Help finding DOWLE family, (General)

by ttd0 , Tuesday, March 09, 2010, 11:57 (5448 days ago) @ dsteel

Just to confirm what David has said, we have both been doing a fair bit of work on this and think we are on the right track. I know David has been looking into this for a very long time and this is the best fit found.

Henry Dowle, born in 1795 is the earliest definite ancestor we know of in mine and David's line. I am descended from one of Henry's sons and David from one of his daughters.

The Llangovan baptism records show that Henry Dowle (1795) was the reputed son of Henry Dowle and Sarah Evans. The following year a Henry Dowle of Llangovan married Letitia Williams at Trostrey, they went on to have several children between 1797 and 1830. On each record Henry is shown as a cordwainer. The baptisms of the children were divided between Llansoy and Llangovan, with the family residence changing between the areas but is shown in 1814 as Woolaston.

We know that Sarah Evans was born in 1774 and since Henry had his last child in 1830 assume he must have been about the same age as Sarah, i.e quite young when his first child was born in 1795.

There are no records for a Henry Dowle in Monmouthshire prior to him being named as the reputed father of Sarah Evan's son.

There is a birth record for Coleford of a Henry Dowle, born in 1774, son of John Dowle (possibly born 1741), this seems to be the best match we have ever seen.

There are also no records for Henry Dowle in Monmouthshire after the birth of his last child in 1830 so we assumed he then moved again. There are no records of him dying in the Forest. The 1841 census does show a Henry Dowle, cordwainer, aged 65 living in Bristol with no family so this could be him. However, we cannot find out what happened to his wife and children. There is also a death record for a Henry Dowall in Bristol in 1848.

If this is all correct then Henry had one sibling, a brother called Charles who was born in Coleford in 1772, his descendents all appear to have lived around Lydney and Aylburton with one branch ending up in Cheltenham.

This all kind of fits with a story that has been passed down, that originally two Dowle brothers came to the area with each settling on a different side of the Wye. This fits Henry moving to Monmouthshire and Charles to Lydney. I have known for a while that there were many Dowles in the Forest and given the closeness to Monmouthshire that there was probably a link, this could be it.

Also, as David has posted, the reason why Henry only had one sibling is that possibly their mother died and John Dowle married again.

Regards
Tim Dowle