Thomas Bowen c.1792 - 1869
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Thomas Bowen c 1792 - 1869 was born in Carway, Carmarthenshire. Nothing is known of his early life, but he worked as a road and mineral surveyor and as a manager for the Kidwelly and Burry Port Canal / Railway Company. He lived in Aqueduct Cottage, Pembrey, Carmarthenshire, near the Commissioner's Bridge, with his wife, Margaret and his only daughter, Mary. He also owned Moat Farm, Kidwelly and Glasbury Farm. Some of the documents in this collection were pre-existing leases related to coal-mining in the area, which were copied by him, presumably for work purposes. He collected rents on behalf of local landowners (John Colby, Colonel Pemberton of Cambridge).
In 1862 he agreed to lease land under Glasbury farm, Pembrey, for the purpose of coal mining to Owen Bowen, who was based in Blackfriars, London. It's not known whether he was a relative, but Owen was a civil engineer who was the Secretary for the Lllanelli railway company, though he later lost his money and became bankrupt. (Neither is it known whether either man was related to Emanuel Bowen, a Welsh cartographer who became Royal Mapmaker to George II.)
Thomas's daughter, Mary, married David Williams from Colman farm, Kidwelly in 1848. Her marriage settlement is one of the documents in this collection. She and David lived at Morfa Bach farm Kidwelly and had four children but she died at the age of xx and David subsequently married twice more. Their daughter, Ann, married Thomas Rees from Bont Farm, Kidwelly. Ann was educated at the British School In Kidwelly - her sampler is in this collection and she owned a Llanelli pottery vase ( see photo).
Ann and Thomas farmed first at Ystradferthyr then at Nantllan in Llandefaelog, Carmarthenshire. They had nine children. Their son William later farmed at Cloygin, Llandefaelog. Their son David was a pharmacist in Brixton, London. Their eldest daughter, Annie, went to Truro Training College and taught in Tylorstown, Glamorganshire, before returning to Nantllan. Thier daughter Gwladys was also a teacher. Their daughter Mary married Tom Williams and lived in Kymer's Terrace in Kidwelly. Their youngest daughter, Mildred, married (Robert) Stanley Williams, son of Owen T. Williams, the blacksmith and publican at the Rose and Crown, Llandefaelog. Mildred and Stan lived at Panteg farm, Pembrey, before moving to the Lando then to Ael-y-bryn Terrace (now Danlan Road) in Pembrey. Stan was the Chief Safety Officer at the Royal Ordnance Factory in Pembrey.
Thomas Bowen's farm at Glasbury passed down the family under the terms of his will, until it was sold in 1960.