Post by catrin on Jan 11, 2007 16:48:04 GMT 1
I am researching the Richards line in my husband's family history. I can go back as far as William Richards, who was born in Gellideg, Merthyr Tydfil, in 1801. According to the record of his birth, his parents were Daniel Richard 1762 - 1829, and Ann Thomas 1764 - 1833, both born in Merthyr Tydfil.
William Richards worked in the iron industry, probably at Cyfartha, although I don't know for certain. I know nothing of him then until his marriage. He married Jane Nicholas b.1804 who was from Wickwar in Gloucestershire. They married in 1826 at St. John's Church, Brecon, and on the record of the marriage it states that Jane was a spinster of that parish. (I can't figure out why Jane or her family would have moved to Breconshire from Wickwar. Wickwar was known as a place where beer was brewed, - could that be the connection, or was it the iron industry?)
However, as an experienced ironworker, William Richards was one of the Welsh ironworkers recruited to go to France to assist in starting up the French iron industry. Through the kind efforts of a librarian at Merthyr Tydfil Library, I have been able to find out that a Frenchman, Emile Martine, established foundries at Decazeville for the French Duke Deazes in 1829. Through further research I have found records of William Richards and his family at Decazeville, France, including the birth certificates of his children, all written in French. His 6 children were born in France, although two died soon after they were born. (His daughter, Sarah b.1840, is my husband's great grandmother. She married an ironworker, George Baker, who was working in the Cwmbran ironworks, although he came originally from Somerset where he had worked as an agricultural labourer. As the iron industry declined, he and his family moved on to where there was work, - Tondu, Maesteg, Llanelli, and finally to Stockton-on-Tees by 1881.)
William Richards returned from France sometime between 1848 and 1851. He and his family are on the 1851 census living in Govilon, Monmouthshire. William's occupation was an iron baller.
I have only come across one other person who had ancestors who went to Decazeville as iron workers. Is there anyone in Merthyr who knows anything about this group of ironworkers who went to France?
William Richards worked in the iron industry, probably at Cyfartha, although I don't know for certain. I know nothing of him then until his marriage. He married Jane Nicholas b.1804 who was from Wickwar in Gloucestershire. They married in 1826 at St. John's Church, Brecon, and on the record of the marriage it states that Jane was a spinster of that parish. (I can't figure out why Jane or her family would have moved to Breconshire from Wickwar. Wickwar was known as a place where beer was brewed, - could that be the connection, or was it the iron industry?)
However, as an experienced ironworker, William Richards was one of the Welsh ironworkers recruited to go to France to assist in starting up the French iron industry. Through the kind efforts of a librarian at Merthyr Tydfil Library, I have been able to find out that a Frenchman, Emile Martine, established foundries at Decazeville for the French Duke Deazes in 1829. Through further research I have found records of William Richards and his family at Decazeville, France, including the birth certificates of his children, all written in French. His 6 children were born in France, although two died soon after they were born. (His daughter, Sarah b.1840, is my husband's great grandmother. She married an ironworker, George Baker, who was working in the Cwmbran ironworks, although he came originally from Somerset where he had worked as an agricultural labourer. As the iron industry declined, he and his family moved on to where there was work, - Tondu, Maesteg, Llanelli, and finally to Stockton-on-Tees by 1881.)
William Richards returned from France sometime between 1848 and 1851. He and his family are on the 1851 census living in Govilon, Monmouthshire. William's occupation was an iron baller.
I have only come across one other person who had ancestors who went to Decazeville as iron workers. Is there anyone in Merthyr who knows anything about this group of ironworkers who went to France?