William Dennis

William Dennis

William Dennis was the man that should have been my grandfather. 

This was a story that was never talked about amongst my family. It was my Auntie Doreen that told me this story shortly before she died. Apparently, William married my grandmother, Ann Smith in July of 1900, just a few months after his cycling fine. A few months after that, I was told that he was killed in a mining accident.

It is a really creepy thought, but if he hadn't died, then it is likely that myself, my brother, my cousins, my mother and my aunts and uncles would never have been born.

I've managed to find his obituary, but so far I have been unable to find any mention of his death in newspaper archives.

We record the death of a young friend William Dennis to the place above who died 26th February at the early age of 26 years old.The son of John and Hannah Dennis, Gadlys Street,Aberdare.

His mother died when he was just a small child.Soon after this, his father moved to Ferndale to live there and he spent the greater part of his life living comfortably in the house of his aunt,Elizabeth Williams of Taff Street.

He was buried the following Saturday at Aberdare public landfill site . The service was carried out by the Reverend D Silent Evans, Aberdare. He left a young widow of six months to mourn him who participated in the ceremony.

Let the widows comforter and father of the fatherless look after her in her misery and longing.

Here is a copy of their wedding certificate.

Here you can see the Smith family's census entry in the 1901 census. It was this clue of my grandmother being named as Ann Dennis that led me to believe that she had indeed had a previous marriage.

After William's death, she discovered that she was pregnant. She had a little boy and named him William John Dennis. I'd love to learn what became of him.

My grandmother, Ann Davies, as I remember her.

W56 Consecrated Maerdy Cemetery.

Blaenllechau.

A Mystery Solved

One day, during my teenage years, I was out with my parents driving around South Wales. My mother saw a road sign for Ystradgynlais. She became really animated and asked, "We must go there. I'd like to see my Uncle Reg (or did she say cousin?) She had no idea where he lived but she appeared determined to find him. We were actually stopping the car and asking total strangers whether they knew where Reg lived. Eventually, we actually found him. I remember him being quite a tall man, with grey hair. We had quite a welcome, with the best china brought out for us. Problem was, I never fully understood who Reg was. Looking through our family tree, nobody in the Davies or Smith line has a Reg,

Then, a few days ago, from the depths of my memory I remembered my mother asking those people on the road in Ystradgynlais. She wasn't asking about Reg. She asked after Reg Dennis.

Look back at the Scorching Cyclists newspaper clipping. There was another Dennis mentioned. Gomer Dennis. To my mind, this was probably William Dennis' brother.

Looking at the 1911 census report, I found an entry for Gomer Dennis who at the time, was living in Ystradgynlais. Also listed, was his eight year old son, Reggie. Mystery solved.

It makes me think that there must have been contact between the Davies and the Dennis family for years after William Dennis' death. I'm pretty sure that I can remember my mother saying that they used to visit Reg.

I managed to find one other newspaper story relating to Gomer Dennis.

William Dennis is buried with his father in Plot E52 at Aberdare cemetery.

I have tried to visit the grave. We made a visit on a Sunday. Sadly, the cemetery is huge and none of the plots appear to be numbered. I've been advised that it is best to visit on a weekday, timing your visit to coincide with the grave-diggers morning tea break. Apparently a packet of biscuits makes them more helpful.

Recently, thanks to Facebook, I've managed to contact Kevin Dennis. He is Gomer Dennis' great grandson. He runs a transport firm in Ystradgynlais.

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