Powell01x.htm

Immediately after their marriage in 1868, Rees Powell (#13) and Catherine moved from Pyle to Cold Brook Fawr Farm in the parish of St. Andrews Major. It is not yet clear what the historical link was between this farm and the Powell family, but it is clear that it had been farmed by various members of the Powell family - Rees and Catherine took over from Rees' brother Gwillim and his wife Catherine, who had spent the first few years of their married life there together, and when Rees and Catherine left there in the late 1879's, they were followed by Rees' sister Anne and her husband Morgan Howell, who farmed there for a further twenty years or more. It is also interesting to note that the adjacent farm, Little Cold Brook, was in the hands of another Powell - a certain Rev.Gabriel Powell - to whom no connection has yet been established.

It was at Cold Brook Fawr that both Sarah Powell (#11), my grandmother, and Maggie (#39), her sister, were born; also two more siblings, Mary and Griffith, both of whom died in infancy. Rees and Catherine and their two young daughters returned to Pyle before 1880, when the local directory shows Rees as publican at New House Inn. By 1881, the census shows the family at Pyle Shop and Rees' occupation as Grocer. The 1881 census shows Cold Brook Fawr occupied by Morgan and Annie Howell and their three children, Arthur Gomer and Edith. Interesting to note that young Arthur, aged 6, is shown in the census as "British Subject born in America". So another Ty Draw Powell (in this case Rees' sister Anne/Annie) has spent time in America prior to moving to St.Andrews. Could it be that their father had established a "Grand Tour" for them all which involved a period on a family farm in the USA followed by a period farming Cold Brook Fawr. It certainly starts to look that way. We must find the farm in the USA!

We must also find something much closer to home - "Pyle Shop". Rees and Catherine were to remain there until at least 1895; Griffith David had been there for a number of years - certainly there in 1861 - and old family notes indicate that Griffith had been "brought up by his uncle Dr.Llewellyn who ran Pyle Shop". When both Griffith David and, later, Rees Powell, held the New House Inn, they were referred to in contemporary directories and census returns as "Publican and Grocer" so could it be that Pyle Shop had been next to, or even a part of New House Inn? Today Pyle has many shops, and the main parade of shops, strategically placed at the main crossroads, near the church, is perhaps the logical place for a central shop in the old village, and yet the census enumerator's route in 1861, the only census in which Pyle Shop is specifically mentioned by name, seems to suggest that it was in fact much further East, towards the Ty Draw end of the village, closer to the lane that runs from the main road down to the New House Inn. More work to do here!

What we can be sure of is that by 30 June 1896, Rees had retired and the family had moved from Pyle Shop to "Greenfields", Pyle. On the marriage certificate of daughter Sarah and William Wiltshire Davies, Rees is said to be a "retired tradesman", and a poem written by the local poet Sarah Richards to celebrate the happy event, the Powell family address is given as "The Greenfields", the address at which Rees and Catherine are still living at the time of the 1901 census. The House in the family photograph taken at the time of Sarah and William's marriage, is probably "The Greenfields". Sarah and William are standing in the doorway; to the left are Sarah's mother and father, Catherine and Rees, and far left, seated is Sarah's brother William. Seated to the right are Margaret and Thomas Powell of Grove Farm, Newton. Margaret is Catherine's sister and Thomas is Rees' brother. Seated in the centre is Gwilym, Margaret and Thomas' youngest son; far right, standing, is their daughter, Lily, and between Lily and William is Maggie, Sarah's sister. Two years later, in 1898, it was Maggie's turn to marry. She married Willliam Nicholas Howell, (#72) and Lily was one of her witnesses. Three years after that, Lily married William's brother, John Rees Howell (#752). In March 1900, Maggie and Sarah's young brother William joined the Merchant Navy as a boy apprentice, so by the time of the 1901 census, Rees and Catherine were alone at "The Greenfields". Shortly after this, they moved to a smaller house in Cowbridge Road, Bridgend, where Rees died in 1909, aged 77. At about this time, William (#38) left for Australia, where he was to start a new branch of the Powell family.