Dear James...Hope this makes your day. Could your Mary Meredith be my g.g.g.aunt? You wrote: My ancestor Mary Meredith (wife of James Meredith) was living in Gilwern (in Llanelly, Breconshire) with her daughter Margaret at the time of the 1851 census. Margaret, along with her sister Sophia, was baptised in Brilley parish church in 1822. Another daughter was baptised there in 1825. Other than these three baptisms I have no other records of this family. I cannot find James and Mary's marriage and I can't find them on the 1841 census. James Meredith died before 1851 because Mary is shown as a widow. Her birthplace is given as Abeydore (i.e. Abbeydore) in Herefordshire and her age as 73 which indicates a date of birth circa 1778. This seems a little early and I'm not convinced that it's very accurate (it would have made her 44 when her first known child was born and 47 when her last known child was born). Furthermore, it does not fit in with the possible marriage details that I have for James and Mary in the 1800-37 marriage index. The 1817 marriage of a James Meredith ! and Mary Jones has been discounted which leaves a marriage in Monnington-on-Wye and one in Hereford, both in the 1810's. The brides in these marriages were a Mary Cox and a Mary Price respectively. Having checked the Abbeydore baptism register from 1772-1780 there were no baptisms of a Mary Price or a Mary Cox. Seeing as one of the above marriages has to be that of 'my' James and Mary, it seems likely that the 1851 census age is inaccurate and that Mary's baptism is to be found somewhere in the later Abbeydore records, I just hope that there are not records of both a Mary Price and Mary Cox! Can anyone here help? Just discounting say the Monnington couple (by establishing that they had a separate family) would be a great help because it would leave only the Hereford couple, but how would an Abbeydore girl have married in Hereford in ended up in Brilley? I've checked both marriage entries, the Monnington records don't say what parish the parties were of (only BTs survive) and! the Hereford record lists them both as 'of this parish' which doesn't help a great deal. Help! I was interested in your query regarding the COX family of Monnington-on-Wye My g.g.grandmother was Anne COX, daughter of Thomas COX and Catharine (WATKINS). She was baptised at Monnington on Wye on 25.3.l8l0. Anne was the youngest of 9 known children commencing with Thomas who was baptised in l790. The interesting thing is that there is a record of an illegitimate daughter, Mary, born to Catharine before her marriage to Thomas COX. She was baptised as follows: l788 Jan. 27th, Mary, d/o [K]atherine WATKINS, however, if she was brought up by Thomas and Catherine then she was possibly known as Mary COX. I haven't verified it but I have found a marriage for a James MEREDITH and Mary COX, who were married by Banns, on Jul. l2th l8l2 at Monnington. There is then one baptism to this couple: l4 Oct l8l2 James, son of James and Mary MEREDITH Could it be that James and Mary were still in Monnington by l84l? Looking forward to hearing from you. Diane Johansen