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Someone here had been visiting Trealaw Cemetery in the Rhondda and I have been trying to ascertain whether they (or anyone else) had the cemetery index Cd as I am told that alot of Porth people are bureid here and I am trying to find burials of my Porth family who I can't find. Regards Sian

Hi Sian, I go to Trealaw Cemetery weekly as my grandparents and some of the rest of my family is there. I don,t have any CD - I usually go and see the sexton who will search the records for me and give me a plot number -whence the fun really starts as the system is so higgledy piggeldy I usually spend most of the morning traipsing around 1 plot!!! But at least it is a beautiful cemetery so as long as it is not raining too hard it is usually not too bad!! I will be going on Wednesday morning so if you give me as much info as you can I will see if I can find anything and will report back with plot numbers and any info. As a point the other relevant cemeteries are Treorchy and Glyntaff which also did cremations as did Bridgend and Thornhill.It all really depends on the years you are looking for. Let me know before Wednesday. Sinead:)))

Hi Sinead Thanks so much. I have the Glyntaff Cd and they are not there and i've traipsed round there a fair few times so I know what it like!! I've not thought about Treorchy and they are not in Cymmer Cemetery as far a I now.Don't live in Glam now (Derby) The main surname I am looking for is Randall (some variations on spelling) Thomas Randall died between 1901-1910 though I have just sent for a certificate for a possibility of his death in 1904.Fingers crossed! His wife was Mary died after 1901 though she could have remarried. (possibly a Dick David) Also Roise Tabitha Evans (nee Randall), married 1910 just a thought she might be there, don't know when died (husband Joan!) I have some other Morris names but don't know death dates so don't want to bombard you!!! I would be interesed in mainly Randalls in the cemetery. Many thanks if you can help Sian

Hi Sian, No problem-will post any results on Wednesday night on this board. If you click on my name on the board e mail me the Morris names and I will see what I can turn up. Can I be really cheeky-where did you get your Glyntaff CD from?I have two Evans to trace there and can narrow it down to 10 years and a CD may be easier than spending hours trawling through the registers.After all, Evans is such a common name here in Wales that if I am trawling through half a million names I would rather do it in the comfort of my own home than in a crematorium!!!I find Glyntaff such a horrible place with no atmosphere at all that I really hate going there- yet I have spent hours searching 2 Merthyr Tydfil cemeteries,Trealaw and Treorchy! No accounting for it is there?I must be a bit strange in the head!!!!! Will post any results for you. Sinead:))

Hi Sinead I got the Cd from Glamorgan Family History Society. If you give me your Evans names I will look them up. Funny, I like Gyntaff, in a strange way, maybe cos i've got loads of folk there. I will email the Morris names tomorrow. Again thanks for yur help. Sian

Hi Sian, Huge delay!! I apologise but have been busy with my boys so have been unable to get on line until now! Thanks for the offer- Harry Evans, died about1964 Freda Florence Evans died about 1984 I have a feeling Glyntaff may have a few more but as I have only just confirmed some of their births the deaths are a long way off!Trealaw is my cemetery that and Cefn in Merthyr.I have a great uncle in Glyntaff but the place sadly gives me the willies! Trealaw stomping on Wednesday!Sad to say but I am quite looking forward to it! Results posted Wednesday! Happy Hunting, Sinead

Hi Sian, My trip to Trealaw today was a total disaster- got absolutely soaked with my graves and got to the sexton's office to be told he was not in today!!! I will go up again tomorrow morning when I have been assured he will definitely be there!So 24 hours delay on the results!Very sorry about this but hopefully will have some good news tomorrow instead! Sinead:)))

Hi Sinead Sorry I haven't been in touch before. I couldn't get into genesconnected yesterday and this is the first time I've connected since then. I emailed them and they said it was cookies but I logged on ok tonight. So I didn't have your email address to email the other names. If when you go tomorrow, you come across a Frederick Charles Morris, this might be the Morris entry I mentioned before. I don't know when he died, only post 1901!!! I am really hoping some may be in Trealaw as I'm not sure where to look next so your help is appreciated. I have had a look at the Glyntaff CD and this is what I found: No 'Harry Evans' but if he was christened 'Henry' this might be him: EVANS HENRY CHARLES D.0377 35293 1960 Or if his first name was Herbert: EVANS HERBERT HARRY A.0283 37064 1966 I can't find a Freda Florence, some with Freda in their names and some with Florence but not the name you want. Of course there are loads of Evans. If you like I could copy all the Evans and then if you have others you would be able to maybe spot them easy. It would be a bigish document so I would probably send as an email attatchment. Hope you have a better day tomorrow and if you need anymore Glyntaff's let me know. Regards Sian

Hi Sinead Sorry I haven't been in touch before. I couldn't get into genesconnected yesterday and this is the first time I've connected since then. I emailed them and they said it was cookies but I logged on ok tonight. So I didn't have your email address to email the other names. If when you go tomorrow, you come across a Frederick Charles Morris, this might be the Morris entry I mentioned before. I don't know when he died, only post 1901!!! I am really hoping some may be in Trealaw as I'm not sure where to look next so your help is appreciated. I have had a look at the Glyntaff CD and this is what I found: No 'Harry Evans' but if he was christened 'Henry' this might be him: EVANS HENRY CHARLES D.0377 35293 1960 Or if his first name was Herbert: EVANS HERBERT HARRY A.0283 37064 1966 I can't find a Freda Florence, some with Freda in their names and some with Florence but not the name you want. Of course there are loads of Evans. If you like I could copy all the Evans and then if you have others you would be able to maybe spot them easy. It would be a bigish document so I would probably send as an email attatchment. Hope you have a better day tomorrow and if you need anymore Glyntaff's let me know. Regards Sian

Hi Sian, Thanks for the look up.I will have to get my mum thinking cos she will probably know which one it is. As far as Freda Evans goes if she is not in Glyntaff then she is in Kent somewhere with her son.I think I'll have to get her death cert before I go any further! Will add the new Morris to Trealaw tomorrow and hope for the best. If they are not in Trealaw next in line is Treorchy,Tonyrefail,Penrhys(which is on line somewhere!!!) Bridgend.I will do them all except Bridgend which you can do by phone-might take a week but will get there in the end! Back to my huge knot of Roles-at least I'm not bored!!!! Sinead:)))

Be wary of the CD-ROM, I found quite a few errors. I did a search to see if anyone else was in one grave and it showed about 15 burials! I went to Treorchy Library and confirmed that these were incorrect, apparently the parts of the database got corrupted when transferring between formats. I found it tedious having to keep calculating date of birth so I expoerted the EVANS name to an EXCEL file and then added the date of birth (calculated from age and date of death). It made it a lot easier to check for people. The database used to be free online and that time there was a map of the cemetery. Unfortunately the map is not on the CD-ROM but I managed to get hold of a copy from someone. Treorchy Library hold the full burial register and you can print out the document for each grave. Irt was quite cheap to use their film reader / printer. I read something in a Glamorgan mailing list about Treorchy Library being closed because of asbestos but don't known if that still applied. Martin

Hi Martin,yes Treorchy library is still closed for the forseeable future so the only line of enquiry now is Glyntaff itself where the staff are great.Went down today and within two minutes had located my Evans plot!\there is always a chance of errors with cd roms! Sinead

Hi Sian, Partial success!!!!! Have got Thomas Randall - details below. Unfotunately there is a temporary sexton there till Monday and he was totally useless!!Couldn't work the computer and am sure he succeeded in wiping some of it!!!So to cut a long story short when I was at Glyntaff, the regular sexton was there and he will search for the rest of them on Monday with me and will also pull the details on Mary Randall. Thomas Randall died 25 July,1904 aged 54 occupation-timberman address at death-11,Pontyptridd Road plot bought by wife Mary Plot number G827 Certificate number 13675 The grave is unmarked with no headstone and is next to a grave with a stone with the name Emily Jane Bevan 1918 in case you ever need to find it. Needless to say on G plot which is huge there are only 2 grave markers!!Luckily the boys there are great and will do all the counting and locating!!! If one of your rellies is there the chance is that the rest of them are too.Will find out on Monday when the very nice COMPETENT sexton returns!!!! Hope this is of some use to you, Sinead:))

Sinead That is wonderful!! That is definately him as they lived at 11 Pontypridd Road! It means also that the death certificate that I have just ordered,hoping it was him, is the right one. I should get that in a few days. I've been looking for this one for ages! It was just on an off chance that I thought he might be at Trealaw, so that's a good result! What a shame there is no headstone but I have quite a few with no stones. Least I will be able to visit (another cemetery to add to the list) when I am down next, especially if they are very helpful in helping you find a grave. I spent hours in the summer traipsing round Aberdare cemetery with just some plot numbers, which was really difficult to locate. It think I found the right ones there but again no headstones. You are probably right and the rest of the family will be there. I have no idea when Mary, his wife died and from some of my dad's old notes it may be that she married this 'Dick David' after Thomas died. Both Thomas and Mary were married before, she to a Richard Jones who died about 1884 but with such a common surname, I haven't yet found his death or exact place of burial. Mary was my gg grandmother and Thomas married her daughter by Richard Jones but was also my other gg grandmother's brother ...complicated. So the Randall's, Morris' and Jones all lived together in Porth at 11 Pontypridd road. You have done an execellent job even with the useless sexton and I can't thank you enough!! Hopefully the rest will be there as now i'm even more intruged. Does the sexton know what happened to the origianl headstone by any chance? By the way where are you from??? I'm origiannly from Pontypridd (well Penycoedcae and Beddau to be precise) Thanks again and hope Monday is equally fruitfull Regards Sian

Hi Sian, glad to be of some help- I don't think there was ever a stone on the grave but when I speak to David(my nice sexton!!-note the first name terms!!!!!!!)I will see what more info can be had- you never know Richard Jones or Dick David may well turn up as well!! I am originally from Cardiff but now live in Ferndale.My mother and family come from Tonypandy ( originating in Ireland and Somerset!).Bit of a mixture eh?! If they are at Trealaw then David will find them and the lads up there will find the exact grave. If like this one there is no stone,I will get the details of the next grave with a stone as a marker. By the way I forgot to mention, as you look at The Bevan grave- your Thomas Randall is the one immediatley to the right. At least this way there is only going to be one set of traipsing and locating to do.If you get to Trealaw in the future pop into the sexton's office for a map because the place is huge and poorly labelled due to past vandalism! More to come on Monday!!! Sinead:))

Hi again Sinead I can't wait to have a look round Trealaw now. My Thomas Randall was also originally from Somerset too! It would be useful if you could find out the extra details from your 'David'. I wondered if anyone else was buried with him? I suppose if Mary married again she would be buried with her last husband. In the meantime I await the certificate to see what he died of, and now I know I have the right one, it's even more intruging. Speak to you soon Sian Message for Martin Thanks for the advice. I haven't got to Cd but may well get it now. Glyntaff is the same with several entries for the same plot but they do give over the graves to new occupants there. Sian

Hi Sian, not neccessarily!! My grandfather's brother George Roles married then died within 3 years.His widow remarried and is buried in Trealaw with both husbands in the same plot!! It would be nice and easy wouldn't it?! Let me see if I have this straight. your Mary married Richard Jones he died 1884 she married Thomas Randall he died 1904 she married Dick David so 1 out of three husbands has been located leaving Richard Jones 1884 and Dick David after 1905 If that is clear I have the details along with Frederick Morris and Rosie Evans. 6 months + ago you never would have me believe that cemeteries could be exciting places and that I would actually enjoy searching them!!! I think there is something wrong with me!!!!!!!!! Till Monday, Sinead:))

Sinead I love looking round the cemeteries!! So same here! I have loads of photos of family graves on my computer that some might find strange! Yes the details are right. The Dick David bit is not confirmed as it's based on a brief family tree that I found recently that my dad had done before he died (2001) so I don't know if it's correct but could be. Richard was first then Thomas, then possibly Dick (Richard, Frederick??). Richard and Mary had a son on the Jones side called John Frederick that may also be there. His sister, my nana is buried at Glyntaff. Sian

Hi Sinead Found out today that Thomas Randall died of TB. Did you find anything on Moday at Trealaw? Sorry, not pressing you but I wondered if you had managed to get up there. Regards Sian

Hi Sian, A thousand apologies- I know you are probably eager to find out more but I have been out of action all week with a bad dose of flu- haven't even got on line this week until now!! Glad to say now that I am feeling more human I am going up to Trealaw tomorrow to see the sexton,armed with all the names and dates and will trawl the computer system and relevant plots. I will post the results here tomorrow afternoon. Sorry to keep you waiting- results tomorrow! Sinead