My Family

[etiolation]

Hello there. =)

I hope this is the right place to post this; when I first discovered the forum I was reading through some of your posts, and was astonished by how much information people were remembering and sharing together.

The majority of my mother's half of the family tree resided in Ferndale, or Blaen, and I thought I would try my luck and see if any of you knew any additional information or stories about them. =) It might be a long shot, but it's worth a try, right?

The ancestors I am interested in are:
William Thomas Williams, married to Blodwen née Cayford.
and
Thomas Charles Davies, married to Susannah née Hughes.

I think that it was William and Blodwen who lived in Ferndale, and Thomas and Susannah who lived in Blaen; I know that Thomas Davies' grave is in Llanwynno cemetery.

Thank you so much for any replies! <3

[bobtanner16]

ferndale cemetery
blodwen williams E470 plot died 1960 74 yrs
william thomas williams E470 plot died 1931 44 yrs
these look like them good luck

[etiolation]

Woo!
That looks right, yes. =)
I knew Blodwen passed away in 1960, but I hadn't found a date for William's death before, so that's really useful. =3

Thank you so much. =) I'll have to go and have a look sometime.

[etiolation]

Hello. =)

So, I went to try and find them today, and unfortunately didn't find a lot - the grave there was in quite a bad state of disrepair. The stone was broken and worn completely smooth. My parents didn't think it would have been possible for that to have happened since 1960, especially since William and Blodwen had three children who were there to take care of it.

Do you think that it could have? =s Is it possible that a gravestone could become unreadable since 1931/60? =s

Sorry for being a pain. <3 Thanks in advance for any replies.

[brianblaenboy]

Just for information, Llanwonno Graveyard (at the back of the Church) was totally overgrown the last time I was there and that was over 15 years ago. I couldn't find my grandparents grave at all.

[etiolation]

Yeah - it does make me sad what a bad condition it's in. Llanwynno is one of my favourite places to go, and the church is beautiful, so it's a shame that many of the graves have been left to fall apart.

Luckily for me, I know where Thomas is buried, because my grandmother used to boast that his grave was the best-kept one in the cemetery, and my mother has tried to keep this up - or at least, keep it presentable. So she's shown me it quite a few times. =)

[huwanddavid]

Just a quick question.

Are you sure you located the exact plot and it was definitely that grave? I have mapped the E section of the graveyard and should be able to pinpoint the exact plot. Is it smooth as its facing down and the writing is underneath? obvious questions maybe but just thought i'd ask.

Spend alot of time at Ferndale as we are doing a survey and there are many graves that are damaged or very worn even in the later parts, depends also on the material it was made of.

David

[etiolation]

I'll be honest - I'm not sure it even was a grave stone. It was more like a thick stone post - my original thought was that it might have been one of those grave stones that run around the grave, rather than standing at the head... but looking back that was probably a silly thought. There would have been more left of it if that was the case.

I figure now perhaps it was a piece that came from another grave that broke, and that my Great-Grandparents' grave was unmarked, for whatever reason.

I'm pretty sure it was the right plot, but could be wrong as we had no-one to show us the way - we were just going from whatever markers we could find nearby, or any plot numbers engraved on the gravestones.

[etiolation]

I went back again today, this time to find Mary Ann Cayford, buried in e99. (Blodwen's mother)
This grave was also unmarked.

huwanddavid - I was just wondering what that survey you are doing entails? =) Is it to keep a record of everyone buried in the cemetery?

I was hit by how sad it was that it was in such a state of disrepair again, today. It's nice to see an attempt at retaining some of the history there. =)

The numbering system is also very confusing, we found. That's why my family and I were worried we might not have found the right graves. We placed them both in what (I think) it's safe to say would be the E section - in the top left corner of the cemetery as you enter the gate. However, we noticed there were other E rows in the cemetery, as there are sections that go through the entire alphabet.

Could this have been the space originally used for the cemeteries, with the full-letter sections being added when it started to get crowded? I also wondered how these letters are differentiated.

Sorry if these ponderings are unanswerable. xD I thought it was worth a shot.

[GeorgeC1913]

Hiya
My maiden name is Cayford. My dad was George Hampton b1913 he was born in Bath but bought up in Ferndale. His mother was May (nee Page) and father Robert. I know Blodwin shows up in my 'tree' but I'm not too sure where. Will do some more digging and see where it leads

Regards

Trish x