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Record #3923

Name :: : Lavinia Ellen WILLIAMS (1896 - )
Father: :
Mother: :

BMD and other details

Date of Birth: : 1896
Marriage (1): :
Marriage (2): :
Date of Death: :

Abode (1) : Place of BirthWales, Monmouthshire, Newport

Abode (2) : Place of Death / Burial

Sailing Information

Date of Arrival: : 11 Jul 1911
Country: : Canada
Ship: : Sicilian
Placement Family: :

Homes / Agencys

Institution (GB): :
Agency: : Barnardos

NotesA birth registration was found for Lavinia Ellen Williams: Year of Registration: 1896; Quarter of Registration: Oct-Nov-Dec; District: Cardiff (1837-1974); County: Glamorgan, Monmouthshire; Volume: 11a; Page: 463. (Parents: Robert and Lewsia Williams.)

Her father, Robert Williams, was a dockworker, not a wealthy man, but from photos it is apparent the family was clean, well fed and well housed. They lived in one of the many stone row houses that still line the streets of Newport, near Cardiff, Wales. They were Church of England. The children attended school.

On the second of March, 1906, Lavinia's father was struck by a piece of timber at the docks and killed. Her mother was 31 at the time and pregnant with her ninth child. The eldest girls were 11 and 12. There was a year-old baby girl and a little boy of maybe three. Lavinia would have been 10.

In the official report, the Barnardo `relieving officer' spoke of Lewsia Williams as "a striving, respectable woman who elicited much sympathy." The ten shillings a week in relief she got from the parish was paid away in rent. Her attempt at setting up a business with one of her brothers trading in fruits and vegetables failed. Still, she managed to keep the family together for a whole year. It was somebody from the parish who said, `I'm going to see if I can get help for you.' That's when Lewsia was approached by the orphanage.

The lady from Barnardo's must have been as convincing as Lewisa Williams was desperate. Lewsia had no intention of giving up her four middle children permanently; the arrangement was to last only until she could get back on her feet. The two older girls would look after the younger three while she worked.

The family would never be whole again. Someone somewhere in the Barnardo organization made the decision that the four Williams children, ages six to ten, should be included with a group of orphans scheduled to emigrate to Canada.

In 1911, Lavina Williams, 14 (along with sister, Hilda Williams, 13), arrived at Quebec, Canada, with a group of 176 children en route to Peterborough and Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

In 1990, her grandniece, Barb Perkins, went to Wales to do more research, people who knew the family described the way it had been ripped apart. They said Lewisa Williams never got over it. Even in her old age, after she had remarried and had a tenth child, she still wept for her four lost children.

In Canada the children were separated. One boy was shot (but survived) trying to run away. One sister seemed to have fared fairly well. The other did not. Barb learned that her grandmother was treated roughly, passing through four different homes.

Eventually the Canadian siblings were reunited and for a time they all lived together as young adults. Relatives in Wales remember receiving packages from them.

ContributorsCreated : 2008-07-24 20:24:02 / From original database

Last Updated : 2009-02-16 15:04:22 /

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Surnames starting with: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 30 Entries

Page: [1] 2 3 4 5 6 156 Entries

ID	Name	DOB	Place of birth	Arrivals & Ships	Dest.	Agency	Family links
3062	ABEL, Abraham	1892	WAL, , Newport	Apr 1908 : Kensington	CAN	Unknown
6256	ADDIS, Herbert	1897	WAL, MON, Newport	Jul 1909 : Sicilian	CAN	Barnardos
13096	ALLEN, Ernest John	1894	WAL, GLA, Pontypridd	Aug 1909 : Canada	CAN	National Childrens Home
13834	ANTWIS, Robert Luchesi	1891	WAL, PEM, Haverfordwest	Mar 1903 : Canada	CAN	Barnardos
9233	ANTWIS, Sidney Walter John	1893	WAL, PEM, Pembroke Dock	Mar 1903 : Canada	CAN	Barnardos
15290	ASHWORTH, William John	1880	WAL, GLA, Swansea	Jul 1892 : Mongolian	CAN	Barnardos
10956	BARTLETT, Lydia M	1878	WAL, FLN, Holywell	May 1888 : Sardinian	CAN	MacPherson Homes
9979	BASSETT, Gwendoline	1894	WAL,	Oct 1902 : Colonian	CAN	Barnardos
10626	BENBOW, Alfred	1914	WAL, , Forden	Apr 1929 : Duchess of York	CAN	Barnardos	CyraL
16315	BENTALL, Lila Rosanna	1874	WAL, GLA, Merthyr Tydfil	Jul 1886 : Parisian	CAN	Barnardos
4181	BERRYMAN, Hannah Maria	1891	WAL, MON, Pontypool	Sep 1907 : Dominion	CAN	Barnardos
4182	BERRYMAN, Jonas Francis	1896	WAL, GLA, Abercanaid	Apr 1910 : Corsican	CAN	Waifs & Strays
4183	BERRYMAN, May Harriet	1899	WAL, MON, Pontypool	May 1911 : Victorian	CAN	Waifs & Strays
5078	BIRKENHEAD, Joseph	1910	WAL, , Hazel Beach	Aug 1926 : Montrose	CAN	Barnardos
16711	BLEWITT, Annie	1898	WAL, GLA, Ynyshir	Oct 1911 : Corinthian	CAN	Barnardos
16596	BOOTH, Annie May	1892	WAL, MON, Abergavenny	Oct 1903 : Dominion	CAN	Barnardos
6595	BOURNE, Albert	1911	WAL, , Merthyr Tydfil	Jul 1927 : Minnedosa	CAN	Barnardos
6596	BOURNE, William	1913	WAL, , Aberdare	Jul 1927 : Minnedosa	CAN	Barnardos
12699	BOWEN, Charles	1878	WAL, DEN, Wrexham	Mar 1892 : Carthaginian	CAN	Barnardos
11829	BRANNON, Sarah	1896	WAL, , Wrexham	Jul 1907 : Tunisian	CAN	Catholic Emigration Association
10625	BRIDGEHOUSE, William	1913	WAL,	Apr 1929 : Duchess of York	CAN	Barnardos
13440	BRIDGES, James	1873	WAL, MON, Newport	Apr 1886 : Dominion	CAN	Board of Guardians (Various)
12972	BROOKLYN, David Richard	1892	WAL,	Jul 1911 : Sicilian	CAN	Barnardos
12971	BROOKLYN, Edith	1898	WAL, GLA, Bridgend	Jul 1911 : Sicilian	CAN	Barnardos
9138	BROWN, Herbert James	1892	WAL, , Newport	Aug 1905 : Dominion	CAN	Barnardos
14693	BUDNER, Bessie	1907	WAL,	Mar 1920 : Sicilian	CAN	Barnardos
16584	BUTCHER, Gladys Ruby	1894	WAL, MON, Newport	Aug 1906 : Tunisian	CAN	MacPherson Homes
16583	BUTCHER, Milicent Florence	1901	WAL, MON, Newport	Jun 1912 : Tunisian	CAN	Barnardos
8071	BUTLER, Roy	1916	WAL, , Colwyn Bay	Mar 1932 : Montclare	CAN	YMCA
7266	CAHILL, Charles	1913	WAL, , Ebbw Vale	Sep 1929 : Duchess of Atholl	CAN	Catholic Emigration Association
ID	Name	DOB	Place of birth	Arrivals & Ships	Dest.	Agency	Family links

Page: [1] 2 3 4 5 6 156 Entries

Surnames starting with: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 30 Entries

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