1 Feb 2005
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I’m getting interested in the family history project again. I’ve joined Origins.net and Ancestry.com to have a look at what records they have. I’m trying to understand the whole Hemmings mystery. On the list of fatalities caused by the Risca Colliery Disaster of 1880 is the name William Palmer, aged 67, a Bolom Culler (surely Bottom Cutter) (). Bridget Dineen married a Daniel Palmer in 1867 but there is no record of Daniel’s birth or death. However, there are very few Palmers in that area and I wondered if William Palmer could be Daniel’s father or grandfather. So, I looked in the 1871 census for any reference to Palmers in Risca. I found:
Risca, 1871, Thomas Matthews House
Name Rel Cond. Age Occupation Place of Birth
William Palmer Head Married 55 (or 53) M Collier Somerset Backford
Elizabeth " Wife Married 64 F Somerset Beaminster
Sarah " Mother Married 83 F Parish Relief Somerset Lee
This is highly likely to be the same William Palmer who died in the colliery explosion. I quick search of the 1871 census for Palmers in Somerset reveals that there are a lot of Palmers in that area, and thete is evidence of an association with Newport, Monmouthshire since some of the Palmers were born there. I think the ‘Beaminster’ listed above is actually Bedminster, a suburb of Bristol, 1 mile to the south of the city. ‘Backford’ might be Blackford but an examination of the census return doesn’t show an l after the initial B. The trailing end of the word might be double l in which case if could be Backwell. I searched for Palmers born in Backwell in the 1871 census and got 3 results:
Name Age in Birthplace Relationship Civil Parish County/Island
1871
Ann Rogers 71 Backwell, Somerset, Lodger St James and Gloucestershire
Palmer England St Paul
Georg 25 Backwell, Somerset, Son Nailsea Somerset
Palmer England
Mary 65 Backwell Common, Patient St Cuthbert Somerset
Palmer Somerset, England Out Wells
I also looked for Bridget Palmer in the 1871 census and found only one. She was in the Newport Workhouse:
1871 Union Workhouse, Newport, Monmouthshire
Name Relation Condition Age Occupation Where Born
Bridget Inmate Married 32 Needlewoman Waterford, Newcastle,
Palmer Ireland
. . . quoted from RG10-5348-23-16 ()
This might be Bridget Dineen. An earlier census return gives her birth as 1842 in Caerleon. The Bridget above would be born in 1839. Not a big difference and, of course, the Dineens were an Irish family. If this was our Bridgetm then she has obviously fallen on hard times. There is no sign of her husband Daniel or of her daughter Jenny. Where are they? Perhaps they both died, leaving Bridget destitute. Or perhaps Daniel ran off taking Jenny with him - this could explain why there is no record of his death or burial despite Bridget staying in the Risca area for several decades (Jeff found her in the 1891 census living with her new husband John Jones and two of her daughters Helena and Rose). There is also a lone Bridget Palmer in the 1881 census:
1881 11 Castle Street, St.
Woollos
Name Relation Condition Age Occupation Place of Notes
Birth
Michael Head Mar. 28 Hobbler Ireland
Clancy
Margaret Wife Mar. 27 Ireland
Clancy
Edmond Son 4mos Monmouth
Clancy Newport
Michael Bryan Head Mar. 50 Hobbler Ireland
Johanna Wife Mar. 56 Ireland
Bryan
John Collins Grandchild 3 Monmouth
Newport
James Venn Head Mar. 61 Monmouth Lunatic
Newport
Mary Venn Wife Mar. 60 Ireland
Norah Feeny Neice Unm. 23 Domestic Ireland
Servant
Bridget Boarder Widow 44 Fishworker[1] Ireland
Palmer
Joseph Head Mar. 40 Labourer in Ireland
Mulcahay Coal
Ellen Wife Mar. 34 Ireland
Mulcahay
Ellen Dau. 3 Monmouth
Mulcahay Newport
Mary A Dau. 1 Monmouth
Mulcahay Newport
Elizabeth Dau. 1mo Monmouth
Mulcahay Newport
. . . quoted from RG11-5263-127-19 ()
I feel very confident that the Bridget Palmer is the same as the one in the 1871 census. However is it our Bridget? I don’t know. If it is then where are her 5 children? Why is she called Palmer still? She is shown here living next to a family of Bryans - our Bridget married a Patrick Bryan in 1864 - were they related? I think we need to reconstruct the various Irish families that were present at that time. I looked up Michael Bryan in the 1871 census:
1871 28 Castle St., St. Woollos, Newport
Name Relation Condition Age Occupation Place of Birth
Michael Bryan Head Mar. 50 Labourer Ireland
Johanna Bryan Wife Mar. 49 Ireland
Hanna Bryan Dau. Mar. 15 Newport, Mon.
This is confusing because Michael and Johanna are rare names together, yet the ages are completely wrong. Perhaps Michael’s age was written as 50 when it should have been 60 in 1881? One way to confirm it would be to prove that the grandchild John Collins was Hanna Bryan’s son. As it happens, the 1881 census shows an Annie Collins married to a Joseph Collins living in Rogerstone. The Annie shown would have been born around 1855 in Newport. However, the fly in the ointment is that she is shown having a son John - so she can’t be the mother of the other John Collins staying with the Bryans in Newport. There are no other female Collins’ in the area of a suitable age to be Hanna Bryant so that is possibly a dead end. There’s the possibility that John Collins is the son of another Bryan daughter. I could do with looking in the 1861 census for this family. I think I ought to follow up the Palmer side. Here’s a question: what happened to Bridget’s daughter Jenny? We’ve never found her birth, marriage or death. In fact I’m not entirely sure how we came to know of her at all.
I used the Ancestry site to search for all Dineen Births in the GRO.
