February 22, 1917 to February 22, 2017: Rest in Peace, dear William.

100 years ago on February 22, 1917,

my great uncle, William Joseph Williams

gave his life in WWI, age 24, in Salonika, Greece. 

He fell in a skirmish against the Germans, and was

hit at close range in one of his legs. The newspaper clipping below gives a good description. His leg had to be amputated, and William didn't survive.

William was born in Blaenau Ffestiniog,
North Wales in 1893. I haven't yet sent away for his birth certificate, so I don't know the date of birth.

He joined the Royal Welch Fusiliers in Wrexham, Wales and on Sept 5, 1915 was sent to France.

I only have 2 photos of William, so I did a bit of photo-shopping and added William's head to this lovely Royal Welsh Fusiliers head shot of another soldier!

I had thought maybe this year, 2017, I would visit William's grave but I don't feel like that part of the world is safe at the moment.

William was part of the Machine Gun Corps during the last few months of his life.

The above clipping states William passed away 

"on the 6th day at the Casualty Clearing Hospital", so this means he would have been injured on Feb 17, which was his older brother's birthday.
(my Grandpa John Griffith Williams)
It also states that Miss Ellen Roberts, William's aunt, was the only person that the sender of the news had an address for, although the person knew that
"your nephew used to write to his girl very faithfully".

The clipping is cut off at this point. I'd love to know who wrote the letter, but I haven't yet been able to find it online. That sentence makes me cry every time I read it.

The above is the UK army register of Soldier's Effects, for William Williams. His brother is the one who received them, Robert David Williams, who was on the HMS Violet. 

Henry Hargreaves (should have initial C not E) was the chaplain and wrote this lovely letter.

I recently was given a link to the Welsh newspapers online which shows the above, "Williams, 14842,

W. (Blaenau Festiniog)" under
DIED OF WOUNDS.

No wonder I couldn't locate an obituary without any help! This was found in The North Wales Chronicle.

And this is where William is buried.
His plot is in section D, #828.

I'm so thankful I purchased the photo of his

grave, from the War Graves Photographic

Project online.

William's medal index card, showing his enlistment and his date of death.

I created a collage for my Facebook page, to remember great uncle William.

I've done my best to learn all I could about you, dear William. One day I hope to meet you in Heaven.

By Loretta (Williams) Houben

Happy Mother's Day!

This is one of my favourite photos of the Williams family, taken in Spalding, Saskatchewan in the 1930's. Date unknown. My Dad was born in 1929 so I guess this could be around 1935.

My Dad is wearing a tie, so I guess they are going to church.

My grandparents had both died before I ever saw this photo in my Dad's collection.

When you are growing up and raising your own family you just don't clue in to the past generation until it's too late to ask questions.

So if your grandparents are alive, speak to them today!

I'm glad that I have these photos though, and this one was very scratched so I used my handy PicMonkey photo program to erase all the scratches and it looks so much better.

Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful hard working moms!

By Loretta (Williams) Houben

Ellen Williams maiden name is EGERTON!

Today, May 5, 2016, the most exciting thing happened to me.

I recently joined the Saskatchewan Genealogy Network on Facebook in order to ask kind people for help in my ongoing research for my Williams family.

Someone said I should also join the Naicam Homecoming Facebook group so I did.

Today, Gord Neish sent me the above copy of Ellen Williams death certificate, which he found at the Naicam Museum today. Apparently these things are on file!

This document solves the mystery of Ellen's maiden name. Her father is listed:

EDWARD EGERTON

I immediately went to Findmypast and searched for his name on the censuses, and found the above on the 1891 Welsh census. His wife's name was Hannah, and little Ellen was 3 years old. She was born in Bettws-y-coed, Caernarvonshire, Wales.

They lived at #91 Station Cottage in Bryneglwys, Bettws-y-Coed in Denbighshire, Wales.

Here they are on the 1901 Welsh census, but Ellen's mother died between 1891 and 1901. She now has a little sister named Hannah.

This is the most exciting day in my genealogy research yet!

By Loretta (Williams) Houben

I've found William Williams on the 1911 Welsh Census!!!!

I just had to add this to my blog tonight!

I was browsing Findmypast records.

They sent me a Hint for Ellen Roberts, so I checked it out.

While staring at the 1911 Welsh census, trying to figure out if the word "nai" meant "nephew" in English, and what did "pentelue" mean in English, I decided to check them out in a Welsh English dictionary online. My heart nearly stopped beating as it dawned on me that this was indeed, my great uncle William, THE William; and his aunt, Ellen Roberts, the same aunt which the RWF wrote to in the newspaper to inform her of her nephew's death!

The VERY SAME PEOPLE!

(penteulu means head of household)

What helped to clinch it was the fact that Ellen Roberts was living at Dolgarregddu Street in Ffestiniog; the same place the ROBERTS lived at in the 1871 census, and the same place which Ellen lived at when the RWF sent her the letter about William.

The address isn't shown on the handwritten form, but shows on the transcribed form.

The original forms before and after Ellen's form are all listed as living at Dolgarregddu Street.

I was so excited when I realized this that I nearly fell off my chair.

I stared at William's age (18) and realized that he wasn't born in 1898 after all; he was born in 1893.

And he wasn't 19 when he died in 1917; he was 24.

For some reason I was so happy he was 5 years older!

Then I thought; why did I assume he was 19?

It was because my Grandma always said he was 19 when he died, but he wasn't!

And so this 1901 Welsh census I had found a few years ago is correct!

It shows Robert David (age 11) and little Willie (age 8) living as boarders on a farm in Talsarnau, the same area which John Griffith (my grandpa) was also living age 13 as a cattle hand.

(see below)

I also just realized that this 1901 census was filled out by the same person, and the above info on Robert and Willie is on page 4, while the info on John below is on page 14!

This is thrilling so I just had to add it here tonight.

What a day for research!

By Loretta (Williams) Houben

Findmypast 1871 Transcription for ROBERTS family

I am enjoying using Findmypast subscription, however it isn't as easy to use as Ancestry UK!

They have millions of records but when trying to find the ROBERTS family yesterday and add the 1871 census details to their family tree, I couldn't locate John Roberts and his wife Mary in Ffestiniog, until I looked page by page in St. David's Parish, and then lo and behold I couldn't add the census to my tree! I had to start all over again, so I tried looking up Mary Jane and found the family that way! Yikes. It sure took a lot of time.

But here they are, and this is what the transcription looks like.

It's very nice, and if you click on each name, you get that person's transcription.

So I printed a page for each of the ROBERTS family as family names are few and far between for me, and so I treat them like gold! I'm so happy I found them, as I'd never thought to look for them before. Elizabeth ROBERTS married JOSEPH WILLIAMS and so began the WILLIAMS clan, and therefore she is very special indeed.

By Loretta (Williams) Houben

Ellen Roberts, aunt to William Joseph Williams.

Here is the copy of William William's death notice sent to Miss Ellen Roberts, living at 9 Dolgaregddu Street in Ffestiniog, North Wales.

I'm not sure what happened to William's parents. His mother Elizabeth was Ellen's older sister.

I'm still working on the clues.

However yesterday I noticed that Ellen Roberts appears on the 1871 Welsh Census, so I thought I'd put the newspaper clippings together with the census to confirm that yes, this is the correct Ellen Roberts. I assume she remained single and didn't get married as in 1917 when she was 58 years old, based upon her year of birth being 1859 according to the 1871 census and her age of 12 years, she was still addressed as Miss Roberts:

This is the piece of paper which came to light recently in my Dad's collection.

I love the words which C of E Chaplain, Henry Hargreaves wrote to Ellen.

Here is Ellen's name listed in a closeup of the 1871 census.

Here is the 1871 census full page, showing the Roberts family living at Dolgarregddu Street in Ffestiniog, North Wales.

By Loretta (Williams) Houben

60 years ago...March 24, 1956

60 years ago on March 24, 1956 my great uncle, Robert David Williams, passed away.

Until last year, 2015, I knew very little about him, and now thanks to contact with his grandson, 

Paul Williams in Australia, I'm learning a great deal, including his date of birth and date of death, and now his obituary, written in Welsh of course. He is buried in Bethesda Cemetery in Blaenau Ffestiniog, North Wales, in the county of Gwynedd. So far I haven't been able to locate the cemetery records online. 

Paul emailed the above to me on March 7, 2016. He had taken a picture of the clipping in the possession of his aunt Betty while he was recently in England.

What is fascinating and thrilling to me is the list of mourners, including 

Mrs. E. Simpson and her daughter Vera. This is Robert's sister, the elusive Elizabeth Ellen! But according to Betty Elizabeth was a half sister. So there is another mystery to solve!

It also lists Mr. JG Williams, Brother, Vancouver, which is my grandpa.

It also mentions Robert's parents, Joseph and Elizabeth.

By Loretta Williams Houben

Remembering great uncle William J Williams.

Today, November 6, 2015, I searched again on UK Ancestry site for records of William Williams, and I actually found two more I had never seen.

I am very pleased. I would love to become a life long member of Ancestry.

It's so easy to search their records.

I created the above collage today.

The above record is from the army register of soldiers' effects.

Notice the "to whom authorized" box on the right.

Notice the red pen notation on the right.

Here is a close up; it shows Bro: Sole Legal, Robert David Williams, HMS Violet.

That would most likely mean the parents, Joseph and Elizabeth Williams, are dead.

So this is another big clue.

By Loretta Williams Houben

My great grandparent's marriage certificate.

I am quite excited! I'm nearly 100% sure this is my paternal great grandparents, Joseph and Elizabeth Williams. I had found them listed online a few years ago, and double checked the names and information, and the ages. I also asked my genealogy group that I meet with once a month downtown if this would be them, and based on all the information, they said yes.

It turns out I didn't need to mail away for the copy, I just filled everything out online!

It began with a bit of detective work.

FreeBMD is a fantastic site. I discovered it quite a few years ago.

Just click on the link and use it for yourself.

Of course, this doesn't show you the actual certificates, as they are not digitized. 

North Wales BMD provided more clues. 

To verify all that I'd discovered, I clinched it by finding the information on FindMyPast. 

That is a marvelous site which I've been enjoying using all year.

Finally I ordered online from the general register office in Great Britain.

It was extremely easy to do. I ordered it on Sept 11, and it arrived on Sept 23.

The above is a close up of the copied part of the marriage certificate.

It states that Joseph is 30 years old, a bachelor, and his profession is "slate labourer". He was living in Dolgarregddu, Festiniog at the time of the marriage. The certificate is signed in the presence of John Williams, which I assume is his father.

Elizabeth's maiden name is Roberts, which I already knew, and she is 26, and a spinster, also living in Dolgarregddu at the time of the marriage. Her father's name is John Roberts. A witness is Mary Jane Roberts which may be her mother.

The date of the marriage is August 3, 1883.

The marriage took place on a Friday.

How I wish I had a photo of the young couple!

To date, I haven't un-earthed any photos of them at all.

But this is quite exciting news, and I'm thrilled I'm now a "real" genealogist.

By Loretta Williams Houben

John Griffith Williams...my grandfather.

My grandpa, John Griffith Williams on the left above, was born

on February 17, 1888 in Blaenau Festiniog, North Wales, to Joseph and Elizabeth Williams.

This is the earliest photo I have of him.

He appears with his family on the Welsh 1891 census, age 3. 

John was known as Jack. He is 2nd from the left in the front row, with a friend known only as "Jones" in this photo. Date unknown.

I don't know the name of the ship, or the date John came to Canada.

But he arrived in 1910, so the above information may be true.

It shows a John Williams sailing from Liverpool on April 21, 1910, to Quebec, Canada, on the Corsican, part of the Allan line steamship company.

This was found on FindmyPast website.

Ticket # 33652 shows a John Williams, which I like to imagine is my grandpa.

An old postcard found online showing the SS Corsican.

John at an early age, most likely in Canada, on his horse Tim.

John, with dreams of being a cowboy.

He settled in Three Hills Alberta, on Hugh Parry's ranch.

I'm not sure if that is Hugh on the left or not.

By Loretta (Williams) Houben

Elizabeth Ellen Williams...my great aunt in North Wales.

My great aunt, Elizabeth Ellen Williams, is a mystery.

She appears on the 1891 Welsh census, age 6, making her year of birth 1885.

The census states she was born in Merioneth, Festiniog.

The only other clue I have for Elizabeth is this one.

My grandma kept this postcard of Blurton Church, which is in Blurton, Staffordshire.

The church is now known as St. Bartholomew and is still in operation.

My grandma calls Elizabeth "Eloner". She states she is Jack's sister.

So this is the correct Elizabeth. 

Sadly, Elizabeth Ellen's baby died by falling into a tub of hot water. Seeing as the baby is buried in England, it wouldn't have taken place in Wales, as my grandma stated above.

The baby is buried to the side of the door, by the "very old fashioned church".

I assume Elizabeth and her family were living in Stoke-on-Trent at the time.

When I checked out the map, it isn't really that far from Blaenau Festiniog.

Here is a recent photo found online.

Here is a Google map photo found online. This may be the closest I'll ever come to the little baby's grave. This would be my dad's little cousin.

One more picture of St. Bartholomew's Church.

I might try contacting someone at the church through their website.

If I hear anything back, I'll post it here.

By Loretta (Williams) Houben