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Archiver > MONMOUTHSHIRE > 2008-06 > 1213565519


From: Sian Mackey <>
Subject: Re: [MON] Arthur James HAYES died 1890 Tredegar
Date: Sun, 15 Jun 2008 22:31:59 +0100
References: <4853EA0C.8060304@swallowtail.org> <4e27fffe0806141306g435ef198s21789a8384b12052@mail.gmail.com><4e27fffe0806141311taece34bxf6056ae0cc6cc364@mail.gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <4e27fffe0806141311taece34bxf6056ae0cc6cc364@mail.gmail.com>


Hugh Watkins wrote:
> 2008/6/14 Hugh Watkins <>:
>
>
>> Arthur James Hayes abt 1822 1890 Jul-Aug-Sep Bedwelty Monmouthshire
>>
>
>
> could this be a copying error at GRO for 1880?
>
> Hugh W
>
>
We have Arthur James's death certificate which is how we know that my
ggrandfather Frederick James was "in attendance", so sadly this good
thought can't be the answer. It is truly bizarre. I've even wondered
whether she claimed to be a widow because he'd actually just left her
and the family, and being a widow was more respectable...but then
Frederick James turns up on the death certificate as being "in
attendance", so at the very least he knew where his father was at the
end of his life. I don't know where he was buried, but it wasn't with
his wife who's in New Bethel Churchyard, Cwmnantyrodin. No mention of
husband being elsewhere on the headstone either. Maybe she never did
know where he'd gone.

I wonder which churchyard in Tredegar he might be in?

I go round and round on this one...which is why I thought I might as
well share it!

I know that Frederick was living with the family and can't have gone off
with his father, as he was the only wage earner for all of them from the
age of about 15. His older brother Henry had married and Frederick
brought up one sister, the 2 children of another sister and cared for
his mother, moving the whole family from the Forest of Dean to
Claurplwyf by 1891 and thence to Llanhilleth by 1901, then on from there
(after the deaths of his sister and mother and his own marriage) when
Llanhilleth became grim, to Ystrad Mynach. All that is rather beside the
point in question, but it does remind one how hard life was for people
then. Now there would be an outcry at a 15 year old taking on that scale
of responsibility, but then people just got on with it. Makes you feel
truly grateful to live in a different world.

What is most puzzling of all is that I can't find him in 1881. Surely he
couldn't have gone abroad...? Or maybe he did. And why pick Tredegar to
end up in? I can't find any family there, though there are some Hayes
families there, but they seem unconnected.

Maybe I should try harder to find his grave and see whether the
inscription could shed any light at least on his last days. I know he
died of "general debility" which is probably just the result of a very
hard life, given his age. Born 1822 died 1890.

These ramblings aren't getting me anywhere! Thanks for your thoughts.

Regards,
Sian.

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