Elizabeth and Eliz, I could not find birth registrations for the Gardner children in Merthyr Tydfil, but they seem to correlate to births with the surname CUNNINGHAM Jun 1884 Cunningham Lydia Merthyr T. 1 11a 533 Dec 1885 Cunningham William Merthyr T. 1 11a 500 Sep 1887 Cunningham Thomas John Merthyr. T. 1 11a 532 Sep 1889 Cunningham John Merthyr T. 1 11a 543 Mar 1891 Cunningham Charlotte Merthyr T. 1 11a 642 then by 1901: Elizabeth Gardner8 Jane Gardner4 Francis Gardner2 Sarah Gardner1 Jun 1892 Cunningham Elizabeth Merthyr T. 11a 662 Dec 1896 Cunningham ***Jane Gardner*** Merthyr T. 11a 695 Jun 1898 Cunningham ***Francis Gardner *** Merthyr T. 11a 713 Mar 1900 Cunningham ***Sarah Gardner *** Merthyr T. 11a 726 I could find no marriage for Peter Gardner and Elizabeth Cunningham at any time. Dai Bevan
In 1911 census they appear as GARDNER at 18 Bryntaf, Aberfan, Merthyr Vale Peter gave his age as 51, and he was a Coal Miner Hewer. There follows an extra piece which has been crossed through "unable to work through ill health over the years" Elizabeth gave her age as 50, born Swansea, an it is shown that they had been married for 29 years and had had 14 children, of whom 12 were living and two had died. Curiously, it is clear they had originally put down 15 children, but this has been amended. 10 of the children were living with them, in a house shown as having '5 rooms + 1 room used as small shop'. Those at home were William 25, Thomas John 23, John 21, all shown as Coal Miner Hewer, Charlotte 20, Elizabeth 18, Francis 12, Sarah 11, Ellen 9, Margaret 7 and Daniel 5. Francis and Sarah were shown as 'At school' but the words 'At school' had been crossed out for the three youngest children. Presumably Lydia and Jane had died, married or moved away. Lydia appears to have married, as Lydia Gardner, in December quarter 1904 either to John O'Brien or William Henry Rees. See www.FreeBMD.org.uk for details. As Lydia was one of the eldest, the name of her father shown on her marriage certificate should be of interest. Judging by 1911 census, I think she married John OBrien and by 1911 they had three children and were living in 18 Taff Street, Merthyr Vale.( a few doors form where she lived in 1901) She seems to have died in Merthyr Tydfil district in June quarter 1953. The birth of Ellen seems to be June quarter 1902 as Gardner, and that of Daniel in December quarter 1905 as Gardner. The death of Jane Gardner age 12 was registered in December quarter 1908, all in Merthyr Tydfil. The birth of Sarah Gardner Cunningham was registered March quarter 1900, GRO ref 11a 726. It would seem to be worth purchasing a birth certificate from GRO, using online ordering at https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/default.asp This will show the names of her father and mother (including any previous surname of the mother) as advised to the registrar. If the person you are researching for is not aware of Welsh history, they should do an online search for Aberfan. There were two marriages in Glamorgan around 1880-1883 of men called CUNNINGHAM where women called Elizabeth appear on the same page, both in Merthyr Tydfil district. Joseph in 1880 and John in 1882. I do not know whether the death of a John Cunningham age 55 in Cardiff district in December quarter 1900 is relevant. Divorce was extremely expensive and difficult to obtain in late 19th century for ordinary people. A possibility is that Elizabeth was actually married to someone called Cunningham, but from some time in the 1880s started living with Peter Gardner. Careful examination of the birth certificates may show light as to why the children were only registered as Gardner from 1902 onwards. In 1881 Peter Gardner 21 b Plymouth was living in Merthyr with his mother Charlote (shown as age 73) b Bristol, a widow. In 1891 census Mary Ann is shown as age 8 born Trealaw, which is in the Rhondda, and would have been in Pontypridd registration district. She does not seem to have been registered either as Cunningham or Gardner. Finding Peter's birth registration, and his whereabouts in 1871, may be of interest. Jeff ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dai & Angela Bevan via" <glamorgan@rootsweb.com> To: "Eliz Hanebury" <elizhgene@gmail.com>; "wesixski11" <wesixski11@harbornet.com>; "GLAMORGAN@rootsweb" <glamorgan@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, July 25, 2015 8:41 AM Subject: Re: [GLA] Peter Gardner > > Elizabeth and Eliz, > I could not find birth registrations for the Gardner children in Merthyr > Tydfil, but they seem to correlate to births with the surname CUNNINGHAM > Jun 1884 Cunningham Lydia Merthyr T. 1 11a 533 > Dec 1885 Cunningham William Merthyr T. 1 11a > 500 > Sep 1887 Cunningham Thomas John Merthyr. T. 1 11a > 532 > Sep 1889 Cunningham John Merthyr T. 1 11a 543 > Mar 1891 Cunningham Charlotte Merthyr T. 1 11a > 642 > then by 1901: > Elizabeth Gardner8 > Jane Gardner4 > Francis Gardner2 > Sarah Gardner1 > Jun 1892 Cunningham Elizabeth Merthyr T. 11a 662 > Dec 1896 Cunningham ***Jane Gardner*** Merthyr T. 11a > 695 > Jun 1898 Cunningham ***Francis Gardner *** Merthyr T. > 11a 713 > Mar 1900 Cunningham ***Sarah Gardner *** Merthyr T. 11a > 726 > I could find no marriage for Peter Gardner and Elizabeth Cunningham at > any > time. > Dai Bevan > -- > > To send to the list send to glamorgan@rootsweb.com > GLAMORGAN Family History Mailing List archives etc. are at > http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/intl/WLS/GLAMORGAN.html > - > > A web site has been prepared to help you use the Glamorgan List > http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~glamorgan/ > > - > A large amount of information, and a wide variety of useful links, may be > found at http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/wal/GLA/ > > - > The South/West Wales Lookup Exchange and Gareth's Help Pages > http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~walesle/wal/AW.html and > http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ukwales2/hicks.html > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > GLAMORGAN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message
In 1881 Peter Gardner age 21 was with Charlote Gardner b Bristol age 73 who was Blind, in Ynysgau, Merthyr Tydfil. She was listed as Mother, which seems odd as she would have been about 52 at his birth. In 1871 at 9 Appleton Court, Ynysgau Street, Merthyr Tydfil there was Charlotte Gardner age 63 b Bristol, Somerset, who was blind, and with here were tow Grandsons, W. John Cunningham age 14 b Cheltenham, Gloucestershire and Peter Cunningham age 13 b Plymouth, both working as 'Tinman'. In 1861 at Tudor Street, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire there was a family boarding in the household of Robert James, and agricultural labourer b Lancashire. These were Peter Cunningham, 24, Railway Labourer, b Birmingham, Warwickshire, his wife Mary Ann 20, two sons William J Cunningham, 4, b Cheltenham, Gloucestershire and Peter Cunningham, 20 months, b Plymouth,Devonshire, and Charlotte Gardner , mother-in-law, 54, widow, b Gloucestershire, Bristol, who was blind. In September quarter 1856 in Warwick registration district two of the four names on one registration page, GRO ref 6d 593 are Peter Cunningham and Mary Ann Gardner. There is a birth of William John Cunningham in June quarter 1857 in Cheltenham Registration district, GRO ref 6a 360 There is a birth of Peter Cunningham in September quarter 1859 in Plymouth Registration district GRO ref 5b 238 There is a death of Mary Ann Cunningham in June quarter 1862 in Crickhowell registration district, just outside Abergavenny. A newspaper report from Pontypridd magistrates court in the Cardiff Times 22nd June 1866 reports a Peter Cunningham and James Ball committed for trial at the quarter sessions for the theft of two fowls, a cage and three starlings, the property of Henry Jones, at Llantrisant on 8th June. In a newspaper report in the Western Mail 13th May 1869 a Peter Cunningham, William Davies and Richard Morris (a militiaman) were charged with burglariously entering the shop of Charles Prewitt, grocer, in Charlotte Street, Cardiff, and stealing a dish of butter, several loaves of bread and about a quarter of a hundred bloaters. Peter Cunningham was found by a policeman with a bloater and a loaf in his hand. The case at Cardiff magistrates was adjourned. The Cardiff Times report of 24th July of their trial in this case shows that Peter Cunningham was 23 and a seaman, so this seems to be a case of coincidence of name. They were found not guilty, as the only witness to the break-in had absconded. Another court report from the Cardiff Times of 6th July 1872 from Blackwood magistrates court includes a Peter Cunningham in a list of people charged with trespass and damaging grass in a field belonging to the Ebbw Vale company at Cwm. About 50 persons had assembled to see two men fight. In the 1890s a different Peter Cunningham seems to have been in trouble with the law in the Rhondda. There was a marriage at Merthyr Tydfil Parish Church on 28th May 1881 of Peter Cuningham, 21, Bachelor, labourer son of Peter Cuningham, Pedler and Elizabeth Saunders, 21, spinster, daughter of John Saunders, Engineer. Peter signed and Elizabeth made her mark. This marriage is indexed by the GRO in Merthyr Tydfil district June quarter 1881 ref 11a 608 The birth of Mary Ann Cuningham was registered in December quarter 1882 in Merthyr Tydfil registration district ref 11a 452. Charlotte Gardner age 78 died in March quarter 1886 in Merthyr Tydfil district, GRO ref 11a 392 Why did Peter change his name to Gardner, his mother's maiden name? Who knows? And a simple spelling change misled us... My earlier hypothesis about Peter's possible cohabitation was clearly wrong. Whether any of the court appearances involved Peter or his father, or someone completely different we just don't know. Jeff ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dai & Angela Bevan via" <glamorgan@rootsweb.com> To: "Eliz Hanebury" <elizhgene@gmail.com>; "wesixski11" <wesixski11@harbornet.com>; "GLAMORGAN@rootsweb" <glamorgan@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, July 25, 2015 8:41 AM Subject: Re: [GLA] Peter Gardner > > Elizabeth and Eliz, > I could not find birth registrations for the Gardner children in Merthyr > Tydfil, but they seem to correlate to births with the surname CUNNINGHAM > Jun 1884 Cunningham Lydia Merthyr T. 1 11a 533 > Dec 1885 Cunningham William Merthyr T. 1 11a > 500 > Sep 1887 Cunningham Thomas John Merthyr. T. 1 11a > 532 > Sep 1889 Cunningham John Merthyr T. 1 11a 543 > Mar 1891 Cunningham Charlotte Merthyr T. 1 11a > 642 > then by 1901: > Elizabeth Gardner8 > Jane Gardner4 > Francis Gardner2 > Sarah Gardner1 > Jun 1892 Cunningham Elizabeth Merthyr T. 11a 662 > Dec 1896 Cunningham ***Jane Gardner*** Merthyr T. 11a > 695 > Jun 1898 Cunningham ***Francis Gardner *** Merthyr T. > 11a 713 > Mar 1900 Cunningham ***Sarah Gardner *** Merthyr T. 11a > 726 > I could find no marriage for Peter Gardner and Elizabeth Cunningham at > any > time. > Dai Bevan > -- > > To send to the list send to glamorgan@rootsweb.com > GLAMORGAN Family History Mailing List archives etc. are at > http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/intl/WLS/GLAMORGAN.html > - > > A web site has been prepared to help you use the Glamorgan List > http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~glamorgan/ > > - > A large amount of information, and a wide variety of useful links, may be > found at http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/wal/GLA/ > > - > The South/West Wales Lookup Exchange and Gareth's Help Pages > http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~walesle/wal/AW.html and > http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ukwales2/hicks.html > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > GLAMORGAN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message