Granny Rebekha's Shipwreck.

Granny Rebekha's Shipwreck.

1791

A wooden sailing ship called The Increase was run aground off Druidstone Head. She was carrying a cargo of rum and 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 this event.

I've been given an eye witness report of the incident thanks to the National Museum of Wales. It is a single sheet report, handwritten, giving a detailed account of the event.

The Testament of Francis Warlow.

Here is a transcription. A few of the words are illegible. It tells the story of the wreck of the sailing ship The Increase on January the fourth 1791 and of the wreck of another ship, the Linen Hall, wrecked at almost exactly the same place nineteen years later. Incredibly hard to read but we should all remember, this was written with a quil pen and a bottle of ink.

The Testament of Frances Warlow

January 4th 1791

This evening at ten or eleven o’clock the ship Increase of Scarborough in the ordnance service having  sailed last August with gunpowder to the West Indies. On her return with condemned gunpowder and other stores last from Saint Christopher’s was stranded on Druidston. All the crew, consisting of Francis Pawson, master, Joseph Anthony  of ……………..a woman…………. together with eight men and boys  being in all eleven, continued on board ‘till the tide left the ship and then took refuge at Druidston.

The people on the shore ……….. the crew to save their lives and their property; but one trunk was carried off and broken for which , Thomas Philphane and Richard Lewis of Little Haven. (name) and William  (name) of Simbre, yeoman were tried at Haverford in the March following and acquitted.

No measures being there that night, nor next morning nor anybody sent to by the master to ……….in protecting the ship from being plundered and the ship deserted.. The next day being Old Christmas Day which ever since the alteration of the time in 1742 is observed by the common people as a Holy Day, a large body of people collected, some for plundered others to look on and took …..of the ship, as soon as the tide permitted, about nine or ten o’clock of which time, Moses Grant, the rector of the parish watched, chilly and having asked the sail master storekeeper what they wished to save firstly. Carts were sent for and orders given to take the gunpowder over the side next to the sea which was done but the people on board being intoxicated on rum were in general very disorderly and threw several barrels of gunpowder over the side next to the cliff, dashing them on the stones in order to get the copper hoop. John Watts of Little Haven, miller, threw an iron crow and gun barrel  on the stones on that side about twelve o’clock of noon of the fifth which fired the gunpowder scattered among the pebbles on which the crowd was thick as they could stand and there being about sixty or more were burned by three explosions were heard within three or four seconds of time - The Gunpowder after the casks were beaten off remaining in large lumps.

One woman, Elizabeth Lewis of Haroldstonwest was killed on the spot. Two others were of Folkenny being arm in arm with the other died in three days. Harry and ……. men of Sinibra died the next day. Thomas Miller, lad of Nolton died in a week . Elizabeth Williams girl of the wood also died. Joseph Jones of Nolton languished in great misery for several weeks and Page, Lad of Walter also died being in all eight who lost their lives by this calamity women suffering more than the men on account of their flowing dresses; and the burning cloth did more harm in general than the gunpowder. The faces of almost all were scorched and continue to subject on the ……. of many that recovered dreadful marks of their temerity and will continue when they approach the grave. One Lad, J Miller recovered the burned……..had his skull fractured in two places.

This calamity is plainly intended as a warning to desist from wreck plundering for none were hurt on the side next to the sea where the persons stood who were endeavouring to save. This side only, where the fine were, the plunderers stood. May this be a warning on future occurring for it find but little effect in the spirit; For then, the cliff resounded with the groans of the miserable suffering - with the lamentations and eager enquiries of fathers by their children every one being reluctantly anxious for the safety of fathers, for their wives, of brothers, for sisters, of children of their parish, everyone being mutually anxious for the safety of their nearest relatives, and thereby ………… ……. from plunder took place. Get the goods……………burning and continued until the evening when by request of Captain Pawson a few military men arrived and apprehended several about twelve o’clock that night two of whom were also tried at Hereford and acquitted.

The rigging, mast and hull were preserved.

This memorandum is recorded by a spectator of the calamity and to perpetuate the memory of such a singular disaster which sends out a providential judgement. May all of this in the future be warned from such depredations.

August 24th 1791

Another ship called the Linen Hall from Dublin, bound for the West Indies in ballast was stranded on the night of 25th of December 1810 in the same place as the above, that is she was driven against the Northern side of a little creek called Hespifo (?) under Druidston Cliff. Totally wrecked. No lives lost. Little plundered. She was tore up and her timber and rigging sold to the country people.

                                                                          Francis Warlow.

I know very little about the life of Rebekha Esmond. I do know that three major events in her life happened on Christmas Day.

• Th wreck of the sailing ship The Increase. (On Old Christmas Day) (1791)
• The burial of her infant son Thomas. (1805)
• The wreck of the sailing ship The Linen Hall. (1810)

Note. Reading that document wasn't easy. It took about a week. Eventually I resorted to projecting the image onto a wall. With Lynda, my wife's help we managed to read most of it with just a few words defeating us. 

One line in particular made me feel as if somebody was walking over my grave.

• This memorandum is recorded by a spectator of the calamity and to perpetuate the memory of such a singular disaster which sends out a providential judgement. May all of this in the future be warned from such depredations.

Towards the end of reading through the document I was starting to feel that the last line would read something link:- "And the treasure will be found beneath the third pine tree to the left of the big rock." but sadly it didn't, so the quest for the family silver goes on.

Index

Rebekha Esmond

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?

A Tenby Prawn Seller.

William Powell Frith.

I'm also left with one other clue relating to the relationship of John and Rebekha. There is just one line towards the bottom of John's will

Lastly I do nominate and appoint my beloved wife Rebekha to be my sole executor of all my goods and chattels.

Index

The Edwards Family :- Index

Keeston, Camrose.
William Dennis
The Smith Family
Bill Edwards
May Edwards
The Edwards Family
The Edwards Name
Thomas Smith
Smith / Dennis connections
The Edwards Name
Rebekha Esmond
Granny Rebekha's Shipwreck
James and Phebe Evans
Nolton Haven
Roch, Keeston, Camrose and Hayscastle
William Killey

Harry Davies' Pantomimes

The Edwards Name

     Going back to my childhood, I was very aware of my mother's family. I had lots of aunties and uncles and even though most of them were now living in England, I still saw them regularly. Even if they weren't visiting, my mother often had letters and parcels from her sisters. My mother's brother, Uncle Burt was a different kettle of fish. Even though he only lived a few yards from my grandmother, I very rarely saw him. He had a wife called Gladys and a daughter called Elaine. I can't ever remember meeting her. When we visited Burt, she was always out, or sitting in a dark shadow of the room. I heard news of her back around 2015 that Elaine was still alive.

     My father's family were quite different. I knew my grandparents of course, and my father's brother, my Uncle Eufryn. Later in life, he changed his name to Ivor. I also knew one of my father's cousins....Barbara. Recently, I've become re-aquainted with her daughter Marylyn, now living in France.

     I can recall my father talking about his uncle Jim. I believe he bred cocker spaniels. I also know that his Aunty Lillwen lived with my parents for a while. I knew nothing else about that side of the family. Sometimes, I'd be walking home from school and a complete stranger would say to me, "Hello Philip. You know me don't you? I'm your uncle."  And the thing is.....it was my uncle.

My surname came through my father and my grandfather William Edwards.

William had  been a collier, working at Number 9 colliery in Tylorstown. 

This newspaper item shows his exam success when training to become a collier.

June 1907

I can only remember him as being retired. He was one of those men that found it hard to adapt to retirement. I remember my father saying that he left home and came home to wait to die. Most days, he'd sit quietly on a chair by the fireside, drinking tea and smoking his pipe. He used to smoke chewing tobacco, which meant that the air was filled with a thick blue smoke. If you wanted to get into the back kitchen, it felt as though you had to move some of the air to one side to get in. 

He wasn't always easy to get on with. My father told me that he'd been quite violent towards him as a child. He was always reluctant to leave his chair. My grandmother had family, (Uncle Jack and Aunty Mary Jarman) who lived in a charming little farm at a place called Llawr y Glyn, near Caersws, Llanidloes. William and Margaret would be invited there for a short holiday every Summer but William was always reluctant to go, refusing to make ready but submitting to my grandmother's will in the end.

Llawr-y-Glyn

I recently discovered a piece of video that featured my grandfather. This is a still from that video.

You can see the whole video here. It also shows his brother Maldwyn and his wife Cassie, clutching a cabbage. 

William and his wife, Margaret Ellen lived in a tiny cottage at Prospect Place, Tylorstown. Two bedrooms, a 'best' front room that was never used and a back kitchen where they spent their lives. At the bottom of the garden was an outside toilet. Hanging on the inside of the door you'd find a roll of  Izal toilet paper and squares of paper ripped from the newspaper.

Food was cooked on an open fire. Sometimes, items would be cooked on a methylated spirit Primus stove which was kept in the outside coal shed.

The front room was never used but was always spotless, smelling strongly of wax polish. A church harmonium filled one wall of the room. I never found out how it got there or even why it was there. I often tried to play it, probably my first experience of musical instruments.

William could be quite irritating at times. One day, my father managed to acquire a television for William and Margaret. This was their first television. Black and white with a dreadful picture. I can remember, shortly after it had been set up, sitting with my grandparents watching an early episode of Dr Who. William was puzzled by the title and mulled it over in his head whilst puffing on his pipe.

"Dr. Who?"

"Who?"

"Dr. Who."

This went on and on, throughout the whole episode.

"Dr. Who?"

"Who?"

"Dr. Who."

They had certain items of food that we never appeared to have in my own home. Ribena, beetroot, brawn, cheese. I still associate these items with my Edwards grandparents.

He once told me a very sad story. One day he was taking a walk around Darran Park lake. It was during Winter. There was a layer of ice covering the lake. He saw something in the ice. He took a closer look and realised that it was the body of a drowned woman, trapped under the ice.

William Edwards 1861 - 1923

From research, I've discovered that my grandfather's father was also called William. He was married to a woman called Barbara. It is strange how certain names keep appearing on the family tree. I knew another Barbara. She was my father's cousin. 

Cousin Barbara Front row, extreme left.

I know very little about this William Edwards.

I have found this newspaper clipping from August 15th 1908. William Snr would have been 47 at the time.

I also know that he could read and write. Back in those days, many people couldn't read or write. Many of my other great and great great grandparents signed forms with their mark. Here is his signature.

I also know that :-

• He was born in 1861.
• His mother's name was Gwenllian.
• In 1871 he was living with his mother. He was 10. She was 31. There were two younger sisters and a younger brother living with him.
• At the time, his mother worked as a baker.
• At the age of 10, William was already working in the colliery.
• They lived in Maxwell Street, Ferndale.

At the time, Ferndale was just a collection of wooden huts. There was a railway line taking coal from the colliery but it didn't carry passengers. To get to Ferndale you had to walk from Porth or Aberdare. (About 5 miles).

John Edwards

It took some time to find out any information on William's father, but then I found this on another person's Ancestry family tree.

May 5th 1861. Gwenllian married John Edwards. At the time, their families lived in Aberdare. Notice, John signs his name. Gwenllian made a mark.

The 1861 census happened in April. John and Gwenllian didn't show together in 1871. By the time of the next census John had disappeared. Gwenllian was listed as a widow holding the occupation of baker. I asked advice from the Glamorgan Family History  Society. I was advised that there was a John Edwards killed in the Ferndale Colliery Disaster in 1869.

Here is the family's entry from the 1871 census.

I knew nothing about this event. It certainly was never mentioned by my father or grandfather as I grew up.

It is so hard trying to put together a picture of John Edwards. Trying to track down vague shadows of the past is just so hard. However, sadly, as a result of him dying in such a major event I have managed to gather a few facts.

John was born in 1838. His father owned a small farm (30 acres). The family lived near a place called Llanfair Nant Gwyn in Pembrokeshire.  This tiny place at a latter date would become linked with the composer John Hughes (Calon Lân)

Here is the family entry from the 1851 census.

John wasn't living with the rest of the family during the 1861 census. However, I have found a John Edwards listed living not to far away, listed as being a ploughboy. He would have been 23 years old in 1861.

John could read and write. This would have been most unusual at that time. One thing that I noted from his marriage certificate was that his brother, Caleb, couldn't read or write.

John died in the second colliery disaster at Ferndale in 1869.

This happened on June 10th 1869. 53 men and boys were killed. Apparently John died of suffocation. After an explosion, there is a lack of oxygen in the pit. Also, it fills with fumes caused by the explosion. Colliers called these fumes "After Damp".  The court of enquiry found it hard to come to a conclusion as to the cause of the explosion however, the general conclusion was that there had been a roof fall which had released a considerable quantity of gas. It was felt that the safety lamps used at the time couldn't handle such a quantity of gas and that the flame from the lamp had jumped past the gauze inside the lamp thus causing an explosion.

We can but wonder what life was like for a widow left with four children to raise. I haven't been able to find much related to Gwenllian after the explosion, but this much I do know.

There had been another explosion at Ferndale in the year 1867. At the time, there had been an outpouring of sympathy for the families left without a bread winner. As a result, a charity fund had been established to support the families. This was such a large fund that there was more than enough to support the wives and children of those lost in 1869.

Also, the mine owner, Mr. David Davies possessed one attribute that was so sadly missing amongst the other mine owners at the time. Mr. Davies was a very kind man. He visited every family that had been affected by the explosion and made sure that they were all well cared for. 

Gwenllian re-married. Her new husband was called William George. He was born in Llanidloes.

Together, they had two more children, Edward and Gwenllian.

Benjamin Edwards

I can trace this family line just one step further. Benjamin Edwards. He was my great great great grandfather. He was born in 1813 in Bridel, Pembrokeshire.

In 1851 he farmed 30 acres near a place called Llanfair Nant Gwyn in Pembrokeshire.

Notice, the census return mentions Caleb Edwards. This was John Edwards' brother who probably acted as John's Best Man at his wedding to Gwenllian.

I've found a couple of mentions of Benjamin Edwards. In August 1856, he signed a petition.

WE the undersigned Inhabitants of the Town and Ne'gbourhood of. NARBERTII, in the County of Pembroke, do hereby certify that we have known the Rev. LEVI THOMAS for many years, and that his con- duct both as a man and a Christian, has during that time ALWAYS been most exemplary and irreproachable, and are fully convinced that he was innocent of the charge made against him by Elizabeth Watkins, for an .Assault, on the 5th of July last, based as it was entirely upon the testimony of the complainant alone:-

Also, in October 1847 he made a court appearance apparently defending a neighbour who was in dispute with his landlord regarding some repairs that he'd made to a property.

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Thomas Smith.

Thomas Smith.

Thomas Smith (1825-1904) was the son of Alexander Smith and his wife Jane. They lived in Nolton in West Wales. Alexander was a collier.

 If you visit Nolton  beach today you wouldn't believe  the fact that this little cove was once a port exporting coal from the nearby coal  pits dating from 1439 around Nolton and Newgale. Quite large sailing vessels beached here to load cargoes of coal  for distribution around St Brides Bay and even further afield. The cargoes were brought down to the shore by carts and wagons drawn by teams of horses and, during the late 19th and early 20th century, by traction engines towing pairs of eight-ton trailers the six miles from Haverfordwest Quay for export by sea.

The coal from Haverfordwest was the local anthracite shipped up by lighters from Hook colliery. Trefrane Cliff colliery, half a mile north near Newgale, was the biggest pit in the vicinity, and its ruined buildings and tall brick stack are prominent features beside the National Park Coastal Footpath to this day. This mine was worked from 1850 to 1905 with a 300-foot deep shaft slanting under the sea, and a steep tramway up which the coal was winched to the top of the cliff near the coast road.

Mining ended in the area before World War One because of the hazards of working under the sea, where the weight of water at high tide often broke through into the sloping shafts. It is amazing to think that there is a reserve estimated at 230 million tons of coal still unworked under St Brides Bay.

In 1841, Thomas was fifteen years old, living with his mother, father and six other brothers and sisters.

He married Mary Davies on the twenty eighth of June, 1845.

By 1851, with his first wife Mary he now had two children, John and Elizabeth. In the census, he is listed as an agricultural labourer. He was now 25 years old.

Mary died on the fifteenth of December, 1863. She was 35. She had six children. Sarah, Elizabeth, Ann, Edwin, Alexander and William. William was my great grandfather; father of my grandmother Ann Davies nee Smith.

Mary died in child birth.

Mary Smith

beloved wife of Thomas Smith of Penllwyn in the parish of  Hawhaden 

who died on 15th of December 1863 aged 35 years old.

On the twentieth of September 1864, Thomas was involved in a road accident. The news report describes him as a game-keeper. Strangely, towards the end of my mother's life I became aware of the fact that she appeared to know a lot about game keepers. Strange as she was brought up in the Rhondda Valley where there was no game or game keepers.

He married Jane Roberts on August 21st 1866. The newspaper reports him as being a gamekeeper.

The 1871 census shows Thomas as being a farmer of 30 acres of land. He is now 44 years old. His son Edwin appears to be still living with him. He has had three children with his second wife Jane. Interestingly, they call one of their daughters Mary. By now, my great grandfather William was 15. He had left home to become a servant.

In 1881, Thomas is 56. With his second wife Jane (age 45) they have six children from Thomas' second marriage. The youngest, Esther is just a few months old.He is listed as a farmer.

By 1891, Thomas and Jane are living at a place called Rainbolts Hill. There is a farmhouse on the site at present. I wonder whether this was Thomas and Jane's home.

1911 census shows them still at Rainbolts Hill.

Thomas died in 1904. His grave lies near to the grave of his first wife, Mary. He was 79 years old.

He had ten children. John, Elizabeth, Edwin, William, Mary, another John, Martha, Thomas, Jane, Hester.

Jane continued to farm at Rainbolts Hill. The 1911 census shows her listed as a farmer. She is living with two of her daughters, Jane and Hester and a servant.

I've found this newspaper clipping about Jane and a run in with the law. Another family road incident. 

August 24th 1910.

At the time, she would have been 73 years old.

 Unlike many of my family from the time, she appears to have been able to read and write. Here is her signature on the 1911 census.

Jane died in March 1922. She was 85.

I've found one newspaper item relating to Hester Smith. If this is our Hester Smith then it appears that she ran away with the gypsies. She was my second great aunt.

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