BOWEN OF NANTMEL AND LLANYRE
The census returns indicate that Rees Bowen, father of Sarah (Bowen) Davies, was born at Llanfaredd or at Nantmel, Radnorshire, but no baptism for him could be found in the registers of those parishes.
An important clue to Rees’s ancestry was found in the 1871 census returns for Llandrindod. Living in the household of Thomas Bowen, a son of Rees and Margaret (Ingram) Bowen, was a Jane Bowen, 15, born at Nantmel, who was described as a “cousin” of Thomas. A search of the Nantmel PRs revealed the baptism, on 12 Dec 1863, of three children of William and Elizabeth Bowen of Tanyralt, including Jane whose date of birth was given as 13 Nov 1855. No other Jane Bowen baptisms were found at Nantmel in the period 1850-65 and the Radnorshire 1861 census CD produced by the Powys Family History Society showed only the same Jane Bowen who could be the cousin of Thomas. The census returns showed that Jane’s father William Bowen was born about 1815 at Nantmel but no baptism record for him could be traced. However, the entry for his marriage in the Nantmel parish registers identified his father as Thomas Bowen, a farmer. William’s residence at Tanyralt or Danyrallt (several other variant spellings are recorded) confirms that his father was the Thomas Bowen of Danyrallt who died in 1848 and whose death was registered by his son William Bowen of Danyrallt.
An investigation of the family of Thomas Bowen of Danyrallt showed that he had been married to a woman named Margaret. No marriage for them was in the Nantmel parish registers, and a search of the Radnorshire, Breconshire and Montgomeryshire marriage indexes for the period 1754-1812 revealed just one marriage of a Thomas Bowen to a Margaret, that of Thomas Bowen and Margaret Preece at Llanfaredd in 1799. The baptisms of several other children of Thomas and Margaret, previous to those baptised at Nantmel, were recorded in the Llanfaredd PRs. If the “cousin” Jane Bowen in the 1871 census returns was a first cousin, then Rees would have also been a son of Thomas and Margaret. This identification is supported by other evidence, including the statements in the 1861 and 1871 census returns that Rees was born at Llanfaredd (the only Bowen baptisms in the Llanfaredd PRs and BTs between 1797 and 1820 are of children of Thomas Bowen), and onomastic evidence (Rees’s children included a Margaret and a Thomas as well as others with names also appearing among the children of Thomas and Margaret). Finally, a Thomas Bowen was a witness at the marriage of Rees and Margaret (Ingram) Bowen.
Many of the sources cited in this account were searched on my behalf by a record searcher, Dianne Foster of Gwystre, Powys.
I welcome comments on this page. My e-mail address is on my home page.
BOWEN
1 THOMAS BOWEN of Gellunnen, Llanfaredd, Radnorshire, and of Danyrallt, Nantmel, Radnorshire,[1] farmer, was born ca. 1765[2] and died at Danyrallt on 12 May 1848.[3] He married firstly, at Llanfaredd on 25 Aug 1799, MARGARET PRICE,[4] daughter of John Price of Pencloddiau, Llanfaredd. Margaret was baptised at Llanfaredd on 25 Nov 1778[5] and was buried at Nantmel on 20 Jun 1827.[6] Thomas married secondly, MARY, who was born ca. 1759 and who died on 5 Dec 1845 at Danyrallt.[7]
Children of Thomas and
Margaret (Price) Bowen:[8]
i
JOSEPH BOWEN,[9]
bap 8
Nov 1799, Llanfaredd.[10]
ii
THOMAS
BOWEN, bap 27 Apr 1802, Llanfaredd.[11]
2
iii
REES BOWEN;
m MARGARET INGRAM.
iv
ANNE BOWEN,
bap 16 Feb 1806 or 1807, Llanfaredd.[12]
v
HANNAH BOWEN,[13]
bap
17 May 1809, Llanfaredd.[14]
vi
ANNE BOWEN, bap 27 Feb 1812, Nantmel.[15]
vii WILLIAM
BOWEN of Danyrallt, farmer and grocer, b ca. 1815,
Nantmel,[16]
d 17 Jan 1897;[17]
m 25 Mar 1843, Nantmel,
ELIZABETH
PHILLIPS.[18]
viii MARY
BOWEN,
bap 13 Jan 1818, Nantmel,[19]
bur
29 Oct 1822, Nantmel.[20]
ix
DANIEL
BOWEN,[21]
bap 9 May 1822, Nantmel.[22]
2 REES BOWEN of Cae Bean, Llanyre, Radnorshire, agricultural labourer and farmer, was born at Llanfaredd, ca. 1804,[23] and died on 7 Jun 1888 at Springfield Cottage, Llandrindod, Radnorshire.[24] He married at Llanfihangel Helygen, Radnorshire, on 12 May 1828, MARGARET INGRAM,[25] who was born at Llansantffraed Cwmdeuddwr, Radnorshire, or at Nantmel, ca. 1806,[26] and died 17 Feb 1878 at Cwmllewelyn, Llanganten, Breconshire.[27]
Children of Rees and
Margaret (Ingram) Bowen:[28]
i
RICHARD BOWEN, bap 8 Nov 1829,
Llanfihangel Helygen,[29]
living
in 1841.[30]
ii
MARY BOWEN, b 19 Feb 1832,[31]
bap
19 Mar 1832, Llanidloes Wesleyan Circuit.
iii
JOHN
BOWEN, b 8 Sep 1833,[32]
Llanyre, bap 22 Sep 1833, Llanidloes Wesleyan Circuit, living in 1851.[33]
iv
MARGARET
BOWEN, bap 22 Mar 1834,
Llanidloes Wesleyan Circuit, bur 5 May 1844, Llanyre.[34]
v
THEOPHILUS
BOWEN of Llanyre,
agricultural labourer, b Llanyre, bap 12 Jun 1836, Llanidloes Wesleyan
Circuit,
living in 1861; m ALICE.[35]
vi
ELIZABETH
BOWEN, bap 26 Nov 1837,
Rhayader Wesleyan Circuit, bur 14 May 1844, Llanyre.[36]
vii
THOMAS
BOWEN of Gate House,
Llandrindod, Radnorshire, railway repairer,[37]
b
Llanyre,[38]
bap 16 Jul 1839, Rhayader Wesleyan Circuit, d ca. 1886;[39]
m 12 Dec 1865, Llandrindod, ANNE PUGH.[40]
viii DAVID
BOWEN, b Llanyre,[41]
bap 23 Feb 1841, Rhayader Wesleyan Circuit.
ix
DANIEL BOWEN of Llandrindod, carter,[42]
b 5 Oct 1842, Llanyre,[43]
bap
23 Oct 1842, Rhayader Wesleyan Circuit, bur 12 Nov 1864, Llanyre.[44]
x
SARAH
BOWEN, b 29 Dec 1844, Cae
Bean, Llanyre,[45]
d 11 Aug 1925, The Park, Lyonshall, Herefordshire,[46]
bur Titley, Herefordshire;[47]
m 13
Feb 1873, Hermon Chapel, Bryngwyn, Radnorshire, HUGH LLOYD DAVIES.[48]
xi
WILLIAM
BOWEN of Cefnbuchan,
Llansantffraed-yn-Elfael, farmer,[49]
b
ca. 1847, Llanyre,[50]
d 13
Dec 1916[51];
m MARY.[52]
[1] The earliest residence known for Thomas is “Llansaintfread”, given in the 1799 PR entry for his first marriage. It seems most likely that this was Llansantffraed-yn-Elfael, but no earlier record of Thomas Bowen has yet been located.
[2] Thomas’s death certificate gives his age as 83.
[3] Death certificate.
[4] Llanfaredd PRs. The bride’s surname is spelt “Preece”.
[5] Llanfaredd PRs. Only one Margaret Price/Preece is recorded as being baptised in the Llanfaredd PRs in the period 1760 to 1790. John Price of Pencloddiau also had a son Daniel (baptised 23 Oct 1780, Llanfaredd), a name given to a son of Thomas and Margaret (Price) Bowen, which lends some support to the identification. The was at least one other John Price (of Tyn-y-Lloyn) whose children were baptised at Llanfaredd in the 1770s and 1780s and due to the commonness of the surname in that area, it will probably be difficult to establish relationships with earlier members of the Price family.
[6] Nantmel PRs.
[7] Death certificate of Mary Bowen. She is described as wife of Thomas Bowen, farmer, and the informant is Thomas Bowen, husband, of Danyrallt, Nantmel. The Nantmel PRs show the marriage of a Thomas Bowen and a Mary Morgan on 4 Dec 1829, but that Thomas was apparently described as a bachelor, and may be the same person as Thomas’s son, baptised in 1802 at Llanfaredd. However, land tax records show that Danyrallt was occupied in 1828 by a Mary Morgans and by 1830 the occupier was Thomas Bowen. More research would be necessary to identify which Thomas Bowen married Mary Morgan.
[8] Llanfaredd PRs and BTs; Nantmel PRs; see the discussion above regarding the parentage of Rees and William. The Llanfaredd PRs include a baptism of a child of Thomas Bowen of Gellunnen on 29 Jul 1804 but the name is left blank and there is no indication whether the child was male or female. There is no entry under this date in the BTs but on 29 Jun 1804, “Jn.”, son of Thomas and Margaret Bowen was baptised. This seems to have been around the most likely time for Rees’s birth and it is possible that there was some confusion about the name of the child if the entry in the BTs was written a long time after the baptism took place. Further investigation would be required to determine whether any other trace of a John in the family of Thomas and Margaret Bowen can be found.
[9] Possibly the Joseph Bowen who married Mary Lewis at Nantmel on 12 Mar 1824 (Nantmel PRs).
[10] Llanfaredd PRs.
[11] Llanfaredd BTs.
[12] Llanfaredd BTs.
[13] Possibly the Hannah Bowen who married, on 11 May 1832 at Nantmel, William Lewis. A William Lewis witnessed the marriage of William and Elizabeth (Phillips) Bowen in 1843.
[14] Llanfaredd PRs.
[15] Nantmel PRs.
[16] 1851 census returns, Nantmel, f185.
[17] MI at Nantmel.
[18] Nantmel PRs.
[19] Nantmel PRs.
[20] Nantmel PRs.
[21] He may have been the Daniel Bowen who is shown on the Radnorshire 1861 census CD by the Powys FHS as a carter, thirty-five years old, born at Nantmel and living at Walton and Womaston with a wife, Sarah, and three children.
[22] Nantmel PRs.
[23] There is some inconsistency in the census returns regarding the place and age of Rees Bowen. The information given is as follows:
1851: age 42, born at Nantmel; 1861: age 56, born at Llanvareth; 1871: age 64, born at Llanvareth; 1881: age 81, born in Radnorshire.
Given that Rees’s parents lived at Llanfaredd around the time of his birth, it appears that “Nantmel”, given as his place of birth in 1851 is a mistake and that the entries for 1861 and 1871 are correct. Nantmel is also given as Margaret (Ingram) Bowen’s place of birth in 1851, contradicting the information in the later census returns.
[24] Death certificate. The informant was Rees’s son William Bowen of Cefnbuchan, Llansantffraed.
[25] Llanfihangel Helygen PRs.
[26] Margaret’s ages and places of birth given in the census returns are as follows:
1851: age 43, born at Nantmel; 1861: age 55, born at Cwmtoyddwr; 1871: age 63, born Cwmdaiddwr.
One possible clue to the parentage of Margaret Ingram is the presence of a ten-year-old female servant, Ann Ingram, in the household of Rees and Margaret (Ingram) Bowen in the 1841 census returns. Ann’s ancestry has not yet been investigated. The Nantmel PRs include the baptism of John (1798), Jane (1800) and Ann (1803), children of Richard Ingram. The mother’s name is given as Elinor in the entry for Ann. The 1851 census returns for Glascwm include a Richard Ingram, 84, born at Nantmel, and his son Thomas Ingram, 53, born at Llandegley, Radnorshire. Wills confirm that Ingrams were living at Nantmel and Cwmdeuddwr in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries and that families there used the forenames Richard and David, both given to sons of Rees and Margaret (Ingram) Bowen. The 1871 census returns for Cwmllewelyn, Llanganten (RG10/5575, f82) show an unmarried Sarah Ingram, 73, born at Llandinam, Montgomeryshire, living with Rees and Margaret (Ingram) Bowen. This Sarah died at Cwmllewelyn on 25 May 1877 (death certificate) but the death was registered by a Mary Davies of Cefny bedd, Llanganten, and no document has yet been found which states any relationship between Sarah and Margaret (Ingram) Bowen.
[27] Death certificate.
[28] Llanfihangel Helygen PRs; registers of the Llanidloes and Rhayader Wesleyan Circuits; birth certificate of Sarah Bowen; 1851 census returns, Llanyre, f197. In the 1861 census returns for Llanyre, a five-year-old grandchild, born at Llandegley, was living with Rees and Margaret (Ingram) Bowen, but the entry needs to be checked again and other research undertaken to confirm the child’s first name and its parentage.
[29] Llanfihangel Helygen PRs.
[30] 1841 census returns, Llanyre, f8.
[31] Llanidloes Wesleyan Circuit registers.
[32] Llanidloes Wesleyan Circuit registers.
[33] 1851 census returns, Nantmel, HO107/2494, f149.
[34] Llanyre PRs.
[35] 1861 census returns, Llanyre. Theophilus Bowen appears to be listed twice, at different locations: firstly at 6 Gwar Fordd, Theophilus Bowen, 23, an agricultural labourer, born at Llanyre, with a wife Alice Bowen, and secondly at Aberithon, Theophilus Bowen, 23, a carter, born at Llanyre, unmarried. This may have been due to Theophilus’s employer at Aberithon wanting workers to be unmarried.
[36] Llanyre PRs.
[37] 1871 census returns, Llandrindod, f25.
[38] 1851 census returns, Llanyre, f197.
[39] Thomas was living at the time of the 1881 census returns (New House, Llandrindod, RG11/5454, f26), but in 1891 (1 Brickyard Cottage, Llandrindod), Anne (Pugh) Bowen is described as a widow.
[40] Llandrindod PRs.
[41] 1851 census returns, Llanyre, f197.
[42] 1861 census returns, Tygwynn, Llandrindod.
[43] Rhayader Wesleyan Circuit registers; 1851 census returns, Llanyre, f197.
[44] Llanyre PRs. Daniel resided at Bailey Inon, Llandrindod, at the time of his death.
[45] Birth certificate.
[46] Death certificate.
[47] Information from Joyce (Davies) Thompson of Titley, a granddaughter of Hugh Lloyd and Sarah (Bowen) Davies (letter dated 1 Jun 1996). There is an MI at Titley to Hugh and Sarah.
[48] Marriage certificate.
[49] 1891 census returns, Llansantffraed-yn-Elfael, f40.
[50] 1851 census returns, Llanyre, f197.
[51] Diserth MI abstracts.
[52] Mary’s maiden surname may have been Weale, as the entry for the household of William Bowen in the 1891 census returns for Llansantffraed includes a Margaret Weale, described as William’s “mother”.