I’m walking in the footsteps of my 3 x great grandmother Mary Hopkin.
In 1841, Mary met agricultural labourer Thomas Reynolds. Thomas worked on nearby Kenfig Farm. Later that year, she found herself pregnant. Marriage was the usual next step. However, Thomas wasn’t interested, so Mary had to raise her child without a father.
Many women in Mary’s situation were dismissed from the family home. Thankfully, her parents Daniel Hopkin and Anne Lewis were caring people, and they supported Mary and her son, Thomas.
Mary must have felt affection for Thomas Reynolds senior because she named her son after him. Those feelings, apparently, were not reciprocated. Thomas Reynolds senior died in 1845, so Thomas junior never got to know his father.
At that time, the family home consisted of Mary, her son Thomas, parents Daniel Hopkin and Anne Lewis, her sister Margaret, Mary’s niece Anne Price, and an orphan Anne Beynon. While Daniel worked on the land, and his wife Anne tended to the home, Mary brought up the three children. She also found time to learn the skills of a dressmaker.
Hannah Howe 