Our great-great-great grandfather was David Jenkins, born in Castel Cwrw ("little castle") in the parish of Mynydisllwyn in 1794. He married Ann Davies (born Merthyr Tydfil, 1816). They had four children: Sarah, Mary, Ann and William.
Our great-great grandmother was Ann Jenkins, daughter of the aforementioned David and Ann Jenkins. She was born in 1832 at Bedwellty. She married John Davies of Twyn Gwyn and Buttery Hatch, in the Parish of Mynydisllwyn. They had seven children: Thomas, William, Rachel, Sarah Ann (known as Sar'ann), David, John and Llewellyn.
Of these, Thomas went to South Africa as a mining engineer. When he returned, referred to by everyone as the "Kaffir", he lived with his mother, Ann, at the Prince of Wales Inn. The Prince of Wales is thought to have been an old drovers' inn. At that time, it looked nothing like it is now, having been enlarged and modernised according to the fashion of the time when our grandmother was a little girl and was living there with her grandmother, or maybe even before - there is a memorial stone built into one of the walls which reads: "1868 T. Davies". This was probably Thomas "the Kaffir" Davies. Some say that he was responsible for diminishing Ann's wealth through his passion for gambling, Ann presumably coughing up to save the family reputation. Ann had owned some property in St Mellons near Cardiff. When our grandmother was a little girl, she sometimes went with her in a horse-drawn trap to collect the rent. The Prince of Wales Inn, Pontllanfraith, was all that remained of her property when she died.
Thomas owned the Post Office and a public house in Nelson, a village not far from Pontllanfraith in the county of Glamorgan. Our Aunt Mavis remembers going there with her parents when she was a small child. She says they always travelled by train, which was very exciting. In those days it was the only means of public transport, buses and cars being non-existent. She remembers two buildings, back to back, one part the PO and the other the pub, with interior access to each. She remembers going up one flight of stairs, down another, and arriving in the bar, from which she was hurriedly removed.
William became landlord of the Greyhound Inn, Pontllanfraith. He emigrated to the USA, and may have been a member of the Embassy staff in Washington, though probably only a coachman or barman, most likely the latter.
Sarah Ann was born Castel Cwrw. She married John Valentyne Davies, a harpist. They had three children: Reginald, Horace and Ethel Adeline. John Valentyne abandoned Sar'ann, who then returned to the Prince of Wales to live with her mother. She later became landlady of the Plough Inn, where she gained a formidable reputation as a regular battle-axe. Her children stayed with their grandmother until they were grown up.
After Ann's death, Sar'ann took over the Prince of Wales. Her second marriage was to David Pope (Uncle Davy), who helped her run the establishment. He was a big fellow, wore gold earrings, and looked just like a gypsy. Aunt Mavis loved him. He was no pushover, and would throw out belligerent customers like so many sacks of grain. This was surprising since he was so gentle with the children. They had one daughter, Florence (Floss). Sar'ann eventually sold the Prince of Wales to a brewery and went to live in Woodfield Terrace, Woodfieldside, where she lived for the remainder of her life.
John was killed as a child. He had been playing on a cart outside the Greyhound, when it collapsed upon him, killing him outright.
Our Great Grandfather, Llewellyn was born at the Prince of Wales on the 12th November, 1869. Llewellyn started out as an apprentice schoolteacher. There was no college training in those days: one pupil was chosen from the best of the final class as being suitable for training. There was not thought to be much of a future in schoolteaching, so he tried an apprenticeship to an architect in Cardiff. This, too, was terminated, possibly because Llewellyn was not good enough. Aunt Mavis still has one of his drawings. Llewellyn later went to Birmingham to work for the Railways, and eventually became Chief Telegraphist at Snow Hill Station. While there, he met and married Margaret Ellen Norwood. They had ten children: Violet Irene (my mother), Elsie, Reginald, Leonard, Ellen Lucretia (known as Nell or Nellie), Ethel (mother of Sally and Josephine), Llewellyn (killed at Suvla Bay in 1916), Ella, Dorothy and Kenneth (not necessarily in this order - though Violet Irene was the eldest and Kenneth was the youngest).
Of these ten children, Reginald served in WW1, when he met and married Mathilde, a refugee from Belgium. She was very beautiful and probably came from a well-to-do family. After the war they came to Pontllanfraith, having been offered work at Oakdale Colliery. In this, Reginald had been sponsored by our grandfather, Octavius Forward, who had some influence there. Oakdale was owned by the Tredegar Iron and Coal Company. Reginald and Mathilde lived in Penmaen Road. Their son Reginald was born on the same day and very near the same time as our Aunt Margaret. Mavis vaguely remembers the fuss. Reginald junior was known for years as "little Reggie" - Mavis doesn't remember him being called anything else.
Our Grandmother, Violet Irene (known as Irene), may have been the daughter of her mother's second marriage to a Spanish man (but if so, why was she a Davies? Maybe the Spanish man was a first husband). She spent most of her life with her grandmother, Ann, in Wales and was brought up with her cousins in the Prince of Wales Inn. All their names were prefixed with "the Prince", e.g. Horace the Prince, Irene the Prince, etc.
Violet Irene married Octavius Forward. Octavius was the son of Charles Forward, who had come from Dorset with the railway. He was a shunter, and his job was as an expert, teaching the Welsh to run their own railway. He was married to Miriam, née Crewe. Her mother was a Thomas. They were Wesleyan Methodists, hence the memorial stone in the Methodist Church, Commercial Street, Tredegar Junction, which reads:
