My father’s cousin, Clyde Purnell, told me that when she used to visit her grandparents, Richard and Elizabeth Arnold. at Glascoed, Monmouthshire, in the early 1900s, it always seemed as though everyone in the village was related to each other.

When I went to the graveyard at Mount Zion Baptist Chapel, I started to see what she meant! Several branches of my family intersect at Glascoed in the mid to late 19^th Century. After years of trying to find how far back I could get with my family tree, I became inspired to undertake a different sort of study.

The project I set myself is to gain an understanding of the lives of the people of Glascoed - initially in the 19th Century - and to try to trace how the different families interacted and intermarried. I also love a good story, so with the help of others, hope to discover lots of really interesting stories and anecdotes!

The first stages of my project are now complete. I have transcribed available census records and made this information available to others who are interested. Some other records (such as electoral registers) have also been added with more to come in the future.

I plan to then log the history of each of the houses in the census and trace the changes in residency between 1841 and 1901. I am starting to find links between the families (inter-marriage etc) and will focus on this - to see how far Clyde’s theory is actually based in fact. Early indications show that it is!!!

After this, I would love for the project to grow as information comes in – ideally with lots of stories and pictures – if you can help, please add information to my blog (see links) or email me!