Charles Glasson of St Austell

[Deleted]

Morning CT et al

I do not have so much of a query but really taking the opportunity to vent the frustration of a number of hours searching...

Here is the story..... Charles Glasson, a painter and paper hanger of St Austell, married Mary Jane Rumsom in Barnstaple in 1883. By the 1891 census they were living at Aberavon in Glamorganshire with three or so children all born in Barnstaple.

Checking the census for 1901 suggests that the family have moved away overseas - absolutely no trace of them whatsoever.

By 1911 they are back again - in Aberavon of all places - but it is clear that they have travelled because some children were born in Devon, some in Wales and some in Bournemouth, Dorset.

So then I got to thinking about the 1901 census - surely they must have still been in the UK somewhere. So I hunted and I hunted, getting right down to searching on first names only... nothing.

But finally, I searched on Fanny ........ (somebody), born around 1891 at Aberavon. And I found one but she was named Fanny Ellen BONDEN, daughter of Charles, a painter etc and Mary Jane from Barnstaple, siblings born in Barnstaple and Glamorganshire.

So yes GLASSON to BONDEN...... how on earth.....

[sue]

Oy!

My dad was born in Aberavon!

If you ignored the huge industrial works, then later the oil slicks from a tanker shipwreck, then later still much unemployment etc..., there was a lovely beach I played on as a littl'un visiting the grandparents!

My dad's dad was the economic migrant from Halsetown, Cornwall to Aberavon; and his mum's family were economic migrants from..... Barnstable RD!!

So I have at times spent a while looking for people from the West Country in Wales 1871 -1911, and I agree, boy there are some interesting not just transcriptions, but the original noting of names by the enumerator........

Sue

[Deleted]

Hi Sue

Oy!

My dad was born in Aberavon!

No offence intended as you can well imagine - more suggesting that after going there from Cornwall via Devon, off to Dorset, that it seemed an unlikely place for him to go back to - I would have picked Cornwall....

a little'un.... surely not all that long ago... ;D

Lannanta

[sue]

Hi Lannanta!

I visited the villages where my Devon grandmother's family came from 2 years ago, a couple of miles from the coastal edge of Barnstable RD - Lynton, Berrynarbor etc.

Dare I say, the scenery was breathtaking. (Much though I'm loyal to Cornwall!)

But just like much of Cornwall now, it was obvious why people in the 19th & early 20th century left Cornwall & Devon for the likes of places with much better prospects for work: Aberavon - or even New Zealand, Aus, the US etc! ;D

We love those beautiful West Country places I guess in part because there is so little sign of industry, cities, work of any kind really.

Our family holidays in those, oh okay then, very recent times when I was a littl 'un ;D were always to the North Devon Coast or Cornwall, although we lived 100s of miles away, and despite there being plenty of other good destinations in the UK.

I just didn't know then that these were the 2 places my dad's family had emigrated from to industrialised Wales, & that his parents had clearly made sure he loved those places they had had to give up.

Sue

Right Sue: enough of that sentimental stuff!

[Cornish Terrier]

And this ain't no transcription error either!

Only other thing it could possibly be interpreted as might be 'Bouden'.

Very strange indeed!

CT