Harry BEVAN 1897 -1955 English Bicknor/ Lydbrook (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Sunday, February 05, 2012, 03:22 (4487 days ago) @ slowhands

Paul,
as Slowhands says don't worry about the apparent changes of areas, it doesnt mean people are moving, just the official boundaries are. Over time and as the population of the Forest quickly grew and more churches etc were built, especially during the 1800s, so the official Districts changed as used during Census's. Lydbrook grew especially quickly as the iron industry tookoff. Before this expansion Lydbrook didn't have a Church until 1851, locals had worshipped or were buried at Ruardean or Bicknor including across the Wye in Wales. 1851 was when Lydbrook Parish was created, taking parts of Newland, English Bicknor, Ruardean.

Indeed, occasionally it can appear our Lydbrook area ancestors are Welsh if their BMDs were registered under the Monmouth area hence included within a Wales Census, rather than the "English" Census aka Westbury(on Severn) area which covers the rest of the Forest. Re Westbury, some of my Forest ancestors have been incorrectly transcribed as from Shropshire, as there is a Westbury District there too !. It also doesn't help us being just yards from Herefordshire too; be open-minded before dismissing possible links purely on their apparent "wrong" locality.

The Genuki site is excellent at explaining the various Parish & District names and how they changed with time. Eg note that nearby Ruardean Parish came under Ross District but within Glos County (!?) from 1837 until 1935, then was "moved" into Westbury-O-S district along with Lydbrook, but only til 1937 when they became part of the new Forest of Dean District ! Since 1842 this area was also considered part of the all-encompassing West Dean Parish of Glos, whereas Cinderford etc was East Dean.

SO, when searching Lydbrook area ancestors on the Census Returns, think Monmouth & West Dean, or before that Newland(the oldest local Forest parish).
http://www.ukbmd.org.uk/genuki/reg/districts/ross.html

http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/GLS/Parishes.html#index1

From Slowhands' excellent work, assuming Harry's parents are William Bevan born about 1853 & Jane abt 1851, try searching their BMDs.
Unfortunately from a Records viewpoint if they're Nonconformists they won't be within the FoD site's CofE PRs, but they'll still be within the Official Registers in the FreeBMD site.
So searching FreeBMD for a Marriage of William Bevan to Jane, say after 1873 (Will's 20th year) and upto say 1877(when their children arrive). Use the "Monmouth" district filter as they were born in that area:

Surname First name(s) District Vol Page
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Marriages Dec 1875 (>99%)
BEVAN William Monmouth 11a 87

Remember this is a free website & still ongoing, coverage varies over the UK, but for our area it seems complete.

If you click on the blue "Page" hyperlink, this displays all names recorded on that page of the Register book:

Surname First name(s) District Vol Page

Marriages Dec 1875 (>99%)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BEAVAN William Monmouth 11a 87
BEVAN William Monmouth 11a 87
Morgan Jane Monmouth 11a 87
SMITH Elizabeth Monmouth 11a 87
THOMAS Edwin Monmouth 11a 87

Yes it's a little late for their firstborn, but...
The names are NOT displayed in paired order, and there may be more than two names.
IF you buy a Marriage Certificate for William that WILL show his actual wife from these "possibles". At least there's only one Jane listed....

OR, assume Harry's parents' actual Marriage Record is:

Marriages Dec 1875 (>99%)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BEAVAN William Monmouth 11a 87
BEVAN William Monmouth 11a 87
Morgan Jane Monmouth 11a 87

ie registered the 3 months upto & including Dec 1875.
We can check if Jane is correct by using FreeBMD to search her Birth Record:

Surname Given Name District Volume Page Transcriber
Births Jun 1850
---------------------------------------------------------------
Morgan Jane Monmouth XXVI 110 8910

AND

Surname Given Name District Volume Page Transcribers
Births Jun 1852
---------------------------------------------------------------
BEVAN William Monmouth 11a 21 rissima
Bevan William Monmouth 11a 21 Birdie

Which fits their Census birthyears.
Similarly we can search their children. Searching "Fred" will find all "Frederick"s etc too, however the only record is( I also searched "Beavan" but no hit):

Surname Given Name District Volume Page Transcribers
Births Dec 1874
--------------------------------------------------------------
Bevan Fred Monmouth 11a 43 Creswick
Bevan Fred Monmouth 11a 43 JEANNEDOWN

Births Jun 1874 (>99%)
-----------------------------------------------------------
BEVAN Richard Monmouth 11a 24

[I realise these "actual" dates are odd wrt the Census's but thats not unusual]

Births Mar 1876 (>99%)
-----------------------------------------------------------
BEVAN Sydney Monmouth 11a 28

Births Mar 1877 (>99%)
-----------------------------------------------------------
BEVAN Frank Monmouth 11a 33

AND SO ON............

Occasionally this site makes transcription errors. If you doubt any records you can click the red "info" hyperlink to view a photo of the actual Register Book page.
eg Fred's date looks odd, but checking that the book is clearly showing Dec 1874 (I've seen incorrect transcripts). That said the photo is not of the ORIGINAL register, so...

Now this date is odd wrt the census age & his brother's "birth" just a few months later, has this date has been "adjusted" to suit the parent's Marriage, perhaps.

Anyway, Paul I hope this hasn't been too longwinded and you can finish the family yourself. Yes rather slower than reading Census Returns, but remember these are the Official Registers birthdates not parent's census guestimates.
FreeBMD records only exist from 1837 onwards, so you should be able to find the previous generation with care & a little luck (hopefully less common firstnames).
Also there should be an 1841 Census Record which may even include William & Janes' own elderly parents within the household; that said I didn't see it on the LDS site and I'm sure Slowhands would have looked too.