William LEWIS Viney Hill (General)

by mrsbruso , Thursday, October 28, 2010, 03:48 (5145 days ago)

My great grandfather, William Lewis, was born in Hirwaun (Aberdare) in 1850. He married my great-grandmother, Mary Ann Clarke of Box Tree Cottage, the New Road, near Blakeney on December 25, 1872 at All Saints Church, Viney Hill. My grandfather, Charles, was born at Box Tree Cottage in 1881.

Family history suggests William died of Caisson's Disease during the construction of the Severn Tunnel (when my grandfather was an infant or toddler), but I have been unable to find any supporting documentation for this, or his burial site.

Mary Ann, her second husband, John James, and her mother, Sarah Ann (nee Vining) are all buried at All Saints, Viney Hill, but I have not been able to find William.

I began my search for him 27 years ago, taking buses and riding my bike from registration district to registration district. The vicar was kind enough to allow me to look through the register at All Saints, so I have seen William's signature on his wedding certificate, and I have his birth certificate, as well as my grandfather's.

At 21 I returned, hoping to put flowers on the graves of the ancestors left behind when my mother's generation settled firmly in Canada and the States. My grandmother had recently passed away and was feeling guilty about not having agreed to return home with my grandfather when he wanted to do so, and I promised her I would find a way to honor them.

I searched through as many cemetaries in Hirwaun and Aberdare as I could, and I have checked the death indices and burial records, but have met with scant success. It's as if he vanished into thin air. . . It's now all these years later, my children are small, my husband deceased and I doubt I will be able to find the time to visit the area to continue my search any time in the near future.

If anyone can offer me any advice on where else I could search for any information on William's death or burial, I would be most grateful for the help.

This whole effort would probably be more simple if my ancestors weren't all named Lewis, Clarke, and Davies . . .