Travel Tuesday - James Line - Wales itself

Did you know?..........  It is fairly well known that there are relatively few Welsh surnames. In fact Professor Hartmann (Americans from Wales, 1967) concludes that "Some thirty-nine surnames include about 95 per cent of the Welsh, wherever they are found" Jones is one of the most common surnames in Wales.
[ "Welsh Surnames" by T.J. Morgan and Prys Morgan. (University of Wales Press, 1985, ISBN 0-7083-0936-4)] 

 continuing with Second Great Grandfather Jonathen G. and Margaret (JONES) JAMES 

This a simple map of Wales without much detail but it gives clear boundaries before 1974. 
I have had to look up each little village and city and place it on the map.

Now Jonathen was born in Carmarthenshire in 1839 according to 1851 Census.   I do not have a village in Wales for Margaret's birth  

1841 Census Carmarthenshire, Wales No father listed (mother Margaret age 30) John 3y

1851 Census Cardiganshire, Wales No father listed but 3 more children added -Mother/head  It showed occupation for all the males in the family as coal miners.

1861 Census Glamorgan, Wales No father, mother/widow 4 grown sons at home

Jonathen JAMES & Margaret JONES were married in Glamorgan in 1861. (per marriage certificate & 1861 Census) 

The family seem to move every 10 years according to the Welsh Census.  First Jonathen's birth in Carmarthenshire.........  moving up to Cardiganshire (back to where his mom was born) and then to Glamorgan where Jonathen and Margaret married, and the whole family is living there too. 

   

I believe they left Wales before the next census in 1871 and perhaps after the 1870 US Census. I have not found where they entered the USA but by December 1870 a new son was born in Providence (Scranton) Pennsylvania. 

Welsh wills are online…. About 800,000 pages of documents have been placed on the National Library of Wales’ website. The wills date from the 14^th century until 1858, when civil probate was introduced, and 1,000 of them  are written in Welsh. NOTE: the website is written in Welsh but there is a button to click to change it to English. I would think that the documents would be written in Welsh but there are always translators. 

========================== General Information 
County of Carmarthenshire (Sir Gaerfyrddin)  is a unitary authority in the south west of Wales and one of the thirteen historic counties. It is the third largest in Wales. The county town and administrative centre of Carmarthenshire is Carmarthen and the most populous settlement is the area in and around the town of Llanelli.  With its fertile land and agricultural produce, Carmarthenshire is known as the "Garden of Wales"

Jonathen's Birthplace: Llanwinio is a community located in Carmarthenshire, Wales.  It is divided into two sections-the Eastern Division and the Western Division. The population is 1035; 422 in the Eastern and 613 in the Western Division. Llanwinio is 2.7 miles (4.3 km) north of the hamlet of Gellywen, home of Ainon Baptist Church  built in 1828 and re-built in 1880.

Ceredigion  is a county in Mid Wales  The county was created as Cardiganshire in 1282 in the area of the former Kingdom of Ceredigion., The historic county was abolished in 1974 and reconstitute in 1996 as Ceredigion.  

Jonathen's mother's birthplace (Margaret):  Pembryn, Cardiganshire, Wales  is a village on the coast of Ceredigion in Wales,some ten miles up the coast from Cardigtan.  It consists mostly of farms and caravan sites. Penbryn Beach is owned by the National Trust and was used for location filming for the James Bond film Die Another Day.
   
Married: Glamorgan: Llangynwyd is a village 2 miles to the south of Maesteg, in the county borough of Bridgend, Wales. It was part of the medieval commote   The village is the site of Llangynwyd parish church, the ruins of Llangynwyd castle and one of the oldest pubs in Wales (the Old House, dating from 1147.)