howells

am trying to build a family tree for the Howells family tree living in Christchurch
berry hill Fred Howells married Ivie Howells children Norman , Gordon and jean .
is there any body that has got any information or a family tree started could you help please many thanks nick Howells .

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We recommend that as far as possible you carry out your own research but are happy to give you a start.
First of all search the Forum to see if there are any existing posts of the family. A search of the Surname HOWELLS tells us that there is quite a lot but there does not appear to be any direct reference to Frederick Nelson HOWELLS who married Ivy May SMITH in 1935:

Marriages Jun 1935 (source: http://www.freebmd.org.uk/ )
Howells Frederick N Smith Monmouth 11a 61
Smith Ivy M Howells Monmouth 11a 61

The marriage is not included in our Parish Registers and nor can it be found on Glos BMD website and assume that it took place in a Register Office.

The next step is to establish the parents of both Frederick and Ivy and we can find Frederick’s baptism in the Parish Records:
Year: 1908
Month: June
Day: 4
Parents_Surname: HOWELL
Child_Forenames: Frederick Nelson
Fathers_Forenames: Albert
Mothers_Forenames: Catherine
Mothers_Surname:
Residence: Ninewells
Occupation: Collier
Officiating_Minister: C Barnes
Event: Baptism
Memoranda: Born May 18 1908
Notes:
Register_Reference: P82 IN 1/6
Page_Number: 6
Parish_Chapel: Christchurch

but a Baptism for Ivy May does not appear to be listed.

Frederick and Ivy are listed in the 1939 Register (available to Find My Past subscribers) as follows:
FIRST NAME(S) LAST NAME(S) DOB SEX OCCUPATION MARITAL STATUS SCHEDULE SCHEDULE SUB NUMBER
Nelson F (Frederick Nelson) Howells 18 May 1908 Male Coal Hewer, Heavy Worker Married 4 1
May I Howells 20 Jan 1912 Female Unpaid Domestic Duties Married 4 2

There were living at Five Acres near The Rising Sun (now known as The Gamekeeper) and we now have Ivy May’s date of birth so hopefully we can find it in the Birth Index.

A search of the Birth Index for Ivy SMITH born in Monmouth Registration District (we assume she was a local girl) in the first 2 quarters of 1912 produces a negative result so on the face of it we have hit a brick wall. This could possibly be breached by obtaining copy of the marriage certificate for Frederick and Ivy as hopefully this will give us the name if Ivy’s father.

It just happens that there is a HOWELLS Family Tree on Ancestry and this tells us that Ivy May’s mother was Jessie Elizabeth BUTCHER and from this we find the following entry in the Birth Index:

Births Mar 1912
Butcher Ivy M Butcher Monmouth 11a 56

and this subsequent marriage:
Marriages Jun 1915
Butcher Jessie Smith Monmouth 11a 92
Smith Thomas H Butcher Monmouth 11a 92

Now that we have got you started and pointed you to resources see if you are able to take the line back further and if you have problems come back to the Forum where you will find a number of very helpful and able researchers.
Mike

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Hi Nick,
welcome to the forum. As per Mike's post, sometimes the trickiest part of tracing a tree is finding the most recent branches, because records pertaining to possibly-living people are less-available to the public. For earlier records the National Census' are a great source of detailed information, but the most recent one that is publically available is the 1911 Census. Before that they were taken every 10 years back to the first in 1841. More recent Census' are not available to view, except the recently-released 1939 Register which Mike has given you.

For general guidance, this recent post should help you,
http://www.forest-of-dean.net/fodmembers/index.php?id=47250

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Searching FreeBMD for births to parents HOWELLS and SMITH in FoDean District gives this likely group(datewise wrt their 1935 marriage) of candidates, which fit your known names too;

Surname First name(s) Mother District Vol Page
Births Mar 1939 (>99%)
Howells Norman L Smith F.of Dean 6a 440

Births Mar 1941 (>99%)
Howells Gordon F Smith F. of Dean 6a 644

Births Sep 1942 (>99%)
Howells Jean E Smith F.of Dean 6a 530 S

Births Dec 1942 (>99%)
Howells Ralph Smith F of Dean 6a 500

(Note where says "Mar", for example, this means the Birth was registered by the parents during the Quarter ending March, ie the birth probably took place during the months Jan, Feb or March.) Judging by the dates and lack of a second name I suspect the last Birth, Ralph, is to another couple, not surprising as these are not rare surnames).

http://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/search.pl

However one wonders why baby Norman wasn't included in the 1939 Register which was taken after he was born, in September 1939 ?. Hopefully you can confirm whether or not the above are indeed your family ?.

If they are yours, then GlosBMD has their Marriages, and helpfully gives you their full names;

Marriage Details
Groom Surname Groom Forename Bride Surname Bride Forename District Parish Building Year Register Entry
HOWELLS Norman Leslie MORGAN Margaret Anne Forest of Dean Parkend St Paul 1963 7 85

Marriage Details
Groom Surname Groom Forename Bride Surname Bride Forename District Parish Building Year Register Entry
HOWELLS Gordon Frederick ADAMS Mary Elizabeth Forest of Dean Cinderford Baptist Chapel 1967 8 48

Marriage Details
Groom Surname Groom Forename Bride Surname Bride Forename District Parish Building Year Register Entry
CAMERON Malcolm Douglas HOWELLS Jean Eunice Forest of Dean West Dean Christchurch 1970 6 98

As Mike's said, it's more rewarding and sometimes more reliable to do one's own research, a good start might be for you to familiarise yourself with the above websites. It's just a shame that Monmouthshire doesn't have an equivalent website to the excellent GlosBMD one, so tracing Ivy's line may be a little trickier than Fred's. Some of the Census information is available free-of-charge from the FamilySearch site, this old post should help you;
http://www.forest-of-dean.net/fodmembers/index.php?id=47251

Regarding the various subscription websites which give full access to Census' etc, including images of the actual Census forms, the Ancestry site is available to use free-of-charge at most UK public Libraries, plus luckily for you FindMyPast is currently offering free access until the end of this weekend, see this post http://www.forest-of-dean.net/fodmembers/index.php?id=47262

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