Mad in Pursuit Notebook

Historical map showing Price household between Mathon and West Malvern

Price Family of Mathon, Worcestershire

The Price family glimmers like a mirage on th horizon. Just when I'm sure I've finally James Price's family, they seem to vanish.

What we know

✅ James Price is my second great-grand-father (GG2). All of his records say he was born in Mathon, a town in west Worcestershire. My dad tentatively traced his father to the wheelwright John Price. But this turned out to be wrong.

✅ When I found James's 1851 marriage to Ann Nash in Sudbury, the record listed his father as George. Back to the drawing board.

Speculation

🤔 There are a couple of Georges in Mathon. One married to Mary Morris and one married to Elizabeth Holder. After staring hard at their data, I decided to annoint Elizabeth Holder as my GG3. This was largely because her George Price worked as a wheelwright and the carpentry gene is strong in the Price family.

😕 Problem: chosing George and Elizabeth meant that their 20-year-old son James shows up twice in the 1851 census. Once in Mathon, as their son. And again in Sudbury, where he is newly wed to Ann Nash. This isn't a deal breaker. It happened all the time in census data. Maybe the Mathon informants couldn't bear to list their children without James or assumed his leave was temporary—the prodigal son returning any minute back to his family.

The George and Elizabeth Price Family

George (born in Mathon) and Elizabeth (born in nearby Bosbury, Herefordshire) had four children.

Mary Ann. Born about 1828. Married to James Preece. No children found.

James Price. Born about 1831. Married Mary Ann Nash and settled in Sudbury. Children: George (who died shortly after birth) and William James (my great-grandfather).

George Price. Born in 1833. Married to Ann Passey and settled in the Mathon area as an agricultural laborer. Children: Ann Price and Ellen Price.

Thomas Price. Born abt. 1836. Married to Malinda Chance and settled in nearby Cradley, Herefordshire. Child: Melina Price.

The map at the top of this page* shows the Price home, a couple of stone-built cottages shared with daughter Mary Ann and James Preece, on the road between Mathon and West Malvern. The houses were freeholds, independent of any overlords.

I found this ad in the Hereford Times (19 Sept 1863). Whether or not the buildings sold, the Prices and Preeces continued to live there.

DNA Connection: Wales

✅ The Prices did not have large families. Public DNA matches are few. But I recently made a connection to Merril E., with a match of 20 cM, which puts her in the ballpark of 3rd or 4th cousin. Her family lives in Wales. Her great-grandfather William Price was born about 1839 in the town of Rassau, Breconshire. He was a coal hauler for one of the many mining companies in the area, as seen in the map below**

mindat map of historical coal mines in the Rassau area of Wales