Mary (#279), Rees & Elizabeth's eldest child, was the first to leave home, and at the age of 22, in June 1783, she married Francis Cole (#983) of Swansea. Francis worked as a tidewaiter, the name given in those days to a customs officer who boarded and inspected incoming ships. Mary and Francis Cole lived in Swansea at first, and their son, Rice (#984) was born there. Next, it was Elizabeth's turn; she married William Prees (#428), a farmer of Cadoxton-juxta-Neath, at St. Baglan's on 28 August 1785. Elizabeth and William Prees raised a family of eight children at Coed Iarll, Cadoxton. William was one of the witnesses a few years later at St. Mary's Church, Aberavon, when Rees Powell (#100) married 19 year-old Anne Jenkin (#101); the marriage of Rees and Anne took place on 29 December 1792 . Six weeks later, on 16 February 1793, it was the turn of Rees' elder brother, William (#417). William married Elizabeth Savours(#418). More research is required to determine which farm in Baglan William and Elizabeth took over (Ty Newydd, Blaen Baglan?), but it is clear from the parish registers that the couple remained in the parish for at least another fifteen years, during which time they baptised eight children at St.Baglan's. During the 1790's Rees (#100) appears to have taken over the running of Stickle Wen, and during this time Jehoshaphat left home to take over the tenancy of a corn mill and adjoining small farm a few miles down the coast in the hamlet of Llanmihangel, close to Pyle. It was at Llanmihangel Mill that Jehoshaphat and Elizabeth, née Thomas, (#18), started their married life together, following the ceremony at St. Mary's Church, Margam, on 14 December 1800.

So, by the end of the eighteenth century, all of Rees and Elizabeth's five children were married, independent, and starting to produce a new generation of Powells. Rees (#100) and Anne (#101) raised a family of seven children in Baglan. The first to arrive was a girl, named Elizabeth (#412), after Rees's mother, baptised on 25 August 1793 at St. Baglan's. Then followed their first son, Rees (#15), destined to be my great-great grandfather. He was baptised on 10 November 1796 at St. Baglan's. There followed a further five children: Mary (#112) in 1798, Edward (#415) in 1800, Joan (#413) in 1802, Jennet (#416) in 1805, and William (#414) in 1809, all baptised at St. Baglan's Church, Baglan. Also in Baglan, William (#417) and Elizabeth (#418), baptised eight children between 1793 and 1807, (Mary, Elizabeth, William, Catherine, Anne, Margaret, Rees and Jennet). Meanwhile, in Llanmihangel, Jehoshaphat and Elizabeth were just as prolific, producing nine children between January 1802 and June 1814, including first-born son - yet another Rees Powell (#119), followed by Griffith, Elizabeth, Rachel, Mary, James, Jehoshaphat, Anne and William. The chart below shows the 38 grandchildren of Rees and Elizabeth.