1901: Florence Bellamy's residence in Cardiff, Wales.

According to the 1901 Welsh census, Florence Bellamy, age 17, was working as a domestic servant for  George and Kate Newton. An older aunt age 70 and two young children also lived here at #10 Preswylfa Street in Cardiff Wales. This house was also in a row of houses. I believe that's the main type of housing in Cardiff unless you happen to be a billionaire and live on an estate.

The above Google map shows a red balloon on the left, indicating where Preswylfa Street is located.

The red star on the right indicates where Florence lived on Zinc Street. She moved fairly far from home. It isn't in walking distance. I wonder how often she saw her family? And where did she meet Herbert Palmer, her future husband?

And how did I ever live without Google maps?

By Loretta Houben

1891: the Bellamy's residence in Cardiff Wales.

In 1891, according to the Welsh census for that year, William and Elizabeth Bellamy with their 6 children were living at #5 Zinc Street in Cardiff, not far from Janet Street where Florence had been born. This area looks much better and more well preserved and taken care of. I find it interesting that row houses are so popular and have only appeared here in British Columbia recently. My Dad thinks the ones here look like cattle barns! I inserted a row of stars above door #5.

The view down Zinc Street. There are no flowers and only one tree in the distance.

It seems quite barren to me, but maybe the back yards if there are any contain more colour and foliage.

The Google map showing where Zinc Street is located.

The 1891 Welsh census documenting the Bellamy family's address.

I'm becoming exceedingly fond of census images and am grateful to find them online.

By Loretta Houben

1883: the Bellamy's residence in Cardiff Wales.

According to information I received from Della, a 2nd cousin, Florence Bellamy was born on November 20, 1883 at 2 Janet Street, Roath, Cardiff, Glamorgan, Wales. 

(now known simply as Cardiff) 

So I thought I'd visit my favourite online activity again; Google maps!

I took this picture of #2 Janet St on June 19, 2013.

The amazing thing about Wales is that everything is preserved, quite unlike Vancouver BC.

This area of Cardiff seems to be quite run down though.

However, you can get a glimpse of the place where my great grandmother was born.

Another view; I wish I could see the back yard.

Looking down Janet Street. It seems quite bare without any flowers or trees.

What you can see across the street. I love to "flesh out" my ancestors lives, as I know so little about them. Florence moved far away from Janet Street, and I'll follow her places of residence in the next few blog posts.

A zoom out into map view, showing where Janet street is located.

Adeline and Marion streets are beside Janet; I wonder who they were named after?

Across Railway Street is Zinc, along with other metal names and jewel names.

I find it interesting to study the names of streets.

In 1891 Florence's parents were living at #5 Zinc Street.

I'll blog about that in the next post.

By Loretta Houben

The Bellamy Family: 1891 and 1901 Welsh Census

I found these images from the 1891 Welsh Census some time ago, and realized I hadn't added them to my blog! So I tried to lighten them a bit and put them on here in full size.

If you look for 396 on the left side, this is the line to lead you to the Bellamy's living at #5 Zinc Street, in the civil parish of Roath in Cardiff, Wales.

Here is a closeup of the family:

William age 30, occupation "coal tipper", born in Lydney, Gloucestershire according to the transcriber's rendering at World Vital Records; Elizabeth, age 27, born in Cardiff, Glamorganshire; and their children: Joseph, age 11, Florence M age 7, William age 5, Deborah age 4, Edward H age 2, and Elizabeth age 1. I wonder if all the children had a middle name, or just Florence and Edward.

Here is the 1901 census, showing Florence M on line 3, living at #10 Preswylfa St, in the civil parish of Canton, in the county of Glamorganshire, Cardiff, Wales.

I looked up that strange sounding street name in Google maps, and sure enough, it exists! So I "saw" the place where my great grandmother, Florence May Bellamy, was a domestic servant, age 17.

She was living there with Harry S Newton age 1; George L Newton, 7 months; and Kitty M. Stead, an aunt, a widow age 70. This is a strange household! I don't know why Kitty is listed as "aunt". Who is she an aunt to? The small children? You can see it all in the closeup below. Can you imagine taking care of such young children at age 70?

I took this photo of a photo from my Uncle Harry's album in Summerland BC.

One of my 2nd cousins has a better copy and promised to scan it in for me when she has time.

She said her father, Norman Palmer, identified the people as:

Alma Beatrice Palmer on the right with her brother, Herbert Henry Palmer, and his young wife, Florence Bellamy Palmer. I do so wonder where Herbert and Florence met! They were married on May 15, 1906. So Florence didn't have to wait too long to leave her life of maid service.

By Loretta Houben

Update: June 20, 2013

A kind friend in Wales, Jenni, who often comments on any Welsh genealogy post here, pointed out that the "strange household" mentioned above on the 1901 census really does have a head and a wife too!

I never thought to look on the PREVIOUS page of the census, so I've learned something new.

The parents of the little children mentioned above are George B Newton, age 30 and his wife, Kate Newton age 37. Whew. I'm glad that Jenni pointed this out to me!

A closeup showing George and Kate Newton at #10 Preswylfa Street, Cardiff, Wales.