Hi Maureen John Driver and Mary Roberts married December quarter 1855 in Merthyr Tydfil registration district which included Aberdare. The marriage certificate should give Mary's father's name. In 1861 census they were in Aberavon at the 'Glanywern Public' in Duck Street. John was 32 b Llanelly,Carmarthenshire Coal Miner, Mary 24 born Glamorgan. For some reason they then listed their servant Catherine Hughes, 21, from Neath before their children James 3 b Glamorgan Tythegston ( which could have included Cefn Cribbwr), Thomas 2 and Gwen 5, both born Aberavon. There was also a boarder, Thomas Williams, widower, 35, b Margam, with them. Gwenllian Driver born Dec Qr 1856 Merthyr Tydfil district (not Aberavon) James Driver born Mar qr 1858 Bridgend district (could be Tythegston/Cefn Cribbwr) - possibly named after a brother of John's who married in Llanelly in 1851 Thomas Driver born Dec qr 1859 Neath district ( which included Aberavon) possibly also births Margaret Driver Mar qr 1863 Merthyr district, death Thomas driver Mar qr 1863 Merthyr district, Birth William B Driver Sep qr 1866 Deaths of John Driver 37 and James Driver March qr 1868 Pontypridd district The Ferndale colliery explosion took place on 8th November 1867 http://welshnewspapers.llgc.org.uk/en/page/view/3403097/ART18 is one contemporary account. It mentions father and son laid out alongside each other in one house in Ferndale after the first few bodies had been recovered. Presumably the death certificates were only issued later. possible posthumous birth Mary Jane Driver Mar qr 1869 Pontypridd district Marriage Mary Driver Jun qr 1870 Merthyr district to John Davies or Thomas Edwards As in 1891 William Basset Driver, 24, b Llanwonno ,collier had Sarah Ann Edwards, 19, stepsister, living with him, I assume that Mary Driver married Thomas Edwards. In 1881 Thomas Edwards, widower, 34, b Bedwellty, Mon, was at Ferndale with daughter Gwen Driver 16 b Aberdare, Mary J Edwards, 12, daughter, b Llanwonno and Sarah A Edwards, 9, daughter, b Llanwonno, as well as a boarder, David Thomas, 26, from Llangadog, Carmarthenshire. The address seems to be 3 Lake Street, and this part of Ferndale was in Ystradyfodwg parish. In 1871 William Carp b Mountain Ash was with parents William 32 born Bridgewater Somerset and Margaret 30 b Pyle and a younger sister Elizabeth, 2, born Treherbert, which may have been where they were living in 'Bute huts'. In 1891 William Carp was still with his parents, but now in Ogmore Vale, in the part of that town in Llangeinor parish His mother was now said to be age 49 b Cefn Cribbwr. William Carp senior seems to have married in 1859 in Merthyr district, probably to Jane Davies. In 1861 he was a widower living in Aberdare, and Jane Carp had died in March quarter 1861. He seems to have remarried in December qr 1874 in Bridgend district to Margaret Davies, who presumably was the mother of young William and his sister. Presumably if she was originally Margaret Roberts she had previously married a Davies who had died. In fact there was a marriage of Margaret Roberts quite likely to David Bassett in Sep Qr 1856 in Bridgend All a bit mysterious. However, in 1871 census at Cefn Cribbwr there was a Thomas Roberts, 57, Collier, b Laleston, with wife Gwenllian 56 b Llangynwyd and children John 24 b Llangynwyd, David, 19 b Llangynwyd and Gwen 15 b Mountain Ash. If this is the chap, Gwenllian Driver would have been named after her grandmother. In 1891 this same Thomas Roberts, now 76 and a widower, was living at Fronwen Row, Ogmore Vale with his son David, 39, colliery overman , b Llangynwyd, and his wife Jane and family. They were living at Number 1 and William Corp and family were living at number 8. So you may well be looking for Thomas Roberts b about 1814/1815 in Laleston parish, which lies west of Bridgend. Like Tythegston parish next door, Laleston is quite long North-South and stretches up from Laleston village to Llangewydd and part of Cefn Cribbwr. The oldest collieries in these two parishes tended to lie north of the Cefn Cribbwr ridge, stretching west towards Pyle and east towards Park Slip and Aberkenfig. Llangynwyd parish adjoined the northern edge of Pyle and Tythegston parishes, including places like Aberbaiden, Tondu and Coytrahen in that part of the coalfield. It is in 'Langonoyd Lower' that I have eventually found Thomas ROBERT 25, Collier, Gwenllian 25, Mary 4 , William 2 and Margaret 10 months. The address seems to be something like Darangadarn and in the hamlet of 'Langonoyd Lower or Bayden' so somewhere near Aberbaiden. In 1851 they are at 'Rheedygroes' in the same hamlet, Thomas age 37 b Laleston, Gwenllian 35 b Llangynwyd, Mary 14, William 12, Howell 9 and John 4, all born Llangynwyd. Where was Margaret? I wonder whether she could be next door, enumerated as Margaret Davies aged 12, granddaughter of Thomas Davies, 65, Farm labourer b Llangynwyd and his wife Ann 64 b Tythegston. Their address was Forddygyfraith. Fforddygyfraith is still located north of Cefn Cross, Cefn Cribbwr, not far from that huge opencast mine that was in the news recently that has not been landscaped because the ownership has been transferred to the Cayman Islands (or something similar - I may have got the details wrong). I hope that all this wandering through censuses and BMDs will have found your family. Jeff ----- Original Message ----- From: "MJen512444 via" <glamorgan@rootsweb.com> To: <Glamorgan-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, May 24, 2015 8:48 PM Subject: [GLA] thomas Roberts > Hi listers, > > I had a great great grandfather from Ogmore Vale. Name of Thomas Roberts. > No dates at present, but was told some years ago that two of his grand > daughters. Both unmarried and surnamed Lloyd, living in tonypandy, told me > that their mother and maybe them in their young days would travel over two > mountains from Ferndale in the Rhondda Fach to visit Thomas Roberts. > > His daughter was Mary Roberts and possibly had a son called David > Roberts. > David Roberts supposedly kept a pub in Cefn Cribbwr. I tried, but could > find no such pub. Mary Roberts married John Driver in Aberdare . They > kept the Bush Inn Mountain Ash where their youngest son, William Basett > Driver > was born 1866. There was also a cousin called William Carp born at the > pub around the same time. Margaret Roberts was this boy's mother. > Sisters? > A huge explosion took place a year later, and John Driver and his eldest > son were amongst 178 men and boys killed on the 8th November. I just > hope > my memory for dates is still working. > > Anyone with any information I would be glad to read them. > > All the best everyone, > Maureen > Rhondda Fawr. > -- > > 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