At last year's reunion I reported on the success of our research efforts on our paternal Owens line back to the 1500's where the records, for all practical purposes, cease to exist. This past year, we did find some interesting additional information on Mary Edward's grandparents, Edward Thomas and Martha Edward along with Edward's father, Thomas Edward. These people were a will-writing family. The records indicate that nearly every member of the family left a will. We have been able to obtain about half of those at this time, and they throw a great deal of additional light on her family, their lives and their relatives. They also present a "mystery heiress" named Susannah that we have yet to track down.

We had just begun research on the ancestry of Sarah Roberts, the wife of Edward Owen last July. An earlier research effort had located her in the parish of Llansannon, Denbighshire. Close examination of these parish records showed that the Sarah Roberts, daughter of Maurice and Catherine, was an old maid who never left the farm and was living there with her aged mother when the 1851 census was taken.

A copy of our Sarah Roberts' death certificate was ordered from Somerset House in England and it showed that our Sarah died at age 47 in her home on Transhbach Street, Merthyr Tydfil, with her husband, Edward Owen, in attendance . . . in 1850. Sarah and Edward's marriage certificate was also obtained and has been most useful as it showed the witnesses at their marriage were Martha Roberts and Richard Roberts, her younger sister and brother.

The christening records of all three have now been located in the Old Chapel Independent Church registers - back in Llanbrynmair; the same church Edward Owen and his family attended before the younger generation moved to Merthyr Tydfil to work in the mines.

Sarah's parents were John Roberts and Sarah Thomas. As it turned out, there were three John Roberts who attended the Old Chapel, all about the same age, and apparently, all close associates. Two of them even occupied the same property, one following the other. One of them was the minister of the Old Chapel. We finally searched the voluminous Wynstay Land Records and found a year when we could locate all three in different locations. This helped us single out "our" John Roberts and continue the research.

At this point, we have located the parents of our John Roberts and his brother and sister. His parents, Richard Roberts and Susannah Francis were married in Llanbrynmair, but we have not yet located their places of birth.

Sarah Thomas's line has been traced back three more generations to yeoman ancestry living in Llanbrynmair and in Llanfair Caerienon to the north. We will possibly have at least one more generation on each of these lines from the looks of the records we are currently reading.

This past year, we have located 150 names of direct line ancestors, their children and children's spouses. Twenty-nine of these names had been extracted in a records project on the Llanfair-Caerienon records. The extraction started in 1745, so from the second child on, some of our families had been extracted but the first child and parents had not.

That left us with 121 names to be submitted for baptism and endowment ordinances, with 111 to be sealed to parents and 30 to be sealed to spouses - a very successful research year indeed! We also have 39 more names that are ready to submit.

Names are on file at the Provo Temple under my name, for any family members who would like to help us with the ordinance work. Also, anyone interested in obtaining a copy of the ancestry book (pedigree plus family group sheets) or any of the three descendants books can contact me. Computer disks of each of the four files are available for Apple and IBM by contacting Gregg Owens 12 W 1000 N, Pleasant Grove, UT 84062. I can furnish disks for IBM and IBM compatible computers only.

I want to thank your for your great support for the research project and add that his project will not continue indefinitely. Records that we can access only go back to the late 1500's at best. At our current rate of progress, we should be able to trace W.T.'s ancestry and his wives' ancestry back to that point within approximately 10 or 11 years. After that, a little direct revelation may be in order. But in the meantime, we'll do everything we can with the records we can access, and make the information available to you.

Sincerely,

Varla Owens Wright