David Family History
Our David family story starts with the marriage in 1795 of David David and Gwenllian Llewellyn.
Further research is required to trace the origins of David David. All
we know for the moment is that he was a farmer at Llangewydd Court in
the parish of Laleston and that he was born in or about 1773. One
of the difficulties we have encountered in researching the David family
is the fact that they have frequently appeared in parish registers and
other records as Davis or Davies, and indeed, at least one branch of
the family finally became Davies as we shall see.
Between
1796 and 1818 David and Gwenllian produced ten children. For reasons
which we don't yet understand, the first six children were not baptised
shortly after birth, as was the custom, but when the seventh child
arrived in November 1811, all seven David children were presented for
baptism at Laleston St.David's: Thomas (aged 15), Howell
(12), Martha (9), David (7), Griffith (4), John (2), and Anne
(newborn) - were baptised together on the eleventh of November 1811
(i.e. 11-11-11 ). Until further evidence turns up we can only guess at
the reasons for this, and the significance - if any - of the
date. The three children born after that - in 1814, 1816 and 1818
- were baptised at St.David's, conventionally, shortly after they were
born.
All
ten David children survived to maturity, but the 1820's must have been
a tough time for the family because three of the sons - Thomas, David
and John - all died in their late teens and twenties, to be
followed a few years later by their younger brother Robert, who
also died, unmarried, at the age of 26. Our research has concentrated
on three of the surviving siblings, two of whom remained in the area -
Griffith, who married Margaret Jones and ran the New House Inn and Pyle
Shop , and Anne, who married Robert Lougher Morgan of Marlas Farm.
Margaret Jones and Robert Morgan both outlived their partners, Griffith
dying in 1863, after 28 years of marriage, and Anne in 1877 after forty
years with Robert, and by 1881 widow Margaret and widower Robert
had come together and remarried, for in the 1881 census we find them
together as man and wife at Marlas Farm - see Morgan Family Connections.
The third David sibling whose traces we have followed - as a result of research by his descendant Lynne Davis
of British Columbia - is Evan David. Unlike his brothers and
sisters, following his marriage to Elizabeth Loveluck, Evan left the
area and became one of the few individuals in our family tree who left
farming for mining. Evan and Elizabeth moved to the Aberdare area where
they spent the rest of their lives, and they adopted the surname Davies
( see Other Davies Families ).
At New House Inn, in North Cornelly, Pyle, Griffith David and his wife Margaret
brought up six children - two boys (Thomas and George) and four
girls (Mary, Margaret, Catherine and Anne). The first of the children
to marry was Mary, who married James Loveluck in 1858. Mary and James
took over the running of New House Inn, and Griffith and Margaret and
the rest of the family moved to nearby Pyle Shop, where Griffith died
in 1863.In
1866, Thomas married farmer's daughter Cecilia Leyshon and the couple
moved to Aberdulais in the Neath Valley, where Thomas worked as a
clerk in a tinplate works and they raised a family of six
children; in 1867 Margaret married local farmer Thomas Powell, and six
months later Catherine married Thomas' brother, our great
grandfather, Rees Powell. This was Rees' second marriage, his first
wife, Margaret - Catherine's cousin - having died tragically at the age
of 30.
Another tragic death occurred shortly afterwards - James Loveluck died,
aged only 39, leaving Mary, a widow with five young children, to run
New House Inn alone. This she appears to have done succesfully
until 1876, when she remarried. Her new husband was her brother-in-law,
Edward Powell, youngest brother of Margaret's husband Thomas, and
Catherine's husband Rees. At this time Mary and the the five young
Loveluck children moved to Edward's farm
- Turnip House, Tythegston, and it was the turn of Rees and
Catherine to return to Pyle to run New House Inn, and later
Pyle Shop. By this time, Rees and Catherine had two daughters -
Margaret and Sarah (our grandmother). Another daughter, Kate, was born
in 1877 but did not survive infancy, but a little later, in 1883,
Margaret and Sarah were presented with a young brother named William. For the rest of the story of this family see The Powells of Pyle.