856, Overseers appointed (Eliz Morgan and James Jenkins) and a Surveyor appointed: Roger Williams, William Herbert (a 15 year old) assaults Thomas Lewis, Another article on Henry Morgan’s alleged fathering of Elizabeth Lewis’ child, Henry and Sarah Crump of Glascoed Vach sack a servant, James Davies charged (then acquitted) of bestiality, another parenthood case (affiliation) where Eliza Davies accuses then proves that Solomon Evans fathered her baby and finally 48 sheep are worried or killed by the dogs of Upper Wernhir (Mary Morgan’s dog) and Upper Cwmhir (William Williams’ dog).

19th May 2015: A number of marriages and a death from the 1850s Monmouthshire Merlin added. Also several articles for the 1850s Monmouthshire Merlin: A counterfeit coins case (picked up at a Glascoed party?), Henry Morgan, Little Wernhir fathers another child; James Davies accused of Bestiality (and acquitted!); John Roberts has money stolen from him, and Rev Rees appeals for help to replace the roof at Mount Zion chapel. In addition, Greenmeadow and Three Stiles (Tri Chymad) farms were up for sale in the 1850s and Mount Zion chapel is approved for solemnizing marriages in 1851.

17th May 2015: More updates from local newspapers: Another article about William Griffiths - this time sentenced to hard labour for stealing some “underwood” (1838), Glascoed Vach put up for sale in 1842, with John Rosser as the sitting tenant, James Meredith sentenced for stealing Richard Arnold of Maes Mawr’s scythe (1843) and a story or a robbery of shovels, cans and beer where Penlan Farm, Glascoed is mentioned. Also the 34 year old David Williams of Glascoed marries Mrs Williams, a 63 year old grandmother from Manachty farm, Pontymoile.

16th May 2015: I’ve changed the look of the site a little - partly to make it more efficient, and also using my wife’s tips on suitable colour schemes! I also came across three articles (ONE, TWO and THREE) in the Monmouthshire Merlin that shows St. Michael’s church was actually opened in August 1849, which contradicted the information I had originally been given (that it was around 1861). This led to further amendments to other pages including St. Michael’s church, John Morgan and Beech Farm, since mention was made of the “Big Beech Tree” that used to serve as a landmark and was the inspiration for the name of that farm. I’ve also added other stories about William Griffiths being sent to jail “for being a rogue and a vagabond!” (I believe William may have been Job Lewis’ stepfather - I’ll add more on that once I’ve tried to piece together the potential evidence), evidence that John Arthur Morgan and William Morgan of Hill Farm were pupils at Usk Grammar School. There’s also a little story featuring the “Robbery” of a “very excellent cart mare” from John Williams - almost certainly the farmer at Ty Newydd (New House).

13th May 2015: Newspaper articles from the Free Press (1860s) added. Richard Miles leaves Glascoed Vach Farm (1863), so the farm is up for auction. He also had a House and Garden to Let near Glascoed church advertised a year earlier. Also several articles from the 1865 Free Press: A chapel tea party (possibly Mt Zion, Glascoed!). It certainly featured Mt. Zion’s pastor and included some boxing (I think!), Lower Wernhir for sale by auction, Sarah Morgan (widow of Henry Morgan of Little Wernhir) trying to prove the paternity of her baby, Another account of the tragic death of Job Lewis, Richard Stratton of Poplar Tree Cottage in trouble for running an illegal drinking evening (a “Biddle”), Mary Lewis, wife of James Lewis has a serious cart accident (but recovers) and there’s a tongue in cheek story written about a knacker’s yard at Little Mill … at least that’s what I THINK it’s about! Greenpool farm, Llanbaddock (though considered part of Glascoed by many) is put up for auction. Two articles about Upper House, Glascoed. Story 1 is the sale by auction of the farm (occupied by Catherine Lewis, widow of Job Lewis) and Story 2 is a fire started by a child at Upper House- neighbours helped the Lewis family to extinguish the blaze.

11th May 2015: The updated site is now ready and here!! Well it’s finally completed!! I’ve completely revamped the site, and moved each page into a new format - for any geeks out there I’ve moved from NetObjects Fusion 12.0 to WebPlus X8.

What this actually means is that I’ve had to look at every page, and have updated nearly all of the House Histories including those which were blank of half completed before and added a little map showing where the houses were situated. I’ve added to most of the People pages and created some new ones - have a look at the table on the People home page to see which surnames are now included. I’ve added some extra records where there were gaps - e.g. some certificates of births, marriages and deaths, added a couple of photos of Mary Ann Arnold’s family tree (from the 1870s), amended the School and Reservoir pages and added another page for the Cwm Ton Site of Special Scientific Interest. Hopefully you’ll find the pages easier to navigate - the previous fly-out menus worked quite well on some computers, but on others (including mobile phones and tablets) they could be a nightmare. The buttons for navigation are at the top and bottom of every page and on each of the main menu pages (About, Houses, People, Newspapers, Records and Village History) there should be buttons to get you to the next level on those pages too. The search function in the top (and bottom) right hand corners should help you find what you need on the site much more quickly. I’d like to hear feedback on what it’s actually like to use though, so please Contact me and let me know. Also if there’s anything you’d like added or if you have any stories, photos or other information that I can add.

18th April 2015: Upgrading the site has made me realise that some of the house histories are quite sparse. I’ve tried to address this in the new site, and a minor update has been made to Ty Coch’s history. It still needs some work on fleshing out the stories of the families who lived there.

17th April 2015: Maes Mawr house history written up. I’ve also completed the Poplar Tree Cottages house histories. I’m continuing to put a lot hours into re-vamping the site. It’s slow work - I hope it might be ready by the end of the month, although this might be an ambitious target!

15th April 2015: I’ve been working hard to completely re-design the site, to give it a more contemporary feel, make it easier to navigate and with new features such as embedded maps. This is going to take a while, since each page will need to be copied across individually and the links will need to be re-inserted to each page. For today, I’ve re-worked the Links page, updating broken links. It reminded me how fascinating the film on the late Catherine Sainsbury’s smallholding and life at Ty Mawr was. Look it up on the Links page. She tells the village history in a way I never can - since she had lived it, over 10 decades.