FERNDALE ROBERTSES including Oliver Cromwell!

[ninian]

My plan of Ferndale Cemetery arrived on Friday, so I went up to Ferndale straight away. I had a very useful day, despite the weather – it poured with rain. The plan wasn’t really very much help, and anyway there is the same plan pinned on the notice board in the cemetery. It just divided the cemetery into sections – A to P, but this didn’t help much in locating where for example G136 was, as each section is pretty large. I spent nearly 2 hours in the cemy, didn’t find any of the graves I was looking for and got soaked. I think I’ve established that if my Roberts graves ever had headstones, they are now fallen over or unreadable or the graves have been reused – this is certainly the case with the graves in Section G. However my trip around Ferndale was much more useful than my trip around the cemetery. I found the chapels and Brown Street and where the pit used to be. I hadn’t realised just how close to 30 Brown Street Salem Newydd was – only a hundred yards or so if you cut up through the steps.

I then went on to Treorchy Library in search of Mr Pritchard. He wasn’t there – there is someone on longterm sick so all the librarians have moved around and Mr P is working elsewhere, but the lady now in Treorchy was really helpful. The library has Burial Records for Ferndale Cemy on microfilm, which are searchable by year or burial number. These are really brilliant – I found my Robertses straight away and it was really easy to establish which was the correct James Roberts of the 2 possibilities . In case anyone is interested, this is an e.g. of the info on the records:

JAMES ROBERTS
BURIAL RECORD:
No. 8011
Rhondda Urban District Council acting as a Burial Board.
Notice of Interment in the Ferndale Cemetery.
Christian Name: James Roberts
Description (or if under 21 of parent): Miner
33 Brown St., Ferndale
Age: 37 years
Date of Death: 12 August 1921
Place & Parish where death occurred: Ferndale, Rhondda
Date of Burial: Wed. 17 Aug 1921
Hour of funeral: 3.30
Name of Officiating Minister: Rev D R Beynon
Marks of Graves space: A 40
Whether in consecrated, unconsecrated ground: Uncons.
Whether common, brick grave or vault: Common
Whether exclusive right of Burial in perpetuity purchased, & date: Yes 13 Oct 1921 RB. 19F
If purchased, Name etc. of purchaser: -
Proposed depth of grave: 7 ft
If previous interment state number of last interment: -
Burial Grant Posted: £1 3s 9d
Dated the 15 Aug 1921
Signature of Person giving information: William J Hughes

Because the burial records gave previous interments I found out that a John Hughes and his daughter were buried in the same grave as John James Roberts and Oliver Cromwell Roberts. John Hughes turned out to be James Roberts’ father in law. John Hughes’s burial record said he had died at Ferndale Pit so the librarian produced the ‘Winstanley Collection’ (Mining Deaths in Great Britain), and the Reports of the Inspectors of Mines so from these I found out how he met his death in the mine.

The info on the Burial Records showed that at different times the Robertses and Hughes lived at various addresses in Ferndale: John Hughes and family lived at 2 Graig Terrace in 1896 (does anyone know where this is?), 30 Brown St. (1901), James and Eliz Jane lived at 65 Albany Street in 1908, 30 Brown Street in 1909 and 1911 and were at 33 Brown Street when James died in 1921. So the info I got from the burial records was far more useful than anything I would have got from the headstones … if there had been any.

The librarian also produced a book and a pamphlet on Salem Newydd. The book was by Dr Peter Brooks (2008) - it had loads of details about the chapel and lots about Handel Bowen, and it also proved that Salem was indeed my family’s chapel as the minister who officiated at the burials of James' children was Isaac Jones, the minister of Salem.

So I found out an amazing amount. The only thing I didn’t get much further with was what happened to the 2nd John James Roberts and the 2nd Oliver Cromwell Roberts who were infants on the 1911 census – did they also die young, did they stay in Ferndale or move away? Did James and Elizabeth Jane have more children after 1911 and did any of them stay in Ferndale? The librarian looked to see if there were any Attendance Registers for Ferndale School, as these might have provided the answer, but there weren’t any. She said that the library is getting more school registers coming in all the time, so she will let me know if they come in in the future.

So I'm still hoping to find out about what happened to the Robertses after James died, so if Glyn or anyone gets to hear of any Robertses which might be connected to my James Roberts, please let me know. Some of the family of James’ wife Elizabeth Jane Hughes might still be in Ferndale? A William J Hughes, probably James’ brother in law, provided the burial information for James in 1921. I think as Bob suggested Elizabeth Jane, James’ wife must have remarried so I’m still trying to track her down after 1921. So I shall certainly be paying another visit to Treorchy Library and Ferndale. Even though it was raining I rather liked Ferndale – much nicer than the places I passed through in the Rhondda fawr when I drove through to get to Treorchy Library.

Many thanks to everyone for all the info – I’d never have found out all I have without your help. I think this is a really brilliant site and will continue to visit it.

Regards, Ninian

[Becca54]

penrhys cemetery on the internet somewhere but i can,t find the link now .that is also local too .good luck in finding them

Penrhys is my index, not on the web any longer, anyone need lookups let me know.


David

[GLYN3DEMFYEEND]

Hi Ninian
Glad you had a good day in Ferndale despite the weather (never go to Ferndale without a raincoat !!!).
I have also found the Treorchy Library personell very helpfull they have sent me many interment records of my family who are buried in Ferndale and Penrhys but like you, had difficulty in finding the gravestones especially in Ferndale which as you now know is in a pretty poor state. I shall try again when I go down again later in the year.
You asked about Graig Tce. If you had walked up the hill near the Chapel the next street is Regent St., turn left along Regent St. and Graig Tce is a continuation of Regent St.(have a look on Google)
There has been a wonderful publication of Ferndale life. It comes in two A4 volumes it is entitled "PASSAGES OF LIFE FERNDALE AND DISTRICT" by Alun Arwel Clements. I obtained my copies through my cousin who still lives in Ferndale. There has been references to it in other posts on this site and I think you can contact the auther through this site, if not I'm sure some other members will be able to help you obtain copies if you are interested. It contains some wonderfull old pictures, deals with the mining disasters and all other aspects of early life in Ferndale.
Carry on with the quest
Regards
Glyn

[ninian]

The book "PASSAGES OF LIFE FERNDALE AND DISTRICT" by Alun Arwel Clements sounds very interesting - can anyone tell me how I can get hold of a copy. I imagine that Treorchy Library will have one, so I will ask on my next visit but it would be nice to have my own copy.

Ninian

[mochyn]

The book "PASSAGES OF LIFE FERNDALE AND DISTRICT" by Alun Arwel Clements sounds very interesting - can anyone tell me how I can get hold of a copy. I imagine that Treorchy Library will have one, so I will ask on my next visit but it would be nice to have my own copy.

See the following topic which has all the information you need:
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=19

[ninian]

That's brilliant - many thanks. I shall soon know as much about Ferndale as the rest of you do!

Ninian