THE HARRIES FAMILY - SHIPBUILDERS OF ABERAERON AND LLANSANTFFRAED, CARDIGANSHIRE IN THE 19^th CENTURY

• c.1781 John Harries (known in Welsh as Shôn Harri), the founder of the family shipbuilding business, is born at Newquay, Cardiganshire.

• 1807 Building of the new port begins at Aberaeron. This was the project of the Reverend Alban Jones-Gwynne.

• c.1810 John marries Margaret James.

• c.1814 John and Margaret’s son Henry Harries is born.

• 1820 The Harries family are living at the Factory, Aberarth.

• c.1824 John and Margaret’s son John junior (Shôn Harri bach) is born.

• c.1826 John and Margaret’s son David is born.

• c.1830 John Harries senior starts building ships on the south side of the harbour at Aberaeron.

• 1838 Henry Harries marries Hannah, daughter of David and Hannah Jones of Synod Arms, Llanarth.

• 1841 census - John Harries [senior], shipwright age 60, his wife Margaret 50, daughters Mary 25, and Margaret 20, sons John [junior] 15, and David 15 are living at the Carpenter’s Arms, Henfynyw, Aberaeron.

Henry Harries [shown as ‘Hendry Haris’] - ship’s carpenter age 25, wife ‘Hanah’ 20, and son John 2, are living at Britannia Row, Llandewi-Aberarth.

• 1844 John senior, aged 63, hands over the shipyard business to his two sons John and Henry. It is thought that the schooner "John and Henry” built in this year was named in honour of this occasion.

• 1846-9 ‘J & H Harries' operates as a partnership during which time they build 9 vessels.

• 1849 Henry, the older brother, decides to operate independently from John junior.

• 1851 census - John senior, (shipbuilder), wife Margaret, and their sons John junior, (shipbuilder), and David, (shipbuilder), are living at 80, College [?] Henfynyw, Aberaeron.

Henry, (shipbuilder), his wife Hannah and 6 children are living at 14 Alban Square, Llandewi-Aberarth, Aberaeron.

• 1851 Henry Harries, Hannah his first wife, and their children move from Aberaeron to Llansantffraed. Henry starts building ships there, on the bank of the river Peris.

• 1853 Henry’s first wife Hannah, and their 7 year old son Henry, both die on the same day - 24th March - at Troedrhiw, Llansantffraed, soon after the birth of their daughter Hannah. The baby Hannah survives.

• c.1854 John Harries junior marries Hannah, daughter of Owen James.

• 1855 Henry Harries marries Mary, daughter of Evan Jones, a weaver.

• c.1859 John Harries junior’s first wife Hannah dies.

• 1860 John Harries junior marries Salome Griffiths.

• 1861 John Harries junior’s son John dies aged 7.

The census for Aberaeron shows John Harries senior (shipbuilder) living at 1 Dolphin Place Henfynyw with his wife Margaret.

John Harries junior (shipbuilder) is living next door at 2 Dolphin Place with his second wife Salome, and two children of his first marriage - David 5, and Evan 3.

David Harries, who was recorded as a shipbuilder in 1851, is listed in the 1861 census as a miller, age 33, at Llyswen Mill, Henfynyw, with his wife Margaret age 32 and their 4 children. [He appears again as a miller in the 1871, 1881 and 1891 censuses, so presumably he took little further part in the family shipbuilding business]. He died in 1899.

The census for Llansantffraed, shows that Henry Harries (shipbuilder), and his wife Mary, are living at ‘Pengraig’, with the four children of Henry’s first marriage to Hannah, and three children of Henry’s second marriage to Mary.

• 1863 John Harries [senior] and his wife Margaret both die [in April and June respectively] at Aberaeron. They are buried at Llandewi-Aberarth.

• 1863/1864 The Harries brothers’ last large ships are built:-

1863 The ‘Gwladys’, a 164 ton brigantine, by Henry at Peris, Llansantffraed.

• 1864, The ‘Oronsa’, a 158 ton brigantine, by John Harries junior at Aberaeron.

• 1868 Henry Harries moves with his immediate family to Steynton, Milford and retires.

• 1871 The census for Aberaeron shows John Harries junior (shipbuilder) living at Dolphin Place Henfynyw, with his second wife Salome, and children David 15, Evan 13, Henry 10, John G 8, Benjamin 7, Martha 3, and Daniel 1.

Henry Harries has not yet been found in the census for this year.

• On 22 September, John Harries [junior], aged 48, is found drowned at Bute Docks, Cardiff. Coroner’s verdict of ‘accidental drowning while on duty’.

• 1881 census shows Henry Harries’ family at Marine Gardens, Steynton. Although retired [?], he appears here as a shipwright.

• 1890 Mary, Henry’s second wife, dies at Milford on 3^rd June 1890.

• 1891 census - Henry has returned as a widower to the village of Llansantffraed, and is living at Ty Cam with his widowed daughter Mary Davies, his granddaughter Hannah Jones, and Hannah’s three children.

• 1892 Henry Harries dies on the last day of December at Wave Villa [Ty Cam] Llansantffraed.

• 1893 Henry is buried on 5^th January at the parish church.

Sources of information:-

Harries family records

National censuses for Wales 1841-1901

IGI LDS family search website

“Maritime Heritage - The ships and seamen of Southern Ceredigion” by J Geraint Jenkins.

Aberaeron: by W J Lewis - Cambrian Press Aberystwyth

Aberaeron: The Community and Seafaring 1800-1900 by David Lewis Jones;

Ceredigion, Vol. VI/2 1969

Burial records compiled by Cardiganshire Family History Society

Llanon website http://www.llanon.org.uk

'The Growth and Decline of Cardiganshire Shipbuilding from 1740-1914 with special reference to Llansantffraid'. M. Phil. thesis of the late G. Ivor Thomas, former Vicar of Llansantffraed 1994.

July 2006