howells (General)

by shepway , Thursday, June 30, 2016, 10:48 (3069 days ago) @ howells2262

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