Peter Hunnisett

John & Mary Davies of Moss, Broughton

John Davies, the eldest known child of James, a mason, and Sarah, was born around 1832. He became a joiner and furniture maker.

Mary Hughes, a daughter of David Hughes, a joiner, was born on23 March 1833 and baptised in  Gresford on 9 June 1833.

John and Mary were married at Wrexham Register Office on 26 September 1853. John is said to have built the family home at 55/56/57 Westminster Road, Moss near Wrexham, and they had ten children, two of whom died young:

In 1871 the family were at ‘house & shop near Moss chapel’ which must have been 57 Westminster Road, the cottage furthest from the road. John’s mother was living next door and the third one appears to have been let to Phillip Lewis, a stonemason.

In 1881 the address was just given as Moss and 55 and 56 were both rented out.

In 1891 John was shown as a builder and contractor and was living in what must have been 57 while his daughter Phoebe and her husband, Price Isaac Parry, and son were next door. The third cottage was still rented out.

John's occupation was generally recorded as 'joiner' and he was also the local undertaker. He had his workshop adjacent to the family home. When he died on 19 September 1893 his son James, who had followed his father's craft, was said to have built his coffin in the cellar so that the noise would not upset his widow.

John’s will of 1893 stated that the income from his 3 cottages at Moss (55-57 Westminster Road), and 6 cottages Brymbo (3-8 Green Place), was to go to his wife and after his death the cottages should pass in equal shares to his surviving children.

In 1901 Mary was still living at 57 Westminster Road and was recorded as a grocer. With her was her daughter Frances and granddaughter Hilda Parry, a daughter of Price and Phoebe who were living at number 56. 55 appears to have been let to Thomas Saunders.

In 1911 Mary was still at 57 with her daughter, Emma, and three grand-daughters; Gertie, Ethel and Eleanor, children of Price Isaac Parry and Mary’s daughter, Phoebe, who were living at 55 with the rest of their children. 56 was then let to Albert Miller and his family.

In 1921 Mary was still at 57 being looked after by her daughter, Emma. She died in 1922.

Of their children:

• Mary married John Jenkin Vaughan in Q2 1878. John’s father was a cabinet maker and had a sawmill and carpentry shop in Welshhampton. In 1881 John had a bakery in Moss and was also the proprietor of a cocoa room. Their first two sons William (1878) and Arthur were born in Wales and then in 1885 they emigrated to Australia where they had a daughter Mary Elizabeth, who died at the age of ten months, and three more sons; Alfred, James and Thomas. In 1914 John sold his bakery, bought a plot of land and became a fruit farmer, as did three of his sons. Mary died in 1934, a few months after her husband. A grandson, John Vaughan has written a book about their life in Australia.
• James was reputedly a fine athlete. He married Maria Hughes in Brymbo on 7 July 1884, but they had no children. In 1891 James was shown as a joiner and they lived across the valley in Top Road, Summer Hill, Gwersyllt. In 1901 they were staying with Maria’s brother Charles at St Martins Road, Whittington, Shropshire, and James was shown as an undertaker. Maria died in 1908 and in 1911 James was at Laburnham Cottage in Summerhill. James died on 23 March 1919.

• Joseph was an assistant teacher in a public elementary school in Mount Pleasant, Leominster, Herefordshire in 1881. He married Mary Cole in Llanrhian, Pembrokeshire on 19 June 1888. She also became a schoolteacher, and in 1891 they were living near Haverfordwest. In 1901 and 1911 they were living in Walnut Place, Wellington, Herefordshire, and they had two daughters, Una Mary Eleanor (1889) and Amy Maud (1896). By 1911 Joseph and Mary were both described as Head Teachers After he retired in the 1920’s Joseph returned to live at 57 Westminster Road. He died on 31 January 1953.

  • Una never married. In 1911 she was living in Smethwick, Worcestershire, and teaching in an elementary school. She died in 1959, aged 70.
  • Amy married Harry Sucker in 1922 but he left her when their son, John Vaughan Raven Sucker was born the following year. She subsequently married Fred Hawkey in 1939. At one time she was a headmistress in Tunbridge Wells and also lived in Portsmouth. Her last known address was in Calne, Wilts. Her son, John Sucker, adopted his mother's maiden name and lived in Swindon as J V R Davies.
    Amy died in 1978 aged 82.

• William was a pupil teacher in 1881 but by 1891 he had become a Congregational Minister boarding at 24 Barton Street, Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire. There, in 1894 he married Frances Margaret Fluck, daughter of a corn merchant, and they had three children, John Richard (1896), Mary Margaret (1897), and David (1898). In 1901 and 1911 they were living at Avondale, Barton Road, Tewkesbury. William and Margaret, as Frances was known, eventually turned their house into a convalescent home. William is known to have gone deaf in his later years and died in 1954.

  • John is known to have lived at 3 Mythelea, Tewkesbury.
  • The 1982 telephone directory shows a Miss M M Davies at Mythelea. She died in 1995, aged 98, and her death was registered in Camden, London.
  • The 1982 telephone directory shows a Mr D W Davies at Fiddington Farm, Fiddington, and the 1987 directory shows him at Mythelea. He died in 1988.
• Phoebe was a teacher and married Price Isaac Parry. They lived at 56 Westminster Road, which did not go down well with the rest of the family.
• Emma was a teacher and died, a spinster, on 15 January 1940, aged 67 (according to her MI).

• Hugh was a trainee pharmacist in Burton-upon-Trent in 1901. He married Mary Henshaw and they had two children, John Howard Davies and Cyril Hugh Davies. Hugh died in 1965.

  • Cyril lived in Wyre Piddle near Evesham. His death in 1988 was registered in Newcastle under Lyme, Staffs.
  • John may have died in 1996.
• Frances, the youngest child of John and Mary, was a tailoress. In 1901 she was still living at home with her mother in Moss. She married James Herbert Jones, reputedly a music teacher, in Rhyl in 1909. In the 1911 census James was shown working for an assurance society and they were living in Rhyl. In 1953 it was agreed by the family that she could live at 57 Westminster Road where she died on 7 June 1965 aged 86.