John Owen c 1800 Grocer

[diana]

Dear list,

I have a John Owen c 1800 who married Eliza Jenkins by marriage bond in 1820 in Y Faenor (Vaynor).

Why would anyone be married by a bond and not by banns please?

thanks
Diana

[rachelb]

I've just copied this from the source on Google.
Marriage Bond
<Back to Last Page> <Glossary Index>

Related Terms
• banns
• consent affidavit
• dowry
• marriage record


Definition: In earlier times, a marriage bond was given to the court by the intended groom prior to his marriage. It affirmed that there was no moral or legal reason why the couple could not be married and it also affirmed that the groom would not change his mind. If he did, and did not marry the intended bride, he would forfeit the bond. The bondsman, or surety, was often a brother or uncle to the bride, not necessarily a parent. The bondsman could also be related to the groom, or even be a neighbor or friend, but those situations occurred less often.

There are other sites, which you might find useful, with more information.
Sincerely,
Rachel Bowen

[diana]

Dear Rachel,

thank you so much for your reply and my apologies for being so long getting back to you.

I do have Jones family at Dolfor Hall, Ceri Montg. so this John Jones the crier of Brecon and Breconshire could be one of them. I also have a John Jenkins as vicar of Cery (Ifor Ceri).

thank you again I will pursue this line further.
Diana

[rachelb]

Hello, Hope the info was useful.
I also have a relative who was recorded on the marriage cerificate (about 1867) of his son, John William Bowen, as coming from Vaynor (Vinor, Faenor, Y faenor etc). His name was William Bowen, and we cannot find a birth or death record for him. I have just discovered that as well as the Vaynor near Merthyr, there is also a Vaynor in Pembrokeshire, and family legend has it that the family originated in Pembrokeshire. I haven't yet got any more information about the Pembrokeshire Vaynor.
I may be mistaken about the 'right' Vaynor, but if you can tell me anything about 'your' Vaynor, I would be greatful. I live in France, but will be going to the U.K. in October. Won't have much time, but will try and find out more then.
Sincerely,
Rachel Bowen

[FAO Rachel]

Dear Rachel, I am sorry to say that I know very little about Vaynor/Y faenor except that on the marriage record and bond it gives the county as Breconshire and not Glamorgan! It must be very close to the border of the two counties.

I think that my Jenkins family must have come from Merthyr as I have just found another Isaac Jenkins in Argoed, Bedwelty (not far away) working as a shopkeeper in 1841 and 1851. He married Eleanor at Bedwelty in 1831. It is a good profession as my Jenkins were all in trade. My great grandfather x 2 was Isaac Jenkins, victualler, bapt. 1809 Bedwelty who married Elizabeth Watson in 1839.

Do you have your John William Bowen on all the censuses?

best wishes
Diana

[rachelb]

Hello,
No We don't have him on all the censuses
They also lived in Bedwellty at one time, and then moved to Liverpool (West Derby to begin with) and on the 1901 census, he wasn't at home. We finally found him on his 'travels' in South Wales.
He had been a schoolmaster, British Schools, and then a salesman for a book publisher, Castillion on one census.
The problem is I can find very little about British Schools, and even less about a book publisher or bookseller called Castillion.
I suspect that the books were religious, church or school books. My father always said that this John William died on Abergavenny Station, he had in fact collapsed on the station, and died at his brother's house in 1904. It took my cousin and I ages and ages to find out the record of J.W.'s death.

I expect you have the same sort of problem trying to trace your forbears, the problem with Welsh names is that there are so many with the same name. The other problem is that the search engines on various sites do not always turn up what you are looking for.
Perhaps we ought to be in touch directly as we seem to be covering the same physical territory.
The other problem one finds is that places have 'changed their address' that is, those on borders with other counties are often re-attributed to other counties - this is the case with Breconshire, Glamorgan and Monmouthshire. And some villages were even in more than one county as the village spanned the boundary.

Sincerely,
Rachel Bowen
Alan George will give you my e-mail, I don't want to put it in the forum as I get enough spam mails as it is.

[Fao Rachel]

Dear Rachel, Alan George does not seem to have sent me your email...........

All my spam are filtered out so contact me at

[e-mail]

Diana

[minstrel]

Eliza Jenkins: do you know her parents & their dates? We have an Eliza of not disimilar dates. Her parents were ??Jenkins father & Elizabeth?? mother. We believe Elizabeth's dates were circa 1786-circa 1849.

[Eliza Jenkins]

Dear Minstrel,

Eliza Jenkins 1804 Bedwelty married John Owens 1799 Gelligaer

Parents of Eliza
Richard Jenkins 1776 - 1843 (buried in Bedwelty churchyard)
Ann nee Moss 1782 Leeds - 1851 ( ditto)
Married at Bedwelty in 1800.
Richard is listed as gentleman on many documents but I think that he was involved with iron ore mining before he took over several inns in Tredegar from around 1820. Marsden family (Llanfair silver mines) are very involved with my Jenkins

Let me know!
Diana

[diana]

Sorry forgot to log in for the previous message!!

[minstrel]

Eliza Jenkins: sadly is not a connection to us. So far we've found ours had 2 sons born in Narbeth & 2 daughters, Eliza being one, born in Merthyr. We assume Father Jenkins & wife Elizabeth were from Narbeth originally. Thanks.