Margaret Leigh

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• Connection to Margaret's page in the Early Wales blog.

Margaret is the daughter of David Leigh. For information about Margaret, click the connection link to go to her page in the blog of "early" Leighs.

DESCENT CHART of MARGARET LEIGH
DAUGHTER OF 89. DAVID LEIGH

MARGARET LEIGH (chr 6 Apr 1829 Llandeilo-Talybont: died after 1901)
Father DAVID LEIGH 
Mother MARY BASSET
md first WILLIAM WILLIAMS (born 1822 Bolgoed Uchaf, Llandeilo-Talybont: died ca. 1865) on 4 March 1851 at Ebenezer Independent chapel, Swansea.

MARY BASSET was not married to DAVID LEIGH. She spent her life in comparative poverty as a servant, and so would not have been able to provide the standard of living that MARGARET received in the LEIGH household. Mary had been born in Llanelli, where other Basset families lived, and she died there in 1873.

WILLIAM WILLIAMS’ father WILLIAM WILLIAMS' grandfather REES WILLIAMS had both lived at the 72 acre farm Bolgoed Uchaf near Alltygraban, and ancestors of his maternal grandmother CATHERINE MATHEW had lived for at least 6 generations in the same general area, the last 4 of these at the next farm Tyllwyd. WILLIAM and MARGARET lived with her father DAVID LEIGH at Alltygraban, and moved with him to Caeglas in about 1856, where he died in 1862. They had four children, CATHERINE named after WILLIAM’s mother, David named after MARGARET’s father, GWENLLIAN named after WILLIAM’s paternal grandmother, and Mary named after MARGARET’s mother and grandmother. David appears to have died young, and WILLIAM died at an unknown date within a few years of the birth of their fourth child, and before MARGARET’s second marriage in 1869.

Children

CATHERINE WILLIAMS (born 1 June 1851 Alltygraban, chr 3 Sept 1851 Llandeilo-Talybont: buried 8 Apr 1907 Goppa Calvinistic Methodist chapel, Pontarddulais)
md JOHN THOMAS (born 24 Dec 1848 Llanarthney parish, Carms. buried 22 May 1924 Goppa chapel) ca. 1872

JOHN THOMAS’s parents are not known. JOHN and CATHERINE went to live at Bolgoed Uchaf after it had been vacated by her uncle Rees WILLIAMS, who died in 1881. They had 11 children, and in the 1891 census when asked what languages they spoke, all the family were described as Welsh-speaking, as was generally the case in that area, but in the 1901 census all but CATHERINE and the three youngest children also admitted to speaking English. Their son OWEN THOMAS married MARY BONNELL, who was his cousin through both the LEIGH and the MATHEW families. OWEN’s sister CATHERINE married WILLIAM GEORGE JONES, and their daughter JOAN EVANS still lives near Pontarddulais. . .

DAVID WILLIAMS (born Alltygraban, chr 11 Jan 1854 Llandeilo-Talybont: died before 1871)

GWENLLIAN WILLIAMS (born 1857, died 19 Dec 1937 buried Goppa chapel)
md DAVID JAMES (born 1854: died 9 Feb 1915 buried Goppa chapel) ca. 1874

It is not clear where DAVID JAMES was born. The 1881 census gives Cilgerran, Pembrokeshire, but the1901 census gives Llandybïe, Carms. DAVID and GWENLLIAN lived at first with her mother and younger sisters at Caeglas, but had left by 1891. They returned again with their family by 1901, when DAVID and two of their sons worked at the pit surface at one of the local collieries, and two of their daughters were dressmakers on their own account working at home. They had 14 children including a David Leigh JAMES. The parents continued to live at Caeglas for the rest of their lives. Contemporary residents of Pontarddulais EIFION and MEIDRUM LEIGH DAVIES descend from this line through granddaughter DILYS and her parents MARGARET and JOHN MORGAN.

Mary WILLIAMS (born ca. 1864 Caeglas, Llandeilo-Talybont: died after 1891)

Mary was still living at Caeglas with her mother and younger stepsister MARGARET LEWIS in 1891, and was unmarried. It is not known what became of her subsequently.

md second JOHN LEWIS (died ca. 1870) on 6 Nov 1869 Llandeilo-Talybont

JOHN LEWIS was a widower when he married MARGARET, and was a pitman of Ty-dderwen (oak house), son of JOHN LEWIS, labourer. MARGARET was described as a widow in the 1871 census, so he had not survived long after the marriage, but they did have one daughter.

Child

MARGARET LEWIS (born 1870 Caeglas, Llandeilo-Talybont: buried 1940 Goppa chapel)
md THOMAS WILLIAMS (born 22 May 1865: chr 7 Jan 1869 Llandeilo-Talybont: buried 1941 Goppa chapel) ca. 1890.

THOMAS’ father WILLIAM WILLIAMS lived at Tynycerrig (stone dwelling), near Llwyn Ifan Ddu where DAVID LEIGH’s grandfather JOHN WILLIAM had lived. THOMAS was related in two ways to MARGARET LEWIS: his father was a second cousin of MARGARET LEIGH’s first husband WILLIAM WILLIAMS, and his mother ANNE WALTERS was a descendant of WILLIAM ROBERT, DAVID LEIGH’s father-in-law. THOMAS and MARGARET lived at first with her mother and stepsister Mary at Caeglas, but in 1900 they moved with her mother to Pantyffynnon (small valley of the spring) in Llanedi parish. Surprisingly, her mother was described as a retired laundress in the 1901 census. THOMAS later went to his grandfather’s farm Ynys (water-meadow), south of Tynycerrig. They had nine children, one of whom, Trevor Lewis WILLIAMS, was killed at Baghdad just after the end of the First World War at the age of 21. Like others in MARGARET’S family, the eldest daughter Annie WILLIAMS was aware of her descent from EDMUND LEIGH.

SOURCES USED

1. Parish records of Llandeilo-Talybont at the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth (NLW)

2. Marriage certificate of WILLIAM WILLIAMS and MARGARET LEIGH from the Registry Office in Swansea.

3. Land Tax records for Swansea Hundred 1766-7, 1771-1831, and for Llangyfelach Hundred 1772-1831, at Cardiff Record Office.

4. Badminton Manorial Records for the Lordship of Gower and Kilvey, manors of Gower Anglicana and Supraboscus 1745-79 MS2613-6, and manorial court records for Gower Anglicana and Sub-boscus 1672, 1682-1744 MS 2735, and for Gower Supraboscus 1673-1739 MS 2741, at the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth.

5. Arwyn Clement (private communication 1990-9, including oral testimony of Annie WILLIAMS who died in 1988 aged 95).