First off, sincere apologies to all you kind folk out there for your many efforts whilst I have been AWOL!
Tasmania in Winter (especially this one!) can be cruel so we high-tailed it up to Queensland for some sun. They don't call it the Sunshine State for nothing, but it's also the Skin Cancer capital of the world and (having spent our first 30 years in Oz here in Brisbane) it has finally caught up with Hubby and he has required several bits to be chopped off! Normally a quick and relatively painless procedure - but not when it's on top of a bald head!!!! So the patient continues to improve but it did mean less 'pooter' time for me!
Now, to put it in crude slang, I am gob-smacked! I read all these exciting posts and will try to address each one in turn!
1. Fantastic info on our 'Sunday Night at the London Palladium' show venue at the back of Mount Pleasant! As Hugo said, I bet we all have sore ankles from kicking ourselves for not taking photos or recording the events in more detail! But the memory of our little plays and variety shows will never die!
2. I do have a copy of Fred and Ann's marriage certificate. The details are as follows:
Name: Frederick Parry
Registration Year: 1903
Registration Quarter: Jul-Aug-Sep
Registration district: Conway
Inferred County: Caernarvonshire
Volume: 11b
Page: 737
Spouse: Anne EVANS
BOTH are listed as single, Bachelor and Spinster, so no previous marriage for Ann. Sadly, that cert is in Tasmania and we are still in Queensland, so full details will have to wait - sorry!!
I should add here that I originally sent off for a marriage cert but it turned out to be the wrong Fred! Grr! All these names that keep cropping up - and Welsh names are the most difficult to sort through!!
3. I also found the Censuses for Ann Evans with the Roberts family (Tea merchants) in 1891 and the other Roberts family (Stationers) in 1901 and felt that they were the right ones for her. It was fascinating to read that the two boys could have been living with their grandparents - that would have happened a lot in those days, so it's all starting to fit together!
4. Helig, the <Ann Evans born 4 April 1874 attending the National School, Old Colwyn in 1878> can't be the right one because on the 1939 Register (the pseudo census they had because they knew war was coming and needed to count the population quick!) Ann's DOB is given as 24 Mar 1872. I'm taking that as correct because all the other dates given on that Register are correct as well!
5. Helig (again!) you are right in that Ellen was Fred and Ann's dtr. Auntie Nell lived in #3 Mount Pleasant until her death at age 73 in 1981. Also there were 2 other children who died within their first year (Margaret Ann and William Frederick). After William's death, Ann fostered 3 girls, my Mum being one of them.
6. Hugo, it's not the Baptism cert for Edward that I sent for, it's his birth cert - I am 'desperate' to see what Father's name is on it! Fingers crossed, but I am not expecting to see one, to be honest. Poor Ann appears to have been abandoned and having to work to support herself while her parents took care of her little boys...
7. Now without denigrating any of these fabulous finds, I have to say that this was the most spectacular discovery of all: that Thomas died at 30 Ffordd Morfa! My eyes popped out of my head at that!! But at the same time I would not be at all surprised if you could hear my groan of despair all the way from here!
Why? Because we lived at #8 Ffordd Morfa at that time too! My Mum told me that the 'Auntie Nell and Uncle Tom' that lived at #30 were our relations but she never went into much detail - and as kids, you never ask, do you!! They had a son called Maurice who worked on the Crosville buses. He may even have worked on the trams prior to their closure but I have no absolute evidence of that, so no hand-on-heart at this stage!
But the amazing co-incidences don't end there! My younger sister actually bought #30 after their deaths and lived there until about 1990!
So I am really anxious now to get back to freezing, snow-bound Tasmania (the temps on Monday were -2 to 9 degrees, whilst here in Qld, it hit 32!) to see what the postie has brought by way of certificates! I know Edward's death cert will be correct because he was killed in action (so there's a lot of info on him!) but I am hanging out that the birth certificate is the correct one and will provide more info to work with!
One last thing: someone mentioned (sorry, so many posts and not all of them shown on this page, so not sure who said this!) that Ann may have been baptised at a Calvinist Methodist church? I would say that would definitely have been her chosen 'persuasion' as it was through the Calvinist Methodist church that she welcomed my Mum and her sister, Dorothy, into the family. They were both the daughters of a very naughty C/Methodist Minister and Ann was persuaded to take both girls into her care through the church. I must add here that she would have been a wonderful Mother as in her last years/months, my Mum never talked about anyone other than her "Mum" and 'Our Nellie' (Ann's dtr, Ellen, who took over care of the 2 girls after Ann's death) and her home in Penrhynside. My sister and I have deduced from what she would say that they had a very stable, very happy childhood. An absolute example of how money doesn't count where 'riches' are concerned!
Many thanks once again to you all!
We are here in the warm sun until Wed Sept 13th, after which we can but hope that a) the road home is re-opened from the snow of this past week, and b) the cold shock doesn't kill us!!!