As we add more information to the study the tree of descendants of
Thomas Miles (b. abt. 1805) continues to grow. This tree is maintained
in a
Family Tree Maker File and can be made available as a GEDCOM file to
interested family members. In addition you can download and examine a descendant tree for Thomas Miles. Please
forward
corrections and omissions. This file is managed separately from
the pages that appear on this project site and it is possible that
there are inconsistencies. Your help is needed to make this tree as
accurate
as possible. Please note that this file will be updated from time to
time and that modifications to this page are dated.
What the Project is About
Two of my great grandparents were Edmund Miles who married Lucy Ann
Thomas. Together they had as many as 16 children at least 10 of whom
survived into adulthood and at least 9 of who had children. This family
in its early days lived in Mountain Ash, Glamorganshire, Wales. The
men worked in the coal mines of that area. By the 1920s economic
conditions were terrible. Edmund and Lucy both died in that decade. The
family separated and moved. Some members emigrated to Canada,
especially to the Toronto area. Others went to England, particularly
the Bournemouth area. With the depression of the 1930s and the chaos of
W.W.II the family dispersed even further.
This project is an attempt to trace all of the descendants of
Edmund and Lucy and to gather images of the people in the family and
whatever items might prove to be of interest. We also hope to write
biographies of the various family members who have passed on. By now,
none of the children of Edmund and Lucy are alive and even some of the
grandchildren have passed on. It is, however, possible within the
memories of living family members to record something of the passing of
these forebears. You are
invited to contribute.
We are looking for the following:
photographs, particularly any that go back into the period 1850 -
1950. These could include photos of people but also of places of work
or homes or play. If possible it is nice if the persons and places are
identified, but it is not necessary -- if you do not know perhaps
someone else will be able to tell. We have a couple of photos of Lucy.
We do not have any of Edmund at present. We have some, but not all of
the children. If you have photos and can scan them (get the young
people in the family involved to do this) please send high resolution
jpegs to me by email (see below for contact information)
images of certificates. In particular we are looking for images
of birth, marriage and death certificates. We are also looking for
locations of graves.
biographical sketches of Edmund, Lucy and their children. Tell us
about their lives, what they did, where they lived, what their work and
hobbies were. Tell us about their military service if they did some.
diaries of any of these earlier family members; we have one such
from Blodwyn (Miles) Morgan, daughter of Edmund and Lucy; it will
be published as part of this project.
Just a comment on privacy: Although I am indicating locations and
addresses of homes where people lived decades ago, I will not be
putting current contact information on the internet. If someone
contacts me wanting to contact you I will check with you before passing
that information on.
My connection to Edmund and Lucy is this. One of their children was
Martha May Miles (always known in the family as May). She married
William Charles Morgan (known as Charlie). They had three children one
of whom was my mother Phyllis before they both died in the 1920s. My
mother Phyllis died in 1985. My efforts in this project are in tribute
to her and will, in time include her biography.
The best way to contact me is by email. I travel a lot and so my
various phone numbers in three different countries are often not
answered.
The major difference between genealogy and family history is that
genealogy tends to focus on the documentation of births, marriages and
deaths to provide lineage information. Family history goes far beyond
that to talk about the personalities of the people involved, their
likes, dislikes, hobbies, careers and the things that caused the
defining decisions of their lives, whether those be personally made or
imposed by outside forces. This study will become interesting when the
bare genealogical information is augmented by family history
information. And who will provide that information? It is best provided
by individuals themselves. In this regard it is interesting to reflect
on the Winston Churchill's response to the question of a reporter who
asked how history would view him. Churchill's reply indicated he would
be favourably viewed. When asked why he could be so certain, he
informed the questioner that he would write it himself -- which he
proceeded to do. The lesson here is that if you write your own story it
will at least reflect how you view your life. For those who are
deceased it would help if those close to them, their survivors, could
make the effort to record their lives.
I am a great grandson of Edmund and Lucy. My mother was orphaned at the
age of ten. I have almost no knowledge of these greatgrandparents; my
mother had little to pass on to me. At the same time there are still a
few people alive who knew them and many whose parents will have passed
on information about them. It is to these people that we request they
take some time to record what they know. And then to continue with
their live or their parents lives.
Photos
The best way to get photos to me is to scan them and email the scanned
images. Alternatively if you have a digital camera you might find it
easiest to photograph the images. Please look at them before sending to
ensure they are well focused. For greatest flexibility please use a
fairly high resolution when you copy the image. Please store your
images in jpeg format.
Note: If these comments do not
mean anything to you, it is very likely that some of the younger
members of your family can interpret and do this for you
Suggestions
This is intended as a family project. Please contribute what you can
and please be assured that I am open to all suggestions. And,
particularly, please point out my errors!