For many of the American, Canadian and Australian family members, Wales was the stopping point of our ancestors after leaving England and before moving on to their new countries always in search of work and opportunity. They followed the work: the new railroad and boom in coalmining. Below are photos of some of the villages where the families lived and married before moving on. The photos are provided to us courtesy of Robert Edwards and are copyright to him. No for-profit or commerical use of them is allowed. We thank him for making part of our history visual for us.

Abertillery

Abertillery Hill from church yard

Abertillery on a rainy day

Llanhilleth Cemetery

Llanhilleth Church where Thomas and Ann Swanborough were married.

In addition to the photos, Robert Edwards has provided us some information about the Welsh naming practices:

"...the place names we are interested in are Cwm nant ddu, Cwm du, and Nant ddu. These names mean Dark-hollow-creek, Dark hollow, and Dark creek, respectively. ... adjectives are modified depending on the noun they modify. So it's Cwm du and Nant ddu.

When folks talk about place names in early Wales, they usually talk of a place in a parish. Even the census does that. So it's Cwm nant ddu in Trevethin (parish). And Cwmtillery in Llanhilleth. Llanhilleth parish has as its eastern border the NS ridge formed by Mynydd Llanhilleth (in the south) and Mynydd Coety (in the north). The western edge of Llanhilleth parish is the ridge to the west of Abertillery. Abertillery is not a parish. I would imagine that Cwm du was a pleasant rural neighborhood in the 1840s and before, but as industry took off, the hollow probably got pretty noisy and pretty smelly. So I can understand if people wanted to move out to nicer environs after industry came in.

aber = discharge point or mouth of a stream or river

cum = draw, hollow, or small valley

du or ddu = dark

cefn = ridge

mynydd = mountain

coed = woods

ty = house or home

nant = stream or creek

llan = town center

hafod = pasture

pen = uppermost

gelli = orchard

graig = craig

rhiw = red

maes = field

Illtyd = hilleth = ithyl = ancient patron saint

fawr = far

ger = near

blaen = uppe"

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