The challenge of the Welsh branches

The above chart well illustrates the issue of researching in Wales - Davies (twice), Thomas, Edwards, Jones & Jenkins are all incredibly common surnames. Finding the 'right' family is almost impossible without some kind of corroborating evidence - family bible, letters or DNA matches.

To date, I have managed to link DNA matches with the common ancestors:

Thomas THOMAS b 1819

Daniel DAVIES  b ca1791 and his wife Ann OWEN

Unknown JENKINS 

Edward EDWARDS b 1780-1791 and his wife Catherine

but it's very slow going as researching each potential link needs to be done carefully. There are plenty of matches, but many have small or private trees and not many have been researched back to before 1800.

Ancestry's Pro Tools are beginning to assist as occasionally cousins have tested - finding their common ancestor helps to narrow down research.

Under Construction

A place to post snippets of my family history, memories both first- and second-hand, pictures and oddities.

Some of the surnames that I'll be posting about:

ANDREWS: How did a baker's daughter from Epsom, Surrey come to marry a banker's clerk from Nottingham?

BINDING: Originally from Somerset; stories of poverty and illegitimacy

BURRELL: Where it all started - who's in that photograph? 

CARNEY: Were they really once Kings of Ulster?

CATER: Can the link between my Gloucestershire family, and an earlier Bedfordshire landowner, be proved?

EMMETT: Would you Adam and Eve it?

MOSS: Not so humble as we once thought

THOMAS & DAVIES: Attempting to research the most common names in South Wales

THORN: Shoemakers and grocers from Norwich