Surname Origin: English (Hugh) from the personal name Hu(gh)e introduced into Britain by the Normans, popular partly due to the fame of St Hugh of Lincoln (1140-1200), who was born in Burgundy and who established the first Carthusian Monastery in England. French Hugues owes more to St Hugh of Cluny (1024-1109).

Very little is known about our early encounters with the Hughes family, all we had to go on at the start was the Marriage Certificate of Elizabeth Hughes to David Mantle giving her father’s name as Alexander Hughes. Elizabeth really should come farther down in the Hughes family, but it was only from her Death Certificate that we were able to get her age, this then giving us the year she would have been born. After checking the GRO for the birth of Elizabeth Hughes, we sent for a Certificate, from this we established that they were living in Chirbury at the time of her birth and that her mother’s name was Mary nee Rogers.

Worthen and Marton Church.

After visiting the church in Chirbury and finding nothing, we decided to leave a message in the Visitors Book at Chirbury Church, hoping that we might have a little bit of luck. Lo and behold a few weeks later we had a letter from the Earl of Powys, no less, giving us the family tree of the Hughes family, plus inviting us to send a donation to the church, which we did, especially as we thought it might save us some hours of searching. Having poured for some time over this hand written tree, trying to sort out who was who, we realised that it was leading us up ‘blind alleys’. There definitely were some Alexander Hughes on it, but nothing matched with what we wanted, so we were back to square one and booked our place at the Records Office in Shrewsbury and extended our areas of searching to Worthen and Marton.

Thomas Hughes

All that we have found out, so far, is that on the 7 November 1808 Thomas Hughes married Ann Gardner in Worthen Parish Church, who the parents of Thomas and Ann were we have no idea, as yet. The couple went on to have 5 children, that we know of, and the baptism dates are as follows, Alexander 9 July 1809, Ann 22 July 1811, Sarah 25 December 1814, Martha 4 May 1817 and Thomas Gardner 17 October 1819, as you can see Thomas was given, as a middle name, the maiden name of his mother. Of the last 4 children once again a lot more research is needed on them, but our story goes on with Alexander.

Alexander Hughes

So far we have not been successful in our search for the marriage of Alexander to Mary Rogers, but we do know that she was about 5 or 6 years older than Alexander, this being obtained from the Census Records, but even these try to mislead us. On the 1851 she is named as Martha, born Worthen; 1861 she is named Mary born Pontesbury; and on the 1871 she is named Mary again but this time born in Worthen, so take your pick. After a good many years of searching we finally found Alexander and Mary on the 1841 census in the township of Trelystan, which is in the part of Chirbury Parish that is in Wales, we had been looking in Shropshire for them. This once again shows Alexander’s wife as Mary, we can only assume that the 1851 census was a mistake on the Enumerator’s part. On the 1841 census the couple had 3 children the first 2 being baptised at Worthen, Ann on 23 November 1835, Alexander on 15 March 1837, but Elizabeth’s Birth Certificate shows that she was born on the 1 July 1840 at Birch Cottage in the Parish of Chirbury.

After a lot of searching we found Alexander and his family on the 1851 census living at a place named Hope, near Buttington and he is described as a Farmer of 50 acres, Ann has disappeared but a further 2 children have been born, Mary 1843 and Jane 1846, Mary’s place of birth has a question mark by it, but Jane’s states Hope. It is on the 1861 census that we get the next clue to where they are living, the address is given as ‘Cwmbychan’, Hope, but by this time Elizabeth had also left home, and married David Mantle shortly after.

Before we continue with the family let us describe how we managed to locate ‘Cwmbychan’. As already has been stated we had found them living in Hope, and it was only after we looked at the 1861 census did we find the name of the farm. Now how did we find the farm? Once again, searching churchyards, as we often do, at Buttington this time, we decided to ask another visitor if they knew of a place called Hope and a farm named ‘Cwmbychan’, luckily for us they did and were able to direct us. Part of the directions was that we had to go ‘up the road to nowhere’. Buttington is situated on the corner of the A458, Shrewsbury to Welshpool Rd and the B4388 to Montgomery. After turning onto the B4388 and going for about a mile you take a left turn up a narrow lane, and you go up, and up and up. It was at this point that we decided that we had better ask again for directions, this time we were told that “we were not far from ‘Cwmbychan’ it was the next farm on the left”. Filled with excitement we continued going up the hill until we came to the farm, we were still not sure if it was the right one as it did not have a sign, so we knocked on the door and asked. Imagine how we feltwhen informed by the person living there that “yes this is ‘Cwmbychan’ farm”. We managed to ensure the lady of the house that we were friendly, informing her why we were there, and that we just wanted to take photographs. The farm is situated in a lovely spot, although very lonely, nestling in the hills with a view looking over Welshpool, (the literal translation of Cwmbychan is Small Valley).

Cwmbychan Farm

By 1871 Alexander had enlarged his farm to 90 acres, Alexander jnr. and Mary have left home, and here we have the start of another mystery. On this census is an Abel Foulkes, grandson aged 11, whose child is he? Taking it that Jane is still at home aged 24, could it be hers? But she would only have been 14 or 15 at the time of the birth, she could possibly have been married, but her name is still Hughes, and if he was illegitimate why the name Foulkes? We had come to the conclusion that it may be Mary’s child, but where is she? Next step was to look on the GRO, only to have another puzzle, no trace of his birth, nor a trace of a marriage for Mary. By the 1881 Census when we encounter the family again, Alexander snr. had disappeared, Jane was living at a place called ‘New House’ Hope, and in the column ‘Relation to Head’ she is shown as Daugh (head) and her occupation is given as a Housekeeper. Abel and another child, this time a Thomas Foulkes, grandchild aged 8, had appeared living with her. This was getting complicated, where was Alexander snr? He was not dead, he did not die until 2 June 1882, some 15 months after the census was taken, and his Death Certificate stated that he died at Hope, although it does not specify ‘Cwmbychan’ . His occupation was given as a Farmer, and his daughter Jane was present at his death. We have even checked the National Census Index for him for 1881, with no trace. If he was in hospital he should still have been on the census returns, we have even checked for the farm and that is not on the census either. Both Alexander and his wife Mary are buried at All Saints Church, Buttington.

Alexander Son of Alexander

Alexander left home, we believe, between 1861 and 1865, and we next find him on the 1871 census shown as Abel, with him are his wife Ann and their children Thomas, Abel, David and Mary. They are living with a Thomas and Mary Bebb and family in Trelystan, his relationship to the head is given as son in law. We found a record of a marriage in 1866 of an Abel Hughes in the Registration District of Montgomery but on sending for the certificate it came back as ‘no match’, and as yet we have been unable to confirm a marriage of Alexander to Ann Bebb.

By 1881, he is living in Berriew, but this time as a farmer of 145 acres, the farm name is ‘Dunant’ , a further two children have been born to them, John and Arthur, all the children were born at Trelystan. By 1891 he is living at a place called ‘Bank’ in Berriew, and another puzzle occurs, where his wife’s name should appear there is a question mark, why? We have her death record for June of that year, so why was her name not entered on the census? If she was in hospital or being cared for elsewhere she should not have been recorded on their census but on the one where she was staying. By 1901 Alexander has moved once again, this time we find him at Arscott Hall Farm, in the Parish of Pontesbury, and his wife’s name is Sarah. We had found the Banns of the marriage in 1895 to Sarah Bebb in Berriew Parish Records, but Alexander did not marry Sarah until the end of 1896. On finding the Banns we also found that Alexander’s name was given as Abel Alexander, confirming our findings on the 1871 census, although his baptism records just say Alexander.

Another puzzle that we have been unable to solve is just what relationship Sarah was to his first wife Ann. We have a census record for 1851, which shows a Sarah Bebb, granddaughter of Thomas and Mary, her age is given as 4, and her place of birth as Berriew. The 1901 census, however, shows our Sarah’s age as 52, but as it was not uncommon for the age of a person to vary by a couple of years, this could be her. If this were so, it would appear that Alexander married the niece of his first wife.

Elizabeth Daughter of Alexander

Of Elizabeth’s childhood we have little knowledge, we have her on the 1841 Census living in Trelystan, and the 1851 when the family had moved to Hope. Her marriage to David and the birth of her first 3 children have already been covered under our story of David, and it was on the 30 January 1868 that Elizabeth’s short life came to an end when she died in childbirth, at the cottage in Pwllperan. On her Death Certificate it stated that she had been dead for two days before a doctor could get to her to certify the death. Given where the cottage is, and that it was the end of January, we could understand why, especially after talking to a local farmer who had known the track to the farm blocked by snow for weeks at a time, and the only way he had been able to get down it was with a tractor, David had no such mechanical aid. We can find no trace of a record of the child’s birth, and we have to presume that it was either a miscarriage or still born. But what is even more aggravating to us is the fact that we have never been able to find out where Elizabeth is buried. All local churches have been checked, with no luck, the only one that we have not been able to look at is the small village of Pentre near Mochdre, which has a Methodist Chapel; actually this is the nearest church to Pwllperan. Very few chapels have ever placed their registers with the Local Records Office and on making an enquiry with the Chapel Warden of this one, we were informed that the records had been lost at sometime. This was a frequent occurrence with chapels, as they had no regular Preacher, only Lay Preachers, who at times had a tendency to take the records home, moved on, and forgot to leave the records at the chapel. Whether Elizabeth, and possibly David’s mother, are buried there we shall never know. Another thought, by one of us, but will not say which one, is that given the date and possibly the conditions, could Elizabeth have been buried at the cottage?