Presented at the 2015 North American Festival of Wales genealogy workshop

1. What’s Different About Welsh Family
History?

2. Knowledge of the Differences will
Simplify Your Research
1. Common Names, Patronymics & Surnames
2. Nonconformists
3. Language
4. Place names
5. Record Search Order
6. Key records online
7. Strategies for success

3. COMMON NAMES, PATRONYMICS
& SURNAMES

4. Names
John Mary
David Margaret
Thomas Hannah
Evan Matilda
William Sarah
Edward Elizabeth

5. Patronymics
• Mab or ab or ap = son of
• Ferch or verch = daughter of
• In South Wales ab or ap was not always used

6. Examples
• Evan Rees ap John
• William Morgan John
• David William
• David Williams

7. Pre 1813 burial (1750)

9. Naming Pattern

10. • Based on a study of
marriages in Wales
1813-1837
• Insight for success
• Guide for answering
migration questions

11. Second edition, Dec 2013
• Chapter four is all new &
explains the transition
from patronymics
• Shows the drop below
10% of the population
using patronymics

12. One chart is worth the cost of the book
The map on page 56 shows
when areas in Wales
dropped below 10% of the
population using
patronymics.
The study is based on
information in probate
records.

18. NONCONFORMITY

23. WELSH LANGUAGE

24. Records in Welsh
• Nonconformist records
• Chapel histories
• Monumental inscriptions
• Periodicals

25. What does an American do with this?

27. PLACE-NAMES

35. A list of common place name elements

36. MAPS

37. Jurisdictions
Diocese & Parish are critical

38. http://maps.familysearch.org

39. http://maps.familysearch.org

42. Find & Use Detailed Maps

46. KEY RECORDS ONLINE

47. Basic Records for Starting
• Census
• Civil registration (birth, marriage, death)
• Church records
• Probate
• Cemetery (tombstone transcriptions etc.)

50. Post 1812 parish register christening

51. Marriages pre 1754

52. Post 1836 Parish Register

54. Post 1813 burial

57. Tactics for Success
• Kill off your ancestor
• Find your ancestor in every census
• Always search both the PRs and BTs

58. Tactics for Success
• Use indexes
• Don’t trust indexes
• Watch for patronymics:
David Thomas Howell is a clue

59. Research Strategy
The strategy must adjust for the date range
• Pre 1600
• 1597-1837
• 1837-1901
• 1901 to present

61. Simple Welsh Strategy
1. Search records with multiple people like census
2. Find a marriage
3. Add more information with other records
4. Kill them off

62. Locality Page on FamilySearch.org

65. What’s Different About Welsh Family
History?

70. Findmypast.com

73. PARISH REGISTERS

75. Marriages

76. Marriages
• Marriages are indexed well and serve as a good
finding tool
• Get your bearings by using maps
– Map of the country
• https://www.familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Wales
– Map of the county showing all parishes
• The book Atlas and Index of Parish Registers
• Order one of the three maps for Wales at
http://www.ihgs.ac.uk/shop/contents/ihgsmaps/ihgsparis
hmaps/index.html?action=page&id=2

78. Christenings
Christenings often show:
• child’s given name
• Father’s name
• Mother’s name
Sometimes included:
• Family residence such
as the village, street or
farm name
• Father’s occupation

79. CIVIL REGISTRATION

80. CENSUS RECORDS

81. PROBATE RECORDS

82. RECORD SUPPLEMENTS /
SUBSTITUTES

83. What’s so Different About Welsh
Genealogy

84. Basics of Welsh Research

86. Begin Tracing Your Family History

87. Gellilwca Fawr Old Farmhouse

88. Gellilwca Fawr New Farm House

89. Pre 1858 Wills

91. Probate Inventory of Thomas Howell

92. Probate Inventory of Thomas Howell

93. Local Histories
There was another poet living in the
district known as Howell Gellilwca, who
was grandfather to Evan Evans,
superindendent of police in Neath at this
time, but who was born and brought up
in Betting Ganol. I remember many of
Howell’s sayings…

94. Indexes First

95. NBI Coverage for Wales
• Breconshire 5,000
• Cardiganshire 108,000
• Glamorganshire 361,000
• Monmouthshire 9,000
• Montgomeryshire less than 1,000
• Radnorshire 11,000

96. Something to Remember
• The National Burial Index
does not include
information from
monumental inscriptions

97. CHURCH RECORDS

99. Marriage by license

101. What’s Different About Welsh Family History?