extra searching through the 1881 Census has brought to light a better possibility for Ellen and her family. A search for her mother Fanny (presumably Frances) resulted in a family in Nottingham with a 3 year old daughter named Ellen. At the time there were three children, Emma and Thomas being the elder siblings. The dad (also Thomas) was a licensed victualler, with the family residing in a public house in Alfreton Road - wonder if this allows us to make claim on the pub??

I'm planning a trip to the Family Records Office on Saturday to look for some birth records of Amelia's brothers and sisters. As mentioned a couple of days ago, I should also be able to get Fanny's marriage certificate - this should give us an indication of her age and hopefully confirmation of the census lookup...

updated some date information. The extra detail has gone into my family tree program but this allowed a few of the names to move out of the 'Unknown' category - thanks Chris & Helen...

extra information from the 1881 census. I think I've found Ellen Bradley's family. She was about 3 years old at the time. The most likely candidates are a family in Eastbourne, Sussex - on the south coast, 35-40km east of Brighton. Next point for research is to get Ellen's mother's marriage certificate to Richard Light (her second marriage). This is a known date (13 Dec 1888) and it should provide some pointers or confirmations...

Introduction to the family...

Well here it is - the initial fruits of Graham's genealogical journey.

Over the last number of months I've managed to trace the Welsh branch of my family tree to my Great-Great-Grandparents William Rowland and Mary Anne James both born around 1843. Henry was born in Henllys, Wales and Mary was born in Abercarn, about 4 miles north-west (as the crow flies) on the other side of the Cwmcarn Forest. They raised their family in Abercarn having six children over a 13 year period.

Their second child Amelia (b1872) married Dan Davis (b1871) of Penrhiwceiber on May 28, 1901 in the English Baptist Chapel in Newbridge. They too raised their family, two boys - Rowland and Graham, in Abercarn.

Graham married Leila Jukes at the end of January 1931 in Yeovil, Somerset. Their five children were born and raised in various locations of England and Wales over the next 12 and a half years. In September of 1948 the family set sail on the SS Ranchi on route to Sydney, Australia. Ultimately the family settled in Adelaide, South Australia.

Jean, Graham and Leila's first child, married Lindsay Walter in the seaside suburb of Henley Beach during the early '50s. They had 4 children - Stephen, Helen, Susan and me - Graham...

Over the coming weeks and months (and years!?!) I plan to add more to both this website and the family tree as a whole. The individual pages of the earlier ancestors will be fleshed out with as much detail of their lives as I can find. Soon to come will be some detail of the regional history, initially of Wales and Abercarn, with more of the other locations as it develops.

Thank you to all of the family for their contributions. If you have any more detail you'd like to see here (photos, stories, etc) - just let me know.