Miles Family History Project

Last Update: 22 June 2012
Update Log

Study Links

MILES, Thomas (c1805 - ?)
MILES, Thomas (1830 - ?), Mary Evans (1833-1860) and Martha Evans (1843 -?)
MILES, Edmund (1854 - 1922) m. Lucy Ann THOMAS (c.1868 - 1930)
MILES, Martha May (1896 - 1926) m. Charles Morgan (1895 - 1923)
MILES, Hannah Maud (1899 - 1986)
MILES, Sarah Ellen (1898 - ?) m. John Vaughan (1882 - ?)
MILES, Hannah Maud (1899 - 1986)
MILES, Theophilus & Martha Jane (Williams)
THOMAS, Morgan John (1843 - ?)

The Descendent Tree


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 and his wife Lucy Ann Thomas. Together they had at least 14 children at least 10 of whom survived into adulthood and at least 9 of whom 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 CONTIBUTE!

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.
E-mail:ken  at  kenscott.com

Genealogy and Family History

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. If you are collecting information from yourself and from older family members here is a website that has an interesting list of the questions you might address.

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 lives 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!

published 2008, revised 2010, 2012

© Kenneth Scott and others 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012