Thomas Gwilliam (Gwillim) 1858 to 1909 – who came to Canada from Wales
Some more interesting information – click any image to get larger picture.
The earliest record I found of Thomas was the 1861 Census record taken at the Parish of Glasbury on the south side of the Wye River. The top line shows the parents, Thomas age 27 born in Clyro, Radnorshire, and Catherine age 25 born in Clifford, Herefordshire. It also listed the son Thomas (who eventually came to Canada) as 3 years old born in Clifford. There was also a younger sibling named John. They were living on the Tyruched Farm (or Tir-uched) – not sure which building.
This is a copy of the 1861 Census taken at Glasbury, Herefordshire, Wales
This is the farm land the family would have been living on in 1861 (Tyruched Farms). Click image for larger version.
There are several houses by that arrow so not sure which they could have been in. Below are couple potential places based on our May 2023 trip. Click image for larger version.
The parents, Thomas and Catherine, over time will show up in a variety of locations (according to various censuses). However, during their lifetime they seemed to stay around a 14 km circle.
In this instance above, the 1861 census, senior Thomas was working as an Agriculture Labourer. The Tyruched (Tir-uched) is quite large so not sure what building they lived in. The map below is a portion of an 1888 map that shows the Tyruched, or Tir-uched, farm. The arrow points to the same area of houses shown above.
The parents, Thomas and Catherine, are captured in the 1871 Hay census. They have now moved down the road, or river, a ways and are living in Old Fordfawr. They now have a couple more children but our young Thomas junior is not present on this census (I assume he was old enough to seek employment, see below). I found a baptism record for their daughter Mary Anne from September 23, 1866 which listed their home as Lower Fordfawr.
1871 Hay Census
This shows their old place and the new place Old Fordfawr. This shows the only Fordfawr near by, however there is a Little Fordfawr further north.
I was looking around to see if I could locate our young junior Thomas anywhere else on those 1871 censuses. I did locate a 14 year old Thomas Gwillim, born in Clifford, working as a servant at a farm house in the homestead of Tre-newydd (Tre means “home”, and newydd means “new” so Newhome?). On the census below it appears to show Drenewydd but following a map and how the census progressed from home to home Trenewydd appears to be the place (I have noticed Welsh to English, or vice versa, causes spelling variations). Seems fairly likely that Thomas, at 14, would be off to work a job or start as an apprentice. On looking at a lot of censuses this seemed quite common back then. This farm would be about 6 kms from his parent’s home. You can see the area on the map below.
The year is now 1876 and Thomas has just married Rebecca Jones. At the time of their marriage they are living at Llanddew Court (or Llanthew Court or Llandden Court). That is a collection of buildings just on the outskirts to Llanddew. The part I found interesting, on their marriage record, is they used an “X” as their mark – they couldn’t write! Explains why the last name changes from document to document.
As noted on our lead page, Thomas and Rebecca have 4 children while living in this area. The 1881 census shows them living in Necknant (although sometimes spelled Lycnant – probably a misspell because of Welsh pronunciation converted to English words). Necknant appears to be a small cottage on the Oaklands Farm. The farm was also known as Elormierch before Oaklands.
Below I just captured an image of the relationship between the main buildings on Oakland Farm and the cottages that would have been Necknant. This was in 2023. Below that are 2 pictures I took of the stone building still standing at Necknant. One is far, the other closer.
Mary Jane comes into the picture
As noted on the lead page, wife Rebecca dies in 1888, probably in January. There exist some Civil Marriage Records that indicate a Thomas Gwillim married, and a Mary Thomas married, in Oct, Nov, Dec of 1888. The records are a one line item (see 2 images below) that make reference to a document page – Volume 11 b, page 201. They would have been married in Brecknock, which was another name for Brecon. Seems to make sense that this is a record of our ancestor as the timing works as does the location.
Shortly after getting married the couple head to Canada bringing along Thomas’ daughter Anne. His two sons, William and Thomas, stay behind. My assumption is that they are old enough to head out on their own. In an 1891 census I saw a 14 year old William working as a servant near Llanigon which isn’t too far from where the family was living. As well in another 1891 census page was a 12 year old Thomas living with his grandparents Thomas and Catherine in Dorstone. Not sure that last one works but seems like a nice good bye.
A last word on Mary Jane Thomas – it was hard to find any specific information on her on Ancestry.ca. However, I did find one census in 1871 that was most likely her. It was the right age and location. That Mary Jane Thomas was in the Brecknock Union Work House. Brecknock is another name for Brecon the town where she was born. The Union Work House was constructed in 1838 in Brecon and was used as a place to house the poor. On the 1871 census most of the youths were listed as “Scholars” so were students. Two thoughts – it was how Mary Jane may have acquired the reading and writing skills she had, and the second is that it was possible she came from a poor family so ended up in this work house. I notice a baptism of a Mary Jane Thomas at the Union House in 1874 with mom Margaret Thomas. Maybe they were both admitted in 1874 and the baptism done to get them up to date? In 1881 there is still a Margaret Thomas in residence as a Dress Maker. Mary Jane is gone but maybe she now has a career – who knows.
On our journey to Wales in May 2023 we took a photo of the workhouse as it stands today.
I don’t have much more to add other than it was a great journey of discovery. The trip to Wales in 2023 was awesome, even though their road system is challenging (narrow, curving with hedges on both sides). The scenery was incredible and I just think it must have been such a challenge for Thomas and Mary Jane to leave such a lush environment to end up on that cold, bleak prairie in Saskatchewan. But, I guess they had little to lose because they apparently had nothing anyway. Good on them for making the journey, surviving and creating a lasting legacy.
