William in the 1911 Wales Census

The 1911 census, taken on the night of Sunday 2 April 1911, did show some changes for the household of William Huxtable Ball of Penarth. William is shown as 74 years of age, still working as a milkman, and a widower. His address remained 18 Railway Terrace. He was living with son-in-law, William Down, age 44, workman, his daughter, Charlotte, age 42, and granddaughter, Charlotte Down, age 9, who was attending school. Charlotte's birthplace is listed as Penarth, so presumably, she was born and raised in her grandfather's home. Also with the family is Mabel C (Charlotte) Ball, a dressmaker, age 29, who had been born in Gower, Glamorgan. She was the daughter of William's eldest son, William James Ball. As to the reason why she appears in her grandfather's home in 1911, I will investigate further and post once information is available.

Cheers, K.

William in the 1901 Wales Census

The 1901 Wales Census reveals some significant changes in the Ball household. William's spouse, Charlotte, passed away in October 1897. I did find a 1897 Wright's Directory of Cardiff which showed William's address as 18 Railway Terrace, Penarth. This address corresponds to William's household address in the 1901 census.

According to Ancestry Library Edition, the 1901 census was taken on the night of 31 March 1901. William is shown as age 63, with a birth year of 1838 and an occupation of dairyman. With him in the house are the following people: Charlotte Down, his daughter, age 32, son-in-law, William Down, age 34, who is a railway labourer, and William Ball, grandson, age 8 (there's a real interesting story about William, which I will save for later).

This is a map of their household address in Penarth:


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And this is a street view of house (or at least the current address for the house:


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The house on the left is number 17. I suspect that 18 may have been next door on the right. Across the street, you will see the train tracks.

Did Charlotte's passing bring daughter Charlotte, her husband, William and son, William Ball into the household? Or where other reasons?

Much still to learn...

Cheers, K.

William in the 1891 Wales Census

By the time of the 1891 Wales Census was taken on the night of 5 April 1891, there had been many changes in the Ball household. William, now shown as age 51, was working as a dairyman (oddly, he only aged 7 years between the 10 year census dates! Census can be great tools for finding people, but the data in them can be faulty. Back in the 19th century, many people did not know the year that they were born, especially in the days prior to civil registration when the government started recording births, marriages and deaths). Living in the household are his wife, Charlotte, shown as age 59 and son, Henry, age 27. Henry's occupation is shown as dairyman too. Presumably, Henry and his father were in business together.

The address of the Ball household is listed as 54 Windsor Road, Penarth. Scurlage is approximately 100km from Penarth. To give you some idea of the distance between the villages, please see the map below:


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This is a map of the 54 Windsor Road, Penarth:


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And a street view of the address. The view is down Windsor Road. Railway Terrace intersects Windsor Road on the right:


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What prompted them to move east towards Cardiff? The trade of blacksmithing had gone into decline with the Industrial Revolution, as machines and factories replaced men and tools. Why the move into milk? What would have drawn William and Henry into the milk trade? Older brother, John Ball, with whom Thomas Huxtable Ball was living in 1891, operated a farm. Was there a family connection to the milk trade?

Many more mysteries solve! Answers will be posted when found....

Cheers, K.

William Huxtable Ball in the 1881 Wales Census

According to the 1881 Wales Census, William H. Ball is 44 years of age, earning a living as a blacksmith. His birth year is 1837. Charlotte, his spouse, is listed as age 49, whose occupation is shown as "Blacksmiths wife". The following individuals are listed as living in the home: Charlotte, daughter, age 12, Henery (misspelling of Henry), age 17, rural messenger, and Thomas, age 6, scholar, which meant that he was attending regular (but not necessarily full-time) school or being home schooled (although it is doubtful that he was being taught by his mother Charlotte as she continued to sign documents with an 'X'). The family is living in Scurlage Castle, Llanndewi, Glamorgan, Wales.

This was the first census in which my great-grandfather appeared and was the first real indication in my research that the family had been in Wales. One of the first websites that I found was the Welsh Family Archive run by John Ball (no relation). John's kind words and encouragement when we connected through his website furthered my interest in discovering my Welsh heritage - which continues today.

Cheers, K.

Birth of a son, Thomas Huxtable, 1875

The last child of William Huxtable Ball and Charlotte Balment was my great-grandfather, Thomas Huxtable Ball. Thomas was born in 5 July 1875 in Scurlage Castle, Llanddewi, Glamorgan, Wales. The occupation of his father, William, is listed as a blacksmith.

You can find more information about Scurlage here from the Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust.

I've found an Ordnance Survey map which shows Scurlage Castle, which was located between Knelston and Scurlage. You can view it here here. The OS reference is SS462882, if you need to re-enter the reference code.

Cheers, K.

William and the 1871 Wales Census

Well, I suppose that you would think finding William Huxtable Ball and his family would not be too hard. They emigrated to Wales sometime around 1858-1861 and seemed to have stayed put through the following decade...or so I thought.

I searched high and low for the family in the 1871 census, but kept coming up with dead ends. Looked for everyone in the family, looked for them in Devon, looked or them in neighbouring counties, checked the census on Find My Past - still nothing.Only when I read the source description in Ancestry, which detailed how parts of the 1871 for the county of Glamorgan had been lost, then I realized that my searching was in vain. It pays to read the fine print...and likely will save your eyesight and sanity in the long run.

In any case, my best guess would be that the family remained in Scurlage Castle, Glamorgan, as we shall see next...

Cheers, K.

Birth of a daughter, Charlotte, 1868

William and Charlotte welcomed a second daughter, named Charlotte, in 1868. Her birth was registered during the second quarter of the year (April-May-June). The registration district was listed as Gower in the county of Glamorgan. I suspect that the family was still living in the Scurlage Castle area as Thomas Huxtable Ball, the next child born to William and Charlotte, has his birthplace listed there.

Cheers, K.