4th Gen Other Oakley Leighs

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4th Gen Other Oakley Leighs

144. MARGARET ?LEIGH (? - aft 20 Apr 1846 w.p.). Father: 134. WATKIN LEIGH
md EVAN DAVIES (? - aft 1839), watchmaker
MARGARET married EVAN DAVIES and lived with her father at Penbaily, and though illegitimate she inherited the farm from him.

152. WATKIN DAVIES (born abt 1839 Cellan – 1 Mar 1902 Llansawel)
md ANN UNKNOWN (born abt 1838 Lampeter – 2 Mar 1906 Llansawel)

WATKIN DAVIES continued to live at Penbaily. He and his wife ANN had six children including three sons who became clergymen in the Church of Wales, one emigrating to Australia.

145. WATKIN LEIGH (chr 20 Mar 1796 Lampeter: died 21 Nov 1851 Llansawel).
Father: 135. GEORGE LEIGH
md SARAH RODERICK (born abt 1803: died 31 May 1870 Llansawel) in 1839 in Lampeter

WATKIN and SARAH lived at Porth in Llansawel, this being his share of Baily Gwastad, but he died only a year after his father while their children were still young. The investigation of SARAH’s ancestors, whose surname may have taken the Welsh form ‘RHYDDERCH’, would be a good research project for one of her descendants.

153. WILLIAM LEIGH (born abt 1845, chr 31 Aug 1849: died 25 May 1914 Llansawel)
md ANN LEIGH (chr 25 Apr 1844 Llanddewi Brefi: died 20 Jul 1919 Llansawel) 16 Nov 1872 at Llansawel

In 1872 WILLIAM married his first cousin 155 ANN LEIGH, the daughter of his uncle OAKLEY, but they already had two children who were living with her and her father at Bailitew. After their marriage they lived at the 70 acre Castell (castle) farm, Llansawel, which WILLIAM had bought for £1,200 (NLW D.T.M.Jones (5) 3841), and subsequently they also owned or leased 7 other farms in the parish. Unfortunately, he lost his lands by becoming surety for a distant relative who emigrated to America and set himself up in Florida, and they moved to the 25 acre Bryngwynbach (little white hill) in Llansawel village, where WILLIAM died in 1914. His obituary in the Carmarthen Journal said that he was a member of a very old and respected family who had owned many farms in the parish, and he was a faithful communicant at Llansawel church. Ann moved to the Red Lion Inn with her daughter, also named Ann, and she died there in 1919.

WILLIAM and ANN had ten children, William, Ann, WATKIN, George, SARAH, Mary, DAVID, Elizabeth, OAKLEY, and ELEANOR, though George died as a baby, and Ann died a year after her mother aged 50. Most of the other children moved to the Ammanford area, 15 miles to the south, which had developed as a town with the coming of industry. This is only a few miles from Llanedi where EDMUND LEIGH and his son DANIEL had lived, and also a few miles from Pontarddulais and Bettws where descendants of EDMUND’S son DAVID LEIGH lived. The family historian VON LEIGH and her husband NOEL WATCYN WILLIAM LEIGH, son of DAVID, still live in Ammanford. Other descendants of WILLIAM and ANN through their son WATKIN are JOHN LEWIS and the brothers  RICHARD GARY DAVIES, DAVID WARREN and STUART LEIGH-DAVIES.

Ann Leigh and a granddaughter

154. MARY LEIGH (born abt 1847: died 23 June 1868 Llansawel)

Mary died aged 21 two years before her mother SARAH.

150. OAKLEY LEIGH (chr 21 Jun 1810 Pencarreg - 1878 Llansawel)
md ANN BOWEN (chr 1824 Cellan – 1 Feb 1859 Llansawel) on 6 Dec 1843 in Llanddewi Brefi

ANN was the daughter of JOHN BOWEN, blacksmith, and ANNE of Pentrefelin in Cellan, the parish to the north east of Lampeter. When they married, ANN’s address was Tynlon in Llanddewi Brefi parish, further to the north east, and they christened their four children in both parishes, OAKLEY being described as a labourer or miner of Godreallt (foot of the hillside). His father died in 1850, and they went to live at Bailitew (fruitful courtyard) in Llansawel, which he had inherited.

155. ANN LEIGH (chr 25 Apr 1844 Llanddewi Brefi: died 20 Jul 1919 Llansawel)
md WILLIAM LEIGH (born abt 1845, chr 31 Aug 1849: died 25 May 1914 Llansawel) 16 Nov 1872 at Llansawel

As we have seen, ANN married her first cousin 153. WILLIAM LEIGH, the son of WATKIN.

156. Watkin LEIGH (chr 2 Aug 1846 Llanddewi Brefi – aft 1861)

157. THOMAS LEIGH (chr 28 Oct 1849 Llanddewi Brefi – died 1907 Skewen)
md ELLEN ELIZABETH TASKER (born 1855 Swansea – June 1936 Skewen) 1883 at St Peter’s, Swansea

THOMAS worked in the copper industry in Skewen, between Swansea and Neath. His wife ELLEN was the daughter of WILLIAM HENTON TASKER, who was a shipwright in Swansea but had been born in Haverfordwest, and his wife MARGARET nee HOWELL. They had three daughters, Edith Ellen, ANNIE ELIZABETH, and GLADYS SOPHIA, and three sons, William Thomas who was a manager in the chemical industry in Runcorn, Oakley Edward who was fitter in the local foundry but died at 31, and Arthur John who was an engineering draughtsman in Manchester. None of the sons had children, so the Leigh surname ended in this line. ANNIE married ARTHUR THOMAS JONES of Llandeilo, and her daughter HELEN GEORGENE (GENE) HETHERINGTON also became a family historian in the LEIGH and OAKLEY lines. She remembers her grandmother ELLEN as a severe person for whom life was earnest and grim, and drink was the fount of all evil, and she was surprised that a son had been given the unusual name of Oakley. It was only after she had traced the family history that she realised that he was the last of seven generations to bear that name, and that it was not an uncharacteristic touch of frivolity on her stern grandmother’s part.

158. JOHN LEIGH (chr 25 Sep 1850 Llanddewi Brefi – aft 1919)
md HANNAH UNKNOWN

JOHN married HANNAH from Newcastle Emlyn, Carmarthenshire, and worked in the tinworks in Swansea. They had two sons, David and Samuel. The latter was reported missing at the famous and tragic battle of Gallipoli in the First World War. unmd LETITIA HARRIS

After ANN’S death, OAKLEY had a son DAVID by Letitia Harries of Penybont, and in 1861 he was living at Bailitew with his five children. Ten years later he was still accompanied by two of his children, ANN and JOHN, and by ANN’s children William and Ann.

159. DAVID LEIGH (born 1860 Llansawel – aft 1901)
md LETITIA UNKNOWN

DAVID married LETITIA from Llanybydder parish near Lampeter, and in 1901 they were living with their four children Sarah, Margretta, Rachel and James near Llandeilo, where he was a labourer. Nothing further is known of this family.

Sources: A Narrative of the Leigh Family, 1989, by Von Leigh. Oakley Leigh of Lampeter, ca. 1989, by Gene Hetherington. Sale catalogue and agreement of William Leigh: D.T.M.Jones (5) 3841, at the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth. Bishop’s Transcripts for Llanddewi Brefi and Cellan. Census returns for 1861, 1871, and 1901.