Final Thoughts before getting down to the Nitty Gritty

What sort of people were they?

Well, there's no point in beating about the bush! Of fame and fortune there is little although there is evidence that some of the early Prices may have been comparatively well off as freeholders and there are tantalising hints that William Price (the earliest Price we can identify with certainty) was a part heir to a considerable estate. Generally, most of them were hard working farm labourers, shepherds, council road men with some of them managing to farm for a while on their own account.

How far back can we go?

This is always one of the first questions that I'm asked and when I say that I can trace my mother’s ancestry back to around the middle of the 18th century, most people are not that impressed. In fact it's around four to five generations to the birth of the earliest member around 1720. But just consider that the Napoleonic Wars lasted from 1803 to 1815 and Nelson's victory at the battle of Trafalgar took place in 1805 it sort of puts things in context. I like classical music and when I remind myself that J S Bach died in 1750 and Mozart was born in 1756 – both lived within the period of my mother’s documented family history.

Forwards or Backwards?

Everyone who wants to trace their ancestry has to start in the present and gradually work backwards. This is steady work and may come up against many roadblocks on the journey backwards but it generally has the advantage of following the path from the twig to the branch to the bigger branch, to the even bigger branch to the trunk until eventually one hits the inevitable root beyond which all is hidden underground and may forever remain that way.

But having arrived at what appears to be the earliest traceable ancestor, the journey forward begins and now the fun really starts. Nothing prepares you for the way that the descendants of those early Joneses and Prices branch out in many surprising directions. I well remember that in my youth I like other people of my age would jokingly call anyone from Senny, Sennybridge or Trecastle 'cous' or 'cousin'. Well, perhaps I was nearer the truth than I imagined - it’s amazing where relatives seem to pop up. Of course the explanation is simply that people born into rural communities before the advent of road and later rail travel didn’t travel far and tended to marry local partners and settle within their own community.

When it comes to recording all this information there are two main questions. Do you start at the end and work backwards or vice versa and what is the style that you will use? In answer to the first question I have decided to start with the earliest members of the families and work forward. In answer to the second question I have tried to make each blog post factual and added narrative where I have something to say about the generation or person(s) described.

I have one final confession to make. Having spent so much time looking at the Myddfai and Llywel census returns from through the whole 19^th century, I became more than a bit obsessed with trying to discover how every Price in the parish was related to every other Price in the parish. This certainly side-tracked me from the main family line – but still proved an enjoyable investigation. It is here that I expect some correction from those who may know better.

Final Disclaimer.

The history contained in these pages and the opinions and occasionally the inferences that I have made from the data are entirely mine. The records are often not complete. For example in the case of Parish Records for baptisms, marriages and deaths there are often gaps and incomplete entries. Sometimes the Bishop's Transcript of the record will help to fill in these gaps but in the case of a parish like Llanddeusant for example, the parish records have been lost. The Llywel records have many gaps in them also and so sometimes it is not possible to trace everyone in this way. Similarly it is sometimes tricky to find people in the census records. I acknowledge the help of many people in this journey. Staff at Record Offices and the Registrars have often helped beyond the call of duty.