Some Corner of a Foreign Field – part 1

by David Collier

How did our forebears live their lives in their home communities and what happened to those that moved away, sometimes to far distant lands, in search of better lives or because duty called them for military service?

A small but dedicated group have been working for some years to rescue the graveyard of the former Saron Welsh Independent Chapel in Troedyrhiw from the effects of many years of neglect.

From an early stage in this project members of the team began to photograph the surviving headstones and monuments and to transcribe the memorial inscriptions.  These, together with memorial type, language, lettering and symbolism revealed interesting information about our forebears (those buried and the people that buried them) and their lives over a period running from the 1830’s up to the early 1980’s. Such findings combined with the results of further research provide details for particular individuals and families  including names, dates and places of birth, dates of death together with ages and causes, relationships, occupations, economic status, military service, tragic events, religion, cultural and leisure pursuits.

An intriguing aspect of these enquiries has been the discovery of a significant number of Troedyrhiw people who once emigrated or were deployed to places far from home. Quite a few of these were never to return. The following three examples have been chosen to illustrate this.

JOHN W. WILLIAMS

It is likely that John Williams, a native of Troedyrhiw, having honed his mining skills in local collieries, decided to emigrate to the goldfields of Canada to ‘seek his fortune’. The inscriptions on the headstone of his family grave in Saron Graveyard, Troedyrhiw can now only be read with difficulty. They include the following:-

IN MEMORY OF
JOHN W. WILLIAMS
LATE OF TROEDYRHIW
HE DIED MAY 3 1877
AT 52 YEARS OLD
BURIED AT OHANACAN BRITISH COLUMBIA

‘Ohanacan’ would appear to be a reference to the Okanagan region of British Columbia. A Canadian newspaper published 18 May 1877 refers to a miner named Williams who was killed at the beginning of May 1877 during gold mining activities at a place called Mission Creek.

The above information is supported by a report from British Columbia’s  Gold Commissioner, Charles A. Vernon for the previous year (1876). This records the gold mining activities at Mission Creek and the involvement of an experienced miner called John Williams who had spent time in the Cariboo region of British Columbia before coming to the Okanagan. Charles Vernon wrote:-

“Considerable mining and prospecting has also been done on Mission Creek this fall, with a fair average yield of gold. John Williams, an old Caribooite, has run a tunnel into the hill from the creek some 60 feet, and found a good prospect.”

EVAN J. WILLIAMS

This young Troedyrhiw man died in South Africa during the 2nd Boer War (Anglo – Boer War), 1899-1902. An inscription on the headstone of his family grave in Saron Graveyard reads:-

ALSO OF EVAN J. WILLIAMS,
SON OF THE ABOVE
WHO DIED IN SOUTH AFRICA
MAY 20, 1901. AGED 27 YEARS

The death of Trooper Williams is recorded, along with those of his comrades from the Borough who also perished during this conflict,  on the Boer War Memorial in Thomastown Park in Merthyr.

The results of an enquiry made of the South Africa War Graves Project include the following record and a photograph of this soldier’s grave marker:-

“No 278748, Trooper E. J. Williams, 4th Company, Imperial Yeomanry, died of disease on 20 May 1901 and buried in Harrismith Cemetery” (note that the date given here is slightly different from that recorded elsewhere).

To be continued……