Dear All Beryl Evans from the NLW seemed uncertain when the Wales PRs would go online at WDYTYA last week. But St. David's day seemed an appropriate day to launch this! Wales continues to be ahead of every other part of the British Isles in putting things online. Class BT 98 from 1835 at the TNA, the early Crew Lists for Head Ports like Swansea and Milford, etc., remains one of the un-indexed items in this shipping area, I believe. That's correct isn't it Reg? ----- One very interesting other Project you should keep an eye on is this. This will redraw the genetic map of Britain. The key recruitment criterion was that all four grandparents were born within 50 miles of the person giving the DNA sample. A few of us saw some very preliminary results from this in June 2011 down in a Meeting at Cardiff. Click through the link and watch the 5 minute video clip in the left hand corner. A few of us deeply involved in this area met Bruce Winney, who appears briefly in this clip, for an informal meeting on the Saturday at WDYTYA. If we can manage it - either he or Sir Walter Bodmer (or both) will be speaking on this at WDYTYA 2013. Also have a look at the papers downloadable from this website through the links provided. www.peopleofthebritishisles.org/ The trailer for this was a couple of programmes screened in 2006 on the BBC and hosted by Neil Oliver (of 'Coast', etc.) and was called Face of Britain, with an accompanying book. That was the kick-off of this Project. But now the DNA results are in and the numbers are being crunched. This is a long-term project funded for 10 years by the Wellcome Trust. As was said by Sir Walter Bodmer at Cardiff: If we cannot sort out the genetics of the UK, we stand no chance of sorting out the genetics of Europe. They are also hoping to use the actual DNA results to try and get at the genetics of the face. We all have a wonderful ability to recall and memorise very fine differences in the face of people. Can we get from the latest understanding of the genetics of the building blocks that make up the face, and the very small differences therein in terms of DNA code, to what the end result in terms of facial appearance will be? Real cutting-edge stuff, with many ramifications - into which Sir Walter Bodmer gives a small insight in the clip. Apologies that most of the clip was shot in Scotland and the Isle of Islay and not Wales - but all 'peripheral' parts of the UK are very interesting in their results. It may be possible for us 'amateurs' to assist the group at Oxford - and I am hoping to explore that further with Bruce Winney in the not-too-distant future. Discuss this when we meet up down in Newport, Pembrokeshire, in less than 1 month's time, Reg. Will send separate email next week. Brian -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of REGINALD DAVIES Sent: 03 March 2012 20:07 To: [email protected] Subject: [Dyfed] New records on Find my Past Nos da,   Very recently Welsh parish registers, covering about half the counties of Wales, can be searched on Find My Past.   Also recently the Board of Trade indexes to mariners for the period 1835 to 1857 can be searched at the same source. These are particularily important for those searching for ordinary seaman as there are no indexes of ordinary mariners from 1857 - 1919. Except for indexes such as CLIP and Swansea Mariners etc.   I have been looking at the records for Register Tickets in use from 1845 to about 1854. These give dates of birth and the man's description. I have done some searching for men born at Cardigan. It appears from my small sample that some men born elsewhere in Ceredigion are given Cardigan as their birth place. Perhaps the transcriber (or who ever wrote the originals) were unfamiliar with the Welsh language and erred on the side of caution by giving Cardigan as place of birth.   hwyl mawr   Reg Davies   www.welshmariners.org.uk

BT 98 Crew list from National Archives BT 98/507 Port of Registry ~ Swansea Ships Names ~ A-G 1835-1844 BT 98 Crew list from National Archives BT 98/508 Port of Registry ~ Swansea Ships Names ~ H-Z 1835-1844 BT 98 Crew list from National Archives BT 98/810 Port of Registry ~ Swansea Ships Names ~ A-E 1845 Have been completed by be on a free searcheable index of mariners who sailed on Swansea ships. I intend later this year to carry on BT 98/810 Port of Registry ~ Swansea Ships Names ~ F-Z 1845 All mariners of all ranks, whose origins are from all over the world, who sailed on Swansea ships between 1862 and 1883, 1890 to 1894 from crew agreements held at the West Glamorgan Archives, plus samples of other years and other registers and fishermen on Milford and Swansea Trawlers are on a free searcheable index over 84,000 entries including ships register, their voyages and owners. The indexing is ongoing, a large amount of Cardiganshire mariners can be found on my website. Regards Bryan Richards www.swanseamariners.org.uk

Thank you Bryan I do you a disservice by failing to remember this excellent website and all your hard work there. I have even abstracted some of the entries here on previous researches. Perhaps with your vast knowledge of how Swansea operated as a port in the first half of the 19th century you can part answer the question which I was planning to search these records for. I am trying to find out the fate of a George Picton, baptised on 23 May 1790 at Carew in Pembrokeshire. All we know about him subsequently comes from the two marriage certificates of his son, Levi Picton, born on 2 March 1820 and baptised at Molleston Baptist Chapel in the parish of Narberth on 27 March 1821. The first in 1841 at Neath describes his father, George Picton, as a mariner, and the second in 1858 as a mariner, deceased. So I was wondering if vessels could sail up as far as Neath in 1841 and thus I was planning to plough through these BT 98 documents for Swansea and Milford looking for him. At the time the copper trade and business in the Lower Swansea Valleys was in full swing, so I am guessing there were many vessels travelling to Cornwall, Devon, Anglesey and further afield. It could at least provide an explanation as to why George Picton may have moved from Pembrokeshire and perhaps how his only son got to Neath. But I have no idea where or when he died, and his death is not recorded in FreeBMD post 1837, unless he is a George Pickton dying in Altrincham Registration District in 1848. Best regards Brian -----Original Message----- From: Bryan Richards [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: 03 March 2012 22:48 To: Brian P. Swann; [email protected] Subject: Re: [Dyfed] New Records on Find my Past + Genetics BT 98 Crew list from National Archives BT 98/507 Port of Registry ~ Swansea Ships Names ~ A-G 1835-1844 BT 98 Crew list from National Archives BT 98/508 Port of Registry ~ Swansea Ships Names ~ H-Z 1835-1844 BT 98 Crew list from National Archives BT 98/810 Port of Registry ~ Swansea Ships Names ~ A-E 1845 Have been completed by be on a free searcheable index of mariners who sailed on Swansea ships. I intend later this year to carry on BT 98/810 Port of Registry ~ Swansea Ships Names ~ F-Z 1845 All mariners of all ranks, whose origins are from all over the world, who sailed on Swansea ships between 1862 and 1883, 1890 to 1894 from crew agreements held at the West Glamorgan Archives, plus samples of other years and other registers and fishermen on Milford and Swansea Trawlers are on a free searcheable index over 84,000 entries including ships register, their voyages and owners. The indexing is ongoing, a large amount of Cardiganshire mariners can be found on my website. Regards Bryan Richards www.swanseamariners.org.uk