Vera Killick nee Phillips’ paternal grandfather was William Phillips, brought up on Cwmllyfri farm, near Llanybri. He’s here in the 1841 census, just one-year old, with his father Josiah and his mother Rachel. They had been married in 1818. We will follow through on William in the first part of this paper.
As for the other children, Thomas Phillips b.1833 married well to Theodocia Harries, and farmed in Llanybri (see under Plas Isaf below).
David Phillips b.1821 lived in Llanybri, working as an agricultural labourer (for census information on him, and the connection with the poet, Lynette Roberts, click the blue arrow at the bottom of this web page. This will also gives census data for his son, David, who farmed Heol-Down, Llansteffan).
1841
There were two other daughters: Sarah b.c1820 and Rachel b.c1826 who were named in Josiah’s Will. Rachel was in service at Laques mansion at the time of this census. For more on these daughters, and on Hannah/Annah and John, go to Family trees on this site.
1851
By 1851, Josiah Phillips and his two sons, Thomas and William, are still at Cwmllyfri farm, but his wife, Rachel, had died in 1843.
A year earlier, their son, David, had married Margaret Edwards, and they settled in Spring Gardens, Llanybri.
Sarah and Rachel had also married - Sarah into local gentry and Rachel to William Davies of Lanmartin farm. With Josiah and his two sons is Ann(e) Francis from neighbouring Waunygroes farm, the grandmother of Mary Ann Davies who married Thomas Williams of Llwyngwyn in 1929.
1861
Josiah and his two sons are still on the farm in 1861, but Josiah has re-married in 1859 to Frances Thomas nee Morgan. The 76 acres is close to the average size (50 acres) of Carmarthenshire farms for that period. William Phillips is now 21. His siblings, John and Hannah, were also married by now.
1871
Ten years later, Josiah and Frances are still at Cwmllyfri. He’s now been farming here for at least thirty years.
Josiah’s son, Thomas, has moved out. In 1865, he married Theodocia Harries, who had been farming 84 acres at Plas Isaf, Llanybri, in her own right (see the section on the Harries family below).
His other son, William (Vera Killick nee Phillips’ grandfather), has also moved out. In 1863, he married Jane Lloyd, daughter of William and Margaret Lloyd of Glogue farm. Margaret was a first cousin to Jane Daniel, the daughter of Sarah Williams of Pen-y-coed and Theophilus Daniel of Wernoleu.
William and Jane moved into Tirbach soon after their marriage. They had three sons: Josiah, William and then John, who was born in January 1869 at Tirbach. This was a farm of 59 acres, a few fields south of Cwmllyfri.
1871
Moving to Tirbach would have been an important step forward for William: he’s now running his own farm, and has three servants to boot - a housemaid, dairy maid and ploughman. But if life was looking up, it was about to change. His wife, Jane, died in May 1869, followed in June by their daughter, Mary, age two. Then William’s father, Josiah, died in spring 1872.
A few months later, William and his children were on the move. By November 1873, a new family were at Tirbach, Evan Williams, son of Waunfwlchan, and Dylan’s great-uncle. William’s mother, Frances, also moved, and went to live with the family of a brother-in-law. The Phillips era at Cwmllyfri was over, and new people soon arrived to farm there.
In March 1874, William married again, this time to Sarah Thomas of Cilrhedyn, near Newcastle Emlyn, the daughter of a jockey, David Thomas. We don’t know where they were living but their first son, David, was born in Carmarthen, and their second, Thomas, was born in the village of Llansteffan on December 22 1878. Thomas was later to marry Margaret Maria Morgans, and have four children, including Vera and Evelyn.
By 1881, the family are living in Downing Street in Llanelli, William is working as a labourer and they have taken in a lodger to make ends meet.
1881, Llanelli
In 1882, William and Sarah had another child, Rachel. That same year, William Phillips died, still in his early forties. His youngest son Thomas, father of Evelyn and Vera, was still a child.
Josiah married Mary Ann Butler in 1885; they lived at Ael-y-bryn Lodge, Felinfoel, and had eight children. Josiah worked as a domestic coachman. When his eldest daughter, Margaret Jane b.1886, married in June 1908, one of her witnesses was Thomas Phillips. This was probably Josiah’s half-brother, now living in the Rhondda and about to get married himself. He would later have two daughters of his own, Vera and Evelyn .
This is the last sighting of William Jnr b.1865, until his death in Spain in 1929.
By 1891, Thomas Phillips is at the Dillwyn Arms, Dillwyn Street in Llanelli. Sarah has married again, to a Thomas Evans. They have two children of their own, but three children from Sarah’s first marriage to William Phillips are there also, including twelve year old Thomas. His schooling is already over, and he’s working as a grocer’s errand boy. His brother, David, is only fourteen but he’s working in the tinplate works.
1891, Llanelli
1901, Llanelli
By 1901, Sarah and Thomas Evans have moved to 43, Dillwyn Street. Thomas, 22, is still with them, and now working as a life assurance agent.
In the autumn of 1908, Thomas Phillips married Margaret Maria Morgans in Clydach Vale, Tonypandy, in the Rhondda. She was originally from Llanarth, New Quay. Thomas’ address was given as Cymmer, Port Talbot on the marriage certificate, and Margaret’s as Clydach Vale. Their son, Evan, was born there in 1910, probably at his grandmother’s house, though Thomas and Maria may have been living in Cymmer at the time.
We can see from the 1911 census that their next son, William, was born in Cymmer in 1911. Thomas is now a Superintendent of assurance agents.
1911, Cymmer.
Their daughter, Evelyn, was born in 1912, followed by Vera in 1916. By then, they were living at 12, Bryn-y-Mor Crescent, Swansea, just round the corner from Cwmdonkin Drive.
Plas Isaf was a farm of some eighty acres situated at the centre of the village of Llanybri. It was farmed from at least 1841 by the Harry family who married into the Phillips, Williams and Francis families. By 1851, some of the Harry family had changed their name to Harries or Harris and some used both spellings, whilst others changed to Thomas. We don’t know why. For more on this, see Family trees on this site.
1841
We know from the 1849 Will of Theodocia Roberts of Maesgwyn that Evan and Ann, who was Theodocia Roberts’ daughter, had three other children: Anne, Theodocia and, Thomas.
In 1835, Anne married Thomas Williams of Waunfwlchan, Dylan’s great-grandfather. At the 1841 census, Theodocia was staying at Waunfwlchan, whilst in 1851 she was with her uncle in Maesgwyn. Their brother, Thomas, had married Sophia Williams of Penlan farm in 1838.
1851
Evan Harry had died in 1847. His daughter, Margaret, had married David Francis of Waunygroes farm in 1844; they farmed Dolaumeinion, and their children Down and Laques-newydd farms.
The Harries children made further strategic marriages in the 1850s. The first was by William Harris who, in 1851, married Sarah Williams of Pen-y-coed, sister of Thomas Williams of Waunfwlchan, who had already married William’s sister, Anne. By now, William had changed his name to William Thomas – see Family trees on this site for more on this.
The second marriage was by David Harries in 1854, to Anne, the daughter of William and Margaret Davies of Lanmartin farm. (In 1850, Anne’s brother, William, had married Rachel Phillips of Cwmllyfri farm, the sister of William Phillips, Vera’s grandfather.) David and Ann farmed Gelli (1850s) The Farmhouse, Llanybri (1861), Beili-syfi, Llangain (1871) before moving to Ty Gwyn, Pembrey (1881) and Cwmburry, Pembrey (1891). For census data on David and Anne Harries, go to the bottom of this page and click on the blue arrow.
The next marriage was by Eliza in 1857, when she married Benjamin Davies of Pentowyn farm (see below) with some 200 acres.
1861
The next to leave Plas Isaf was John Harries. In 1864, he married Jane Daniel, the love child by Theophilus Daniel, of Sarah Williams, daughter of Pen-y-coed, born some ten years before her marriage to William Harris/Thomas. For more on John and Jane, see Family trees on this site. In brief, they farmed Treasgell-Ganol (1871), a few miles south-west of Meidrim and then Llwynbrain (1881,1891), Bancyfelin, until John’s death in 1894. Jane and her three sons then moved to The Sherrifs, Lyonshall, Herefordshire and then to Dishley Court, Ivington, Leominister, where the Williamses, including Dylan’s sister, Nancy, were frequent visitors. For census data on John and Jane Harries and their farms, go to the bottom of this page and click on the blue arrow.
John Harries sister, Theodocia, was the next to marry, in 1865, to Thomas Phillips of Cwmllyfri, brother of William Phillips who was Vera Killick nee Phillips’ grandfather. These four marriages by Anne, John, Theodocia and William Harries/ Thomas linked the Phillipses and the Williamses and made them part of the same extended family. But the Phillipses and the Williamses were now also linked to the Davies family of Pentowyn because Eliza Harries, had married Benjamin Davies in 1857, as well as linked to the Francis family through the marriage of Margaret Harries to David Francis in 1844.
1871
Here are Thomas and Theodocia Phillips at Plas Isaf in 1871. William is Robert William, and is shown as Robert in following returns.
1881
1891
In October 1891, Anne Williams, daughter of Amy Williams of Waunfwlchan, married John Gwyn. They moved into Plas Uchaf, right next door to Plas Isaf. Anne Williams was the half-sister of Dylan’s mother Florence. When Anne Gwyn married for a second time in 1895, Ann Phillips was a witness at the wedding.
1901
Theodocia Phillips died in 1895, so by 1901 it was just Thomas and his two children, Ann and Robert, left in Plas Isaf.
Robert Phillips married Sarah Evans of neighbouring Ffynnonau (see below) in 1902, and moved out of Plas Isaf to Buildings Farm, Laugharne and then to Mwche about 1910. After Thomas Phillips death in 1906, Robert’s sister,
Ann, moved in with Robert and Sarah.
1911
Robert died in 1925, Ann in 1944 and Sarah in 1956. Their children moved out of Mwche in the 1980s.
This farm is on the hill above Mwche. It was farmed by the Evans family; here they are in 1891 at their former farm, noted as Manarddwylan Farm, Station Road, Llanfihangel Abercowin on the census return of that year. They were also here in 1881.
1891, Llanfihangel Abercowin
1901, Ffynnonau
About 1895, William Evans bought Ffynnonau, and its 98 acres. In 1902, Sarah Evans married Robert Phillips of Plas Isaf, Llanybri.
1911
In 1910, Mary Anne Evans married David Davies of Ferry farm; after her father’s death, they continued to farm Ffynnonau, working closely with her sister at Mwche. Mary and David were succeeded at Ffynnonau by their son Richie, and it remained in the family until the 1970s.
John Davies succeeded his brother, Richard, in 1839. John farmed some 600 acres, though not all of these were at Pentowyn. By the 1880s, Pentowyn consisted of some 200 acres.
1841
1851
One head of the household, and fourteen servants: John Davies at Pentowyn in 1851. The first three servants are probably his nephews or even his sons; it is Benjamin who will take on the farm after his marriage.
1861
John Davies is still at Pentowyn.
Benjamin Davies had married Eliza Harries, daughter of Plas Isaf, Llanybri, in 1857, and a sister of Theodocia, William and John Harries. In 1861, they were living with their two daughters in Llansteffan, whilst he worked as an agricultural labourer. Their address in 1869, when their son John was born, was Tyr Meirw in Llansteffan, and Benjamin is listed as a farmer on the birth certificate.
1871
John Davies died in 1869, and Benjamin and Eliza have taken over the farm. Pentowyn is now linked to the Phillips and Williams families because of the marriages made in the 1860s by Eliza’s siblings, Anne, John, William and Theodocia Harries.
1881
By 1881, Benjamin and Eliza have got the servants down to two, presumably because their own children are working on the farm.
1891
Eliza had died in 1887. In 1890, John R Davies, the eldest son of Pentowyn and a grandson of Evan and Anne Harry of Plas Isaf, had married Elizabeth Phillips, the daughter of David and Mary Phillips of Talvan farm, Llanddowror. John was a first cousin of Hannah Williams of Waunfwlchan, Dylan’s maternal grandmother, whilst Elizabeth was a second cousin to Thomas Phillips, Vera’s father. Please see the family tree in Note 14 of the main paper on this site.
Sometime in the 1890s, Benjamin and his two daughters moved out of Pentowyn to neighbouring Laques-newydd. Their farm labourer is a local boy from Llangynog, David Evans.
1901, Lacques-newydd
1901, Pentowyn
Jim and Annie Jones moved to Pentowyn in place of the Davieses, sometime after the birth of their son Idris in 1897 at Tirbach. Annie’s sister, Polly, is staying with them. Pentowyn is now back to five servants.
im and Annie were still at Pentowyn in 1906, struggling to make a success of the farm. By 1910, they had moved to the much smaller Fernhill. Over at Laques-newydd, Anna Davies had married the farm labourer, David Evans, in 1903.
1911, Pentowyn
By 1911, David, Anna and their children, plus Benjamin, are back in Pentowyn. They have reduced costs by cutting the servants to three. Benjamin died in 1913. David was at the farm until his death in 1945 and Anna until her death in 1959.