The Edwards Family: April 2019

Rebekha Esmond. Now, that is a name that fascinates me. Rebekha lived right down the other end of memory lane. Sometimes documents spell her name as Rebekha, sometimes as Rebecca. Rebecca couldn't read or write so I've a feeling that maybe she didn't care how her name was spelled.
She was baptised on October the first, 1769. Her parents were John and Jane Esmond.

1769

Rebecca came from the village of Burton in Pembrokeshire. It is at the end of a river estuary. There is a pub there now called The Jolly Sailor.

Some time between 1769 and 1790, The Esmond's moved to Nolton.

Nolton Haven is a hamlet halfway along the coast of St Bride's Bay in Pembrokeshire, Wales. It is included within the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. Together with the larger inland village of Nolton which is about 1 km to the southeast and the village of Roch, Nolton Haven falls within Nolton and Roch community. There was coal mining in the area.

Members of this strand of my family would be associated with this area for at least another one hundred years.

1790

In 1790 Rebecca had a baby girl. She was baptised Ann on June the sixth 1790. Ann would be my great great great grandmother.At the time, Rebecca was twenty one years old. The father's name was given as William Griffith.

I've found records for two people called William Griffith that lived in the area at the time.

One is related to William Griffith, son of a glover, also called William Griffith, born April 15th 1775. If he was the father of Ann, then he would have been fourteen at the time of conception.

There is another William Griffith listed in the records. This one was born on June 20th 1779. He was the son of John Griffith, a shoe maker. At the time of conception, this William would only have been eleven.

There is also the possibility that the William in question is another William that can't be found in the archives.

1791

A wooden sailing ship called The Increase was run aground off Druidstone Head. She was carrying a cargo of gunpowder. Rebecca would have been 22 at the time. I haven't found any evidence to place Rebekha anywhere near this event. At this time, she would have been an unmarried mother aged twenty two. Baby Ann would have been just six months old. I can't know for sure what she was doing at the time but personally I hope that she was at home minding the baby. However, it is impossible to believe that she was unaware of the event. Read about the incident here. and here and HERE.

1793

Rebecca married on November the fourteenth 1793. Her husband is named as John Griffith. We should note however that the John Griffith, son of the shoemaker, by now was just fourteen years old.

The John Griffith that married Rebekha was listed as a yeoman. A yeoman would have owned a piece of land. I've been advised that the term 'Yeoman' to describe a land-owning farmer had fallen out of fashion around this time. Maybe John was proud of his farming tradition and showed it in this way.

I've actually found a line of three John Griffith's

John Griffith, the father in this document.

John Griffith, son of a cloth merchant. Born around April 1726.

John Griffith, son of a shoemaker. Born around July 1769.

Could it be that this particular John Griffith was the brother of William Griffith, father to Ann?

The name of the man that officiated at their wedding was Rector Moses Grant. Apparently he endowed a school in the area.

Now, whether it was William or John, it looks as though Rebecca was pregnant at the age of twenty one. Maybe John or William was away, possibly at sea or as part of some military expedition? Maybe upon his return he does the honourable thing and marries Rebecca? Sadly we can only gain vague glimpses of these shadows of the past so we will probably never know.

However, we should consider these things.

In 1793,

John Griffith, son of a cloth merchant. Born around April 1726, was sixty seven years old.

John Griffith, son of a shoemaker. Born around July 1769 was twenty four years old.

John Griffith, wife of Rebekha Esmond left behind one big clue. John Griffith's will is kept in the National Library Wales. The first beneficiary named in John's will is to yet another John Griffith:- his grandson. I'll let you and your imagination fill in the details of this marriage.

1797

In the year 1797 a historic event happened very close to Rebecca and John's home. The Battle of Fishguard was the last time that the mainland of the U.K. was invaded by a foreign force.

Rebecca and John had three (more?) children two girls and a boy. Sadly, the boy died in infancy.

1805

John died in May 1805 If it is the person that I think that he was, he was seventy nine years old. He is buried in Nolton in Pembrokeshire. Here is John's will.

In the same year, their baby Thomas also died. He was buried on Christmas Day.

Notice, three children are named in the will and receive £30 each. The first name listed, John, is named as a grandson. This convinces me that when Rebekha was an unmarried mother of twenty three married John Griffith, a yeoman farmer aged sixty seven. Together they had three more children.

Translated to modern money, the beneficiaries received about £1300 each. Curiously though, great great great grandmother Ann wasn't even mentioned in this will. Ann at the time would only have been eight years old. Or maybe there is an error on this document. I'd love to understand the meaning of "Date of probate and sum sworn £95."

I can find no more records of Ann until the 1841 census where she is married to a collier, Alexander Smith.

In 1806, Rebecca married, for the second time. She married a man called Thomas William on October the nineteenth 1806. She was thirty seven years old. This was one year after The Battle of Trafalgar.

Rebecca and Thomas had one son named John ( yet another one), born in 1807

I think Rebekha died in 1810 and is buried at Dinas Cross. She was forty years old. Rebecca was my great, great, great, great grandmother.

May Edwards> Ann Davies> William Smith> Thomas Smith> Ann Griffith> Rebecca Esmond

Sadly, that is all that I've been able to find out about Rebecca / Rebekha. We can never know what she was like. What sort of person was she? What were her hopes and dreams? We will never know what she looked like. However, we might have some idea of how she dressed. On a recent trip to the National Museum in Cardiff, I was drawn to a painting of a young girl selling prawns in the town of Tenby. It was from roughly the same time period. Maybe these are the sort of clothes that Rebekha wore?