The Colourfully Blue Carmarthenshire Ancestors of Paul Daniels..

Guest post by GREG HOWES  a professional genealogist who worked with Paul Daniels and others on the BBC programme "Coming Home"

When we think of Paul Daniels the magician, most of us would think of an entertainer from the North of England, but much of Paul Daniel’s family history resides squarely in the County of Carmarthenshire, as I was about to find out whilst researching as a freelance genealogist for the BBC television programme “Coming home”.

David Daniel - a conventional policeman with a very colourful love life. 
Two of Paul’s direct ancestors were Policemen within the County.  The most recent was Paul’s Great Grandfather -  David Augustus Woozley Daniel 1855-1945.

David Daniel spent most of the early part of his working life in the Police force as Police Constable in Carmarthenshire and his police diaries are housed in Carmarthenshire archives. 

David’s diaries are both legible and concise and give us an insight into the day to day problems he was up against - drunkenness, selling liquor without a licence, stealing and disturbing the peace.  As a Police Constable, David lived and worked at many varying places around the County. Llandeilo (late 1870s), Conwil Elfed (early 1880s), and latterly Ferryside, where his beats included Kidwelly, and Llansaint.

David joined the police force as a “second class Constable”, PC Number 25, on May 19^th, 1877. It says on his record that was aged 24 years and 6 months, but actually he was only 21 and 6 months.

He was described on the “Candidate for the Situation of Police Constable” form, as

Complexion = florid,

Height = 5 feet 81/2 inches

Eyes = Grey

Hair = dark brown

He was single at the time of joining the police force and he described his previous employment as, Fireman and Shoemaking.

One of the three signatures for his recommendation for the police force was from a local Vicar Rev Latimer M Lewis.

The conduct clause these witness signed read as this: -

“He is sober, honest, and of good temper; and that his connexions and associates are respectable”.

David’s only noted, misconduct is in the “Police and defaulters book (box 93), and was entered as follows, “that on the June, 15^th, 1878 he was unable to prove a case of drunkenness at the “Petty Sessions” without consulting his diary, which had to be produced in Court.  He was fined 10 shillings for this misconduct”. 

He continued his roll as a local bobby until he quit the Police force in 13.11.1897 at his wife’s request.  Margaret, his second wife apparently did not want to move to Llanelli so she made him resign from the force.

David’s domestic life was somewhat unconventional and Paul’s Grandfather was born out of wedlock to the older sister of his second wife, who was also the niece of his first wife!

As you can see family history can at times be a very tangled knot indeed.

David Woozley - a less than conventional policeman.
The other policeman in the family was Paul’s Great, Great, Great Grandfather David Woozley,1784-1866.

David Woozley was a very colourful character and we first find him serving in Carmarthenshire Militia in Ireland in 1801-1802. After that he served as a member of the Carmarthenshire “Watch and Ward”, which was like stop gap between the old medieval policing and the police force as we know them today.  David was first noted as being part of this in 1828, eight years before an established Police Force in Carmarthen was created.

Not only was there all of the trouble that came along with Carmarthen having a busy port, there as also regular outbreaks of political violence between the “reds” and the “blues”. The blues were the Tories, and the reds Wigs, both were organised by the counties upper classes.

David Woozley was appointed to the Borough Force in 1836, the year the Carmarthen police force started. Many of the first policemen were ex jailbirds and or drunks, too lazy to do an honest days work.

David died at the ripe old age of 81 while still occupying the role as Police Station house keeper, which he had held for 30 years. Many members of the police force attended as pall-bearers at the funeral which was said to have been the largest and most respectable of its kind ever witnessed in Carmarthen.

David Woozley was directly involved in the Rebecca Riots uprising of 1843, a very turbulent time in the history of Carmarthenshire. Details to follow in a later post. 

A Love Story for Santes Dwynwen's Day.( The Welsh St Valentines Day)

This is the true story of  how love conquers all... but only if you're prepared to be very patient.

Bronwen and Dai were born around the time of the First World War to farming families in the parish of Llanboidy in west Carmarthenshire. Bronwen was a distant cousin of my Mother's and it is she who told me this story.

Bronwen  came from a progressive farming family that believed in giving their daughters every opportunity in life. They were a large family and Bronwen was considered the "beauty"  but not the most academic. Nevertheless, she was sent away to a good school to further her education and experiences but decided after she finished her education to stay on the farm to help her mother run the busy household.

Dai was a farmer's son from Pencwnc Farm, Llanboidy. Dai was also good looking with an open happy face that matched his mild good nature.

When Bronwen and Dai meet there was an instant attraction and to no one's surprise they fell in love. An engagement soon followed and Bronwen excitedly prepared herself for a life as a farmer's wife at Pencnwc Farm.

But there were two major difficulties to overcome  - Dai's sister and Dai's soft heart.

Dai's parents had now passed away but Dai's sister lived on the farm with Dai. She had no interest in the farm, no interest in marrying and no interest in sharing the house with another woman. She refused point blank to accept Bronwen as a sister in law.

It may seem odd to us looking at things from today's perceptive that Dai would have tolerated his sister's attitude but she had every right to stay on the farm and the farm was Dai's liveihood. If he moved away he would have had nothing. He was also the type of man who wouldnt throw his weight around - he wanted everyone to be happy.

Bronwen was also a very mild mannered person but after the situation had dragged on for almost 20 YEARS, she finally decided enough was enough and announced she was emigrating to America. This wasn't an idle threat, within a couple of months she had sailed the Atlantic to live and work with relatives in the US.

This left Dai completely heart broken but at last galvanised him into action. For the first time in his life he asked his neighbours for help. He arranged for them to look after the farm while he sailed over to America to plead and beg his fiancee to come back home with him. It was unheard  for a farmer to spend more than a day away from the farm at this time and he was the talk of the district. He also took out a loan to enable him to build an extension on the farmhouse as separate accommodation for his sister. She didnt like it at all but Dai was insistent.

This belated plan of action worked and Bronwen returned to Wales to be married and to live out her days at Pencnwc. Sadly, they married too late in life to have children.

I visited the farm in the 1970s with my family and had a wonderful meal with the hospitable Bronwen and Dai. I never saw Dai's sister - she stayed in her part of the house, curtains closed.

Legend has it that she spent her time playing Patience.

Pencnwc Farm is only a couple of miles away from Cefnmeurig Cottage. and was the home of my great great grandparents.

The 10 Best Free Websites for West Wales Family Historians

#1 Genuki (Genealogy UK and Ireland)
Whatever stage you're at with your family history you will need to consult this quite amazingly comprehensive site. It is non-commercial and run by volunteers who know what they're doing. We are very very lucky in west Wales to have one of the most dedicated family historians in the country in Gareth Hicks helping us out. He looks after the Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion (Cardiganshire) and all the parishes relating to the three counties' pages. If it's not listed here it probably doesn't exist.
For Carmarthenshire county and parishes - http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/wal/CMN/
For Pembrokeshire county and parishes -  http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/wal/PEM/
For Ceredigion county and parishes -        http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/wal/CGN/

#2 Welsh Mariners
Even though west Wales is lapped by water on two sides we forget how important the sea was to our ancestors. Roads were virtually non existent and those that did exist were very rough. It would make much more sense to sail from say Aberporth to Milford Haven than try and get there by land. It is well worth checking this Welsh Mariners database  which has been set up as a labour of love by Dr Reg Davies. It contains a fully searchable database of 23,500 mariners covering the period 1800-1945.

 Even if you think that your family had no connection with the sea you may be mistaken - even some small smallholders were known to have owned a  Sloop (small sailing ship) for transport and trade. Sounds idyllic doesn't it? - growing your own veg and sailing at the weekend - back breaking and perilous more like.

#3 National Library of Wales
The question "Have you visited the National Library yet?" should be written in large capitals on every Welsh family historian's brick wall. It must be one of the best positioned National Library's in the world with its uninterrupted view over Cardigan Bay, but it's location in Aberystwyth does make it rather a trek (by road , I've never tried getting there by Sloop).

I digress - the reason I've included their website in the "Top 10" is because of their digitised and searchable database of pre 1858 Welsh Wills. You can spend hours checking to see whether there is a will in existence for various ancestors but it's undoubtedly a very useful resource.

In the old days you had to ask the Library for a parish listing and then order a copy of the will. I have the listings for the following parishes - CMN Llangan, Henllan Amgoed, Llanboidy, Llangynin, Llanwinio, Meidrim, Llandysilio; CGN Llandygwydd, Llangoedmor, Llangrannog, Penbryn; PEM Walton East, Llanbedr Felffre. I would be happy to email anyone a copy of the part of  the listings if they thought it would be useful for their research.


#4  Welsh Archives
If you're at the second stage of your research and have exhausted all the standard sources such as census data, wills and Births, Marriages and Death then a search through the Welsh Archives might prove fruitful.
This website covers all  catalogued collections held by all 13 local government archive services in Wales plus the Welsh University archives, National Library, National Museum and Royal Commission for Ancient Monuments in Wales archives.
The catalogues can be browsed, text searched or indexed searched. I particularly like the fact you can browse the archive as you might find something you didn't even know you were looking for. There is a fair amount of information for each indexed item but you will not be able to view the item itself online, you will have to visit or contact the archive repository for that.
There is always the hope that hidden in a quiet corner of a collection, that nobody has taken any notice of, there will be a 1872 transcript of all the gravestones in all the chapels and  all the churches in west Wales.
If I find it - you'll see it here first.!

#5 Plwyf Llangynfelyn 
I wish I had some ancestors in the north Cardiganshire parish of Llangynfelyn as all the relevant transcripts can been found on this great little site. Many aspire to record online all the historical documents of their favourite parish but most give up before the task is completed. The site hasn't been updated since 2006 but that doesn't matter as all the work has been done. You will find census records, parish records, chapel records, tithe records, maps and photos. It's a joy to navigate and full marks to the individuals behind the project.

#6  Ceredigion Archives "The Search Room by the Sea"
There is something very heartwarming when you come across someone who really loves their work and this is certainly the case with Helen Palmer, the Ceredigion County Archivist. She not only loves her job but she also loves people and positively encourages and promotes the study of Cardiganshire history and genealogy. The website reflects this. The collections have been transcribed  with a large amount of detail, useful to the family historian, available on the site.


#7 Returns of Owners of Land 1873
There were very few large land owners in west Wales in the 19th century but there were hundreds of people of owned small farms and small parcels of land. This site has digitised copies of this important document - The Return of Owners of Land 1873. Everyone who owned more than an acre in 1873 is listed here.

#8 Dyfed Family History Society
The Society members have put a lot of work in indexing the 1830 Pigots Directories, listing and photographing all the churches and chapels in the three counties and compiling a Place Name Directory. They have made it freely available here.

#9 Brawdy Books
This really is a hidden gem of a site. It contains details of the archive of Francis Jones, probably west Wales' finest Genealogist. He lived a life full of intellectual romance and physical adventure and spent 70 years studying and writing about the families and history of west Wales. It is well worth searching the site to see whether Mr Jones wrote something witty and observational about your ancestors.

#10  Pembrokeshire Archives
This local authority Records website has their catalegue online, with a great deal analysed down to item level.

These are my personal favourites but I'm sure there are others out there that I've missed. Please let me know about YOUR personal favourites and why they have been helpful to you.

Where there's a Will...

I've accumulated dozens of papers over the last few years, mostly wills from Llangynin and neighbouring parishes. These are fascinating documents as they give us a glimpse into rural life in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. Two things have struck me:

1) Bad handwriting and bad spelling are not modern phenomena;
2) How few possessions our ancestors had.

For example, according to her will, Catherine Morris of the parish of Llangynin had the following possessions in 1687:
Two cows
Two heifers
15 sheep
8 lambs
One pig
One boar
Three old blankets and some old bedding
One little brass pot
One baking stone
One stand, one old chest

There are a few other bits and pieces I can't decipher but there does not appear to be a bed listed. Catherine probably piled her old bedding on top of a wooden pallet type structure every night. She would have spent virtually every daylight hour out of doors, which was just as well as the house would have been horrendously smoky from the fire. There may not even have been a chimney, the smoke given the freedom to find its own way out, via Catherine's lungs, no doubt.

The diet probably would have been reasonable with milk, meat, butter and vegetables  in good supply depending on the time of year...and Welsh Cakes cooked on the bake stone of course! There are plenty of springs in the parish but many are high in iron oxide which wouldnt have been pleasant to drink and would have the added disadvantage of turning your hair green! High concentrations of iron can cause high blood pressure and kidney problems too.  

In case I've put you off staying in the parish - modern UV filtration removes the iron from the water and I've never seen anyone with green hair within 5 miles of Cefnmeurig Cottage. 

Extreme Welsh Patronymics ( or a very Ap post)

The abbreviations "ap" meaning "son of" (e.g. John ap John) or "vch" meaning "daughter of" (e.g. Margaret vch John) were used in older wills and documents but rarely with as much style as one 18th century Welsh bankrupt. He signed himself as:

“Siôn ap William ap Siôn ap William ap Siôn ap Dafydd ap Ithel Fychan ap Cynrig ap Robert ap Iorwerth ap Rhyrid ap Iorwerth ap Madoc ap Ednawain Bendow called after the English fashion...John Jones”


Love it. 

Children of Cefnmeurig Cottage Cause Confusion.

The search for one's roots is not a fashionable new pastime in Wales; it has always been popular.

Writing in 1899, J Gwenogvryn Evans said:

"A considerable section of the community takes the most astonishing interest in the subject of pedigrees... The writer has found it difficult to swallow his soup with grace as he listens to "a descendant of Rhodri Mawr" wondering if there was no way of recovering some of the family estate, which was so extensive in the year 946."

Six centuries earlier, the half-Norman, half-Welsh Gerald Cambrensis (whose mother was Nest, "the Helen of Wales", incidentally) wrote:

" ...Even the common people retain their genealogy, and can, not only readily recount the names of grandfathers and great-grandfathers but can refer back to the sixth or seventh generation."

He could have been talking about me. I am a common person and I can recount the names of my grandfathers and great grandfathers. I also know the name of my sixth times great grandfather, living at Cefnmeurig. And my mother's name is Nest.

Luckily, the 1747 will of John Rees of Keven Meyrick survived and proved the link. This is an important document not only for the family but also for the parish as it gives an indication of when surnames were fixed in the area.

Up until the 19th century (in some rural areas) the Welsh used an ancient PATRONYMIC naming system whereby the children of a marriage took their Father's forename as their surname (or very occasionally mothers). As a result surnames were not fixed and changed from generation to generation.

For example: my John Rees had three sons, John, William and David. 
The three sons went by the names of:
John John or John John Rees;
William John or William John Rees
David John or David John Rees

John John had a son, David, who was known as David John 
William John also had a son, David, who was known as David William

Thereafter all David John's descendants had the surname JOHN and all David William's descendants had the surname WILLIAM OR WILLIAMS.


This goes some way to explain why the pool of Welsh surnames is so small, most having derived from a quite limited number of forenames, popular at the time surnames were fixed.