Searching for the Bevan family (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Sunday, January 08, 2012, 01:25 (4707 days ago) @ unknown

Hi Paul, welcome to the forum and this great website. Curiously enough my father's mother also spent her last years in Joys Green, she was a Jones from Lydbrook. I'm a little surprised you say there's not much information available about the Forest Bevans, I'd have thought the opposite as I'd guess it quite a common name. Did you know this site's huge database of Parish Records is freely and easily searchable ?. There are 26 "Bevan" PRs for Lydbrook Church alone back to 1850 or so, and probably many more listed in the surrounding/earlier parishes too such as Ruardean, Newland etc, plus the Non Conformist Chapels etc. Thanks for helpfully supplying plenty of helpful names etc.

The great Nye Bevan was born 15 November 1897 in Tredegar, Monmouthshire on the northern edge of the South Wales coalfield and not too far from Dean, the son of miner David Bevan and Phoebe née Prothero, a seamstress.

Using the excellent FreeBMD website I've found your grandparent's marriage;

Surname First name(s) Spouse District Vol Page
Marriages Dec 1932 (>99%)
Bevan Harry Pritchard Ross 6a 1084
Pritchard Mildred L Bevan Ross 6a 1084

ie Marriage of Harry BEVAN & Mildred L PRITCHARD was registered at Ross On Wye in the Quarter upto Dec 1932.

As you can see the Ross district included the area just across the Wye from Lydbrook such as Welsh Bicknor.
http://www.ukbmd.org.uk/genuki/reg/districts/ross.html

I think this is Harry's Death;

Surname Given Name Age District Volume Page Transcriber
Deaths Mar 1955
BEVAN Harry 58 F.of Dean 7b 526 jwaller

NB The FoDean District was created in 1937 and "inherited" Parishes such as Lydbrook, Bicknor, Newland etc from what had been Monmouth District, ie he hadn't necessarily physically moved location himself.

If aged 58 in 1955 this suggests he was born about 1897, suggesting his Birth (from FreeBMD again) to be;

Surname Given Name District Volume Page Transcriber
Births Mar 1897
Bevan Harry Monmouth 11a 21 mardi

ie registered in Monmouth District in the Quarter upto March 1897.
As you can see this large area covers Lydbrook (Newland) etc.
http://www.ukbmd.org.uk/genuki/reg/districts/monmouth.html

Assuming his previous marriage was after he became 18 years old, searching FreeBMD for Harry Bevan (not Harold) gives 12 possibles before 1931. Almost all of these are in adjoining South Wales/Midlands districts, but IF he was married in Monmouth District then this is it;
Surname Given Name Spouse District Volume Page Transcriber
Marriages Jun 1919
Bevan Harry Oldland Monmouth 11a 99 Maggiemay

The wife from this record was Dorothy OLDLAND.
I cannot find a corresponding Death for Dorothy, but this may be because the FreeBMD site is still workinprogress in some localities so some PRs will be missing, or perhaps they just separated...

The ONLY Births I can find registered on the whole FreeBMD site for "Bevan/Oldland" are;
Surname First name(s) Mother District Vol Page
Births Dec 1921 (>99%)
Bevan Cyril Oldland Westbury S. 6a 507
Births Dec 1922 (>99%)
Bevan Beryl Oldland Westbury S. 6a 433
Births Mar 1925 (>99%)
BEVAN Bryan Oldland Westbury S. 6a 421

These look like one family group and are all registered in Westbury On Severn district, ie the Forest of Dean !
http://www.ukbmd.org.uk/genuki/reg/districts/westbury%20on%20severn.html

I do hope these names and dates seem reasonable to you, can you confirm any of them at all ?.

By coincidence Harry shares the same birthyear as Nye Bevan, although Tredegar was in the Bedwelty District of Monmouthshire suggesting that they are not "close" relatives, if at all... http://www.ukbmd.org.uk/genuki/reg/districts/bedwelty.html

Using the above method and www.freeBMD you can also trace your grandmother's line if you wish. http://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/search.pl
However be warned the site is harder to track before 1912 as the Spouse's maiden surname wasn't directly recorded. You can also their children's Records of course.
So far unfortunately I haven't found any of those records on this FoDFH site, or GlosBMD or GlosArchives.

Just for fun, using FreeBMD searching Paul & then Ken Bevan from around 1950 until 1964, I find;

Surname Given Name Mother District Volume Page Transcriber
Births Sep 1957
BEVAN Paul JENKINS F.of Dean 7b 575 BabzM

Giving (from GlosBMD site) http://ww3.gloucestershire.gov.uk/bmd/MainMenu.aspx

BEVAN Kenneth Gordon marries JENKINS Mary, Forest of Dean District, Forest of Dean Register Office, 1956.

Hopefully this "best guess" is correct ?. Obviously there are more possible dates and spouse's names, there were several Ken Bevans in the area in those days. More importantly I hope this has all helped while also showing you how easy and satisfying it can be researching your tree and at no cost. Just as much fun as crosswords and more useful too.

Good luck finding the rest of our tree, its a great shame your family don't seem to be within this site's PRs, or at least not in recent generations.

We now need access to one of the subscription websites, or the 1901/1911 Census's, to confidently determine Harry's parents.
Please can another forum kindly member help, thanks ?? Alternatively Paul you can access the Ancestry subs site for free in your local Library.