Thanks Sylvia and Bettye for your replies. I think the John Laugharne from Gwaunnydd Newport in the 1881 census is probably the most likely candidate for the story I was following up. Anyway it's given me some leads to go on. > Original message: I'm following up a story in Martin Lewis "Newport > Pem. and Fishguard Revisited" pub 2003 about a John Laugharne from > Berry Hill who drowned in the Nevern estuary (no date given but it was > sometime before 1894 when the bridge was built) Martin Lewis mentioned that he was an agricultural servant at Berry Hill. I was assuming he was actually living there but this may not have been so. According to the story he drowned when returning drunk with a cartload of goods for Berry Hill. He was caught by a rising tide while fording the river Nevern and a subscription was raised shortly afterwards to build a bridge. (Welsh speakers can read the story on http://www.bbc.co.uk/cgi-perl/vocab/show.pl/cy-en/www.bbc.co.uk/cymru/ deorllewin/papurau_bro/y_llien_gwyn/newyddion/hydref03.shtml. My Welsh is shaky but it seems to be a repetition of the story in Martin Lewis' book). I have no more details of the John Laugharne in question other than what is given in the story, so I don't know his age. I was just curious to discover how he fits into the general picture of Laugharnes of Dinas and Newport and to perhaps unearth more of the story. > Bettye said: That sounds an interesting book.......how far back in > time does it reach? It's mostly a collection of postcards with captions but some include extended stories such as this one. Most of the material is early to mid twentieth century. Worth a look for anyone researching the area. Amazon.co.uk have copies available from £9.09 (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0752430408/qid%3D1108223771/ 202-4701976-2219022) Vivien