My grandfather, Daniel Connors, came to America from Wales August of 1882 with his mother, Margaret George Connors. Until a week ago, I was pretty sure that my great grandfather, Henry Connors, might have adopted him. It seems this may be what happened. I have a Birth Certificate that is probably his (Daniel's) and his birth name was Rosser George and he was born in Cubilo, Machen Lower. I was stunned by this new piece of info. His birth father (Rosser George) was buried the day after he was born, having been killed in the Black Vein Coal mining disaster of July 1880. Rosser George was buried with Basil Williams officiating in the Parish of Risca. I assumed that that meant Rosser was affiliated with that particular church. I found Basil Wms and he is noted as being Vicar of St. Mary's. I have the baptisms for this parish and can find no Rosser George (aka Daniel Connors) baptized in this parish. I don't think this was a RC Church, but I might be mistaken. Henry and Margaret got married in July of 1881 in the Parish of Risca, then left for America later. Henry Connors was a Catholic from County Cork in Ireland. Catholics are baptized shortly after birth. Maybe Margaret, his mother, was not Catholic and therefore may have waited as may have been the custom. I hope this all makes sense. I find Welch geography a bit confusing and am not sure how to proceed or where to look for some kind of baptismal record. I think it is safe to assume that adoption records were not even a consideration back then. Regard, Kathy C.
From what I can find about St. Mary's in Risca, the Church building was a Wesleyan Methodist church. Founded in 1837, it was rebuilt on the same site in 1852 and dedicated to St John.
I hesitate to disagree with Chimp on Welsh matters, but if the church had a Vicar then it wouldn't have been Wesleyan - their ministers are simply called Ministers. St Mary's is the Parish Church of Risca - at that time part of the Church of England, but Church in Wales since that came into being in 1920. There's more about it at GENUKI: Code: http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/wal/MON/Risca and at Coflein (government heritage catalogue): Code: http://www.coflein.gov.uk/en/site/13180/details/st-marys-church-risca Infant baptism is the norm in the Church of England (and Church in Wales), and in most branches of Methodism, which includes Wesleyan. The main churches in the UK where you won't come across it are the Baptists, Quakers (Society of Friends) and the Salvation Army, but you might find birth records for their members instead.
I guess this is more a question than a reply. I keep seeing Cubilo on the Census and Birth Certificates from my family tree. It is in Lower Machen. Where can I locate a map around the 1870's-1880's that would show where this is? The last page of the 1881 Welsh Census for my great grandfather Henry Connors clearly notes it was NOT done in consecutive order and so it is difficult to find this on any kind of map as the Census taker bounced around all over the place. Did Cubilo no longer exist in 1880? This is quite frustrating. The only OSI map I could find that was actually quite good was from 1846. So much could have changed in the ensuing years. Thanks, Kathy
One of the best resources for large scale maps is at the National Library of Scotland. This link will take you to a selection centred on Lower Machen, but obviously there's a lot more on the site. Code: http://maps.nls.uk/geo/find/#zoom=14&lat=51.5907&lon=-3.1250&layers=39&b=1&point=0,0 Censuses were mostly listed in consecutive order, but where people were coming and going a lot they sometimes got missed off and were put in after all the others. It may be that this is what's happened in 1881, and most of it is actually in a logical order. This can usually be checked by looking at the description of the district on page 1. I'm not sure. I didn't see it in 1881 (Henry was at Colliery Row, I think, but it's unclear), but I didn't go right through the district. In 1871 he's at Rookery; Cubilow has parts of Rookery on either side, but unfortunately isn't mentioned in the description on the district. I couldn't see either Cubilo or Rookery on the maps I've linked to, but you might have more patience... And if you have any other clues as to where Rookery is/was, that might give a rough idea for Cubilo.
