The most common spelling for this branch of the family was Poiner so I have used this name for all generations after William who was born in 1753.
William was named after his father and baptised in the church at Little Birch, Herefordshire on the 25th March 1798. He moved to Kilpeck, Herefordshire when very young, probably because his father was trying to find work, and when old enough to leave home, (which could have been shortly after he was 10 in those days), he went to live in Orcop, Herefordshire. It was here that he met Ann Evans and they were married on the 29th August 1825 in the parish church of Orcop by the minister who was Thomas Davies. The witnesses were Paul and Elizabeth Meredith.
A few weeks later their only daughter Elizabeth Ann was born. She was baptised on the 27th November 1825 and buried on the 9th December 1825 at the age of three weeks.
In the next couple of years they moved from Little Hill, Orcop to live at a cottage called The Butts in Much Dewchurch and their first son, James, was born in 1828. Another son, Joseph, was born ten years later.
William continued to work as an agricultural labourer and in 1841 he and his wife and children were living at Butlow Court, Much Dewchurch. Unfortunately William died in either Orcop or Much Dewchurch on the 11th October 1843 of 'rhumatic', but was buried in Kilpeck three days later.
After the death of William his widow took their sons to Breconshire to live in, or near, the village of Llanelly near Crickhowell. (It is possible that the move was because James and Joseph were given the opportunity to work in Llanelly so their mother decided to move there with them.) No occupation is recorded for Ann in the next two censuses, but it is likely that she took in washing or made clothes for other people to bring in some money. She died on the 17th November 1863 of scirrhus of breast which she had had for one year. (Scirrhus is a large hard and painless swelling, often cancer or sarcoma.)
James was baptised in Much Dewchurch on the 10th December 1828 by the curate Henry Harrington when the family was living at The Butts. After his father died he move to Breconshire and became an iron miner, lodging at Gelli-Felen (or Gelly Velen), Llanelly in 1851, near his brother and mother. It was while living in Llanelly that he met Ann Pierce and they had a son James in 1860 when they were living at Clydach Iron Works near Llanelly. Ann described herself as Ann Pyner on the birth certificate.
James, and his son, was living with his mother in 1861 at Llamarch, Llanelly and was shown as being single, but he and Ann married two years later on the 31st August 1863 in the Libanus Chapel, Brynmawr and the witnesses were Mary Rees Thomas and William Edwards. They had two more sons, David William in 1865 and Thomas John in 1868 and the family moved to Gelly Felen Long Row in Llanelly before 1871 when James was working as a coal miner. Ten years later they lived at Black Rock, Llanelly and a four year old boy called David Evans was living with them. He was described as a nephew of James and had been born in Llanelly.
They then moved to 110 King Street, Llangattock which was about 3 miles north-west of Llanelly and very close to Crickhowell, and David Evans moved with them, but then he was shown as a lodger. James's occupation is not shown. He died in the spring of 1899 and his widow died six months later.
He was working as an iron miner and lived with his mother at Daren Felen, Llanelly in 1851. On the 8th December 1857 he was married to Ruth Powell in the Libanus Chapel in Brynmawr by David Coward, the registrar. The witnesses were Watkin and Ann Joseph. Both Joseph and Ruth were from Llamarch, Llanelly and Joseph described his father, William, as a husbandman, while Ruth's father was William Powell, a collier who was dead by the time of the wedding.
Joseph and Ruth had three children - William, (named after his grandfather), in 1859, Alice, (who married John Walters in 1884), in 1864 and Joseph in 1868. The family lived at Daren Felen, Llanelly in 1861 when Joseph was a haulier, possibly at a coal mine. Unfortunately Ruth died on the 7th May 1868, shortly after Joseph was born, of phthisis, which she had suffered from for a year. Phthisis is an archaic term meaning dwindling or wasting away, so possibly her last pregnancy was a partial cause of her death.
After Ruth's death Joseph must have employed a housekeeper to look after the children and the house as he would have worked long hours at the coal mine. According to the 1871 census she was Jane Collett who was born in Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire in 1836, and the family was living at Waenlapra in Llanelly at this time. Shortly after this Joseph married again, this time to a widow called Elizabeth Jones, nee Waters, who was living at Gelli Felen. The ceremony took place in the Tabor Chapel, Brynmawr by certificate and was performed by the minister, William P Williams, and the registrar, Thomas Jones, with William Parry and Annie Williams acting as witnesses.
Joseph's second wife had two children - Mary Ann who was born in 1873 and married William Austins in winter 1891, and David James, (who also became a coal miner), in 1877. Four years later they were living at Mount Pleasant in Llanelly and stayed there until after 1901 with Joseph continuing to work as a coal miner. Joseph probably died early in 1904, with his second wife living until 1911.
William became a labourer in the coal works by the time he had reached eleven years of age. He was still living with his parents ten years later and had become a coal miner. Some time after the 1881 census he left the family home and in 1891 was lodging at 19 New Lower Bank, Llanfoist, Breconshire, still working as a coal miner. I believe he married May Morgan about 1892 and they had four children, Mary in 1894, Charles in 1896, Blodwen in 1898 and Ceinwen two years later. Shortly after Ceinwen's birth the family were recorded in the census as living at Daren Felen again.
He was born on the 8th September 1860 in Llanelly and lived with his parents until the 1880s, when he was working as a coal miner. In 1886 he married Annie Michael, (or possibly Annie Workman), and started family shortly afterwards with the birth of a daughter, Mary Ann, in 1888 in Brynmawr, a short distance from Llanelly. They moved to Bedwellty before their son David James was born in late 1891 and were living at 1 Winifred Terrace, Abertillery, Monmouthshire by 1901. At this time James was a 'colliery shotsman below', presumably responsible for setting explosive charges underground, and he was able to speak both Welsh and English.
By the time he was 16 David was working as a coal miner and continued in this line of work when the family moved from Llanelly to Llangattock in the 1880s. He married Sarah Ann Howells, the daughter of John and Hannah Howells, in the autumn of 1892 and they had five children during the next eight years. These were John James in 1894, Olive Maud in 1896, Elizabeth Ann in 1897, Arthur Garfield in 1899 and David Thomas in 1900. When the 1901 census was taken they were living at 37 Clydach Street, Llanelly. Unlike his brother James David could not speak Welsh.
Thomas also became a coal miner, moved to Llangattock with his family before 1891 but died eight years later in the autumn of 1899 without marrying.
Life must have been very hard for Joseph's father after the death of his first wife Ruth as he allowed his youngest son, and namesake, to be adopted by a fellow coal miner George Williams and his wife Sarah. After the 1881 census Joseph left Wales and moved to Yorkshire, working as a fireman in the fishing trade and living in the Newington area of Hull.
Mary Ann became a dress maker before marrying William Austin or Austins in late 1891. They had four children - Elizabeth Ann in late 1892, William in late 1893, Mabel in summer 1896 and Archibald in 1899. The first two were born in Llanelly, and the others after moving to Aberystruth, presumably because William moved to work in another colliery as a coal miner hewer.
