The 1841 census, records that Lewis Lewis was a “60” year old Farmer, living with 5 other Lewises. The “60” yr old Jane was his wife (Jane nee Miles). The “30” yr old Edmund was his son. The “20” yr old agricultural labourer named Elizabeth Lewis was also their child. The other Lewises listed, “10” yr old Lewis Lewis and John Lewis, were Lewis and Jane’s Grandchildren via their eldest daughter Leah. Leah had married a Benjamin Lewis, although she sadly died in 1832.
The Registers of Electors from 1841 to 1848-49 show that John Probert qualified to vote for reason of “Freehold house and land”. Maybe he lived here? It seems more likely to me that he owned the freehold property and rented it to the Lewis family, since in 1841 Lewis Lewis was the tenant and in 1851 his son Edmund was the main tenant on the census. Other information is needed to fully confirm this.
The 1851 census, gives us some additional information. Edmund Lewis, aged 40, is a Farmer of 55 acres. We find that he was born in Trevethin, and is married to the 40 year old Mary Lewis. Lewis Lewis and John Lewis, his young nephews on the previous census are no longer at Three Stiles - I assume making their living elsewhere. Edmund and Mary had a daughter by now, Sarah, who had been born 2 weeks earlier. Two nephews are also at the farm (13 year old Thomas Davis from Panteg and 12 year old Samuel Jones from Llanfrechfa) along with a house servant, Hannah Ray.
In 1861, James Jenkins has moved to Three Stiles with his family, James is from Llangibby and was a 39 year old farmer (of 30 acres). His wife Ann was aged 40 and from nearby Gwehelog. Their son, James T.E. Jenkins had been born in Glascoed 4 years previously (I assume at Three Stiles farm). Their servant, Thomas Evans, was a 15 year old Carter from Panteg. I found the family living at Church Farm in Gwernesney in the 1881 census.
By 1871, the census shows that the Jenkins family have moved on and the the Gunter family are now living at Three Stiles. John is a 45 yr old farm labourer, from Monkswood, and his wife Sarah is from Monmouth. They have two children, John and Maria. The children’s ages and birthplaces help to pinpoint the family’s move to Three Stiles to c. 1862. 10 year old John was born at Panteg and 8 year old Maria at Glascoed. Three Stiles seems the likely birthplace, but this is an assumption. The move from Panteg to Three Stiles was not an arduous one, since Panteg parish was just across the fields from Three Stiles! William Tuck, a 28 year old lodger from Wiltshire completes the census return. The Gunter children were living with their older married sister, Sarah in 1881 at Croydon.
The Registers of Electors in the 1870s (from 1872 through to 1879) show a “Richard Lewis of Pontnewydd” as the tenant at Three Stiles. The “of Pontnewydd” part of the entry has caused me to question whether he actually resided at the house; it seems to indicate that his main residence was in Pontnewydd, although I could be wrong about this.
The 1881 census introduces us to another labourer in residence, Fredrick Harris, aged 48 from Gwernesney. His wife, Mary was ten years Fredrick’s junior from Llangattock Vibon, and at this point they had three children, Kate aged 13, born at Marylebone, London, and Mary Jane (8) and Fredrick Ivor (5) both born at Ystrad, Glamorgan.
On census night in 1891, Thomas Hibbert (a 42 year old “Furnace man in the iron works”, from Almondsbury in Gloucestershire) and Ann his 47 year old wife from Llanfihangel Torymyndd are in residence, with their lodger, William Williams, a 30 year old labourer from Cardiff. Thomas had also been in residence from around 1879, since he appears on the 1889 Register of Electors as the occupier at Three Stiles.
A family of Pitts from Herefordshire moved to Three Stiles and were installed at Three Stiles by 2nd April 1901, census night. Peter Pitt was a 39 yr old farm bailiff from St. Margaret’s, Herefordshire who had married Fanny Hughes, 6 years his junior, in 1892 in the Abergavenny area. They had lived in Trevethin prior to coming to Three Stiles. While it may seem from this census that their smallest children, Vera and Stanley had been born in Panteg, the 1911 census indicates this was Glascoed. The confusion will have been that Three Stiles was very close to Panteg church and a stone’s throw away from New Inn, part of Panteg parish at this time. They had moved to Nelson, in Glamorgan by the 1911 census. Since their youngest child on the 1911 census, Winefred was aged five and Peter had died in 1908, while living at Nelson, we can conclude that the family must have left Three Stiles some time between 1905 and 1908.
It appears as though there was another transient tenant at Three Stiles around 1908/1909 in George Bagley, since he appears as the tenant for the 1909 Electoral roll.
The 1911 census introduces us to a new family at Three Stiles. John Bevan was another farm bailiff. John worked for the Partridge and Jones colliery company. It also tells us that Three Stiles is a cottage with 4 rooms. John and Maud Bevan had married 9 years earlier and all 4 of their children were still alive, and living with their parents at Three Stiles. Maud (aged 30) and the first three children were all from the neighbouring parish of Panteg (Evlyn - aged 8; Jack - 5 and Nellie - 3). Only the youngest, Muriel, aged 2, was born at Glascoed, which pins their date of arrival at Three Stiles at around 1909. The Bevans stayed on till at least 1929, when the parents John and Maud plus three of their children (William John, Eveline Maud and Elizabeth) were all registered to vote and living at the property.
The final residents I have listed at the property were there at the 1939 National Register. At first I assumed that Eva M. Cutler may in fact be Eveline Maud Bevan under a married name, although on a cursory check of the marriage indexes on the FreeBMD website seems to rule this out at first glance, as does Eva’s 1913 date of birth on the 1939 Register. I’m not sure of the identity of the other person living in Eva’s household at this time. A family also lived there (the Harrys). I have reproduced the entry from 1939 below.
1~Cutler, Eva M.~-~F~1.9~13~M~unpaid Domestic
2~This record is officially closed~-~~~~~
47A.
1~Harry, Evan H~-~M~24.4~72~M~Retired Council Foreman
2~Harry, Sarah A~-~F~14.12~72~M~unpaid Domestic
3~Harry, Doris M (HANNER added)~-~F~29.5~03~S~unpaid Domestic~XPN (M) 4.3.49. This indicates that Doris probably married a McNeil on 4th March 1949.
4~Harry, Ronald L~-~M~16.2~15~S~General Farmer
5~This record is officially closed~-~~~~~
RECORDS
Land Tax Assessments
1806, 1823, 1824, 1829 and 1831
Census
1841 - Lewis & Jane Lewis and family.
1851 - Edmund & Mary Lewis and family.
1861 - James & Ann Jenkins and family.
1871 - John & Sarah Gunter and family.
1881 - Fredrick & Mary Harris and family.
1891 - Thomas & Ann Hibbert.
1901 - Peter & Fanny Pitt and family.
1911 - John & Maud Bevan and family.
1939 - Eva M. Cutler. Also the Harry family.
Registers of Electors
1841, 1843-44, 1848-49 - John Probert (owner of freehold).
1872 through to 1879 - Richard Lewis, Pontnewydd (house and land as tenant).
1889 - Thomas Hibbert.
1909 - George Bagley (tenant) and Charles J. Phillips, Green Lawn, New Inn (Owner).
1922 - John and Maud Bevan.
1929 - John and Maud Bevan and family.
Family papers
Lewis and Jane Lewis’ descendants list.
