William Edward BYNON\Elizabeth ARMSTRONG

1. David Richard BYNON, b. 16 June 1874	See David Richard BYNON & Esther Ellen GUY
2. Alice Maude Beatrice BYNON, b. 1888
3. Annie Selina BYNON, b. 1880
4. Annie Selina BYNON, b. 1881	See William Jay JONES & Annie Selina BYNON OR Henry Vincent LITCHFIELD & Annie Selina BYNON
5. Jane Esther BYNON, b. 1877	See George Blanchard KEY & Jane Esther BYNON
6. Margaret Ellen BYNON, b. 1880
7. William Edward BYNON, b. 1870	See William Edward BYNON & Ellen Spiers BISSET
8. William John BYNON, b. 1869
9. John Thomas BYNON, b. 1883	See John Thomas BYNON & Ruby Beatrice WILLIAMS
10. Arthur James BYNON, b. 1886	See Arthur James BYNON & Martha Marion SULLIVAN
11. George Harold BYNON, b. 1889	See George Harold BYNON & Cecilia May ROGERS
12. Hilda Clarisse BYNON, b. 1892	See John Douglas WILLIAMS & Hilda Clarisse BYNON
13. Dorothy Ann BYNON, b. 1872	See Robert Luke Lambton STRAUGHAIR & Dorothy Ann BYNON

From the Australian Vital Records Index CDs ...

ARMSTRONG, Elizabeth CM 20691 Marriage
Spouse: BYNON, William
Marriage Place: Durham
Reg Year: 1868 Reg State: Victoria
Ref Number: 3751

William Edward BYNON aged 23, miner and Elizabeth ARMSTRONG aged 20 were married by banns. Both were from Huntly, Victoria, Australia. Witnesses to the wedding were David BYNON and William TOMKINSON? I can't quite read this witness' surname, looks like it starts with an "L" but it looks like Tomkinson. The minister who married William and Elizabeth was Edward Gifford PEYCE or POYCE, not quite sure which, again it's too hard to read. Uncertified certificate purchased online from the Registrar of Births Deaths & Marriages, Victoria, Australia.

Digger - Edwardian Index. Victoria 1902-1913

Surname: BYNON
Given Names: Wm
Event: D
Sex:
Spouse Surname/Father: Bynon Thos
Spouse Gvn Names/Mother: Ann EVANS
Age: 64
Age Code:
Birth Place:
Death Place: Bgo
Year: 1908
Reg. Number: 4796

LLANELLI, WALES ...

William Edward Bynon was born in 1844 in Llanelly, Wales, reference 6/259. On his marriage certificate in the Bendigo district in Victoria, Australia, it stated William was a miner. This is not surprising considering he came from Llanelly (spelt Llanelli since 1963) which is renowned for it's mining! Llanelly lies in the county of Carmarthenshire in the south of Wales. Situated on the northern bank of the Loughor River, Llanelly has in the past been described as small and insignificant. It was mainly inhabited by sailors and coal mine employees. During the late 18th century industry centred on non-ferrous metal manufacture, including lead, copper and tin plate which dominated the local economy. Copper was mined post 1804 and tin plate post 1847.

The area is now referred to as South Llanelli and was once the industrial region of the town. The majority of heavy industry was located in the areas of Seaside, New Dock and Morfa. The Factories also adjoined two Hamlets named Bwlch-y-Gwynt and Machynys. The Llanelli and District Railway Society (LDRS) was formed in 1987. Their aim was the preservation of the former Llanelly and Mynydd Mawr Railway (LMMR) which was built on the alignment of the Carmarthenshire Tramroad, one of the oldest tramroads in the world.

From the 1911 Edition Encyclopaedia comes this description of Llanelly ...

LLANELLY, a market town, urban district, and seaport of Carmarthenshire, Wales, situated on the north shore of the broad estuary of the river Loughor (Llwchwr), known as Burry River, which forms an inlet of Carmarthen Bay. Population (1901) 25,617. Llanelly is a station on the South Wales section of the Great Western railway. The town is wholly of modern appearance. The mother-church of St Elliw, or Elli (whence the town derives its name) has been practically rebuilt (1906), but it retains its 13th-century tower and other ancient features of the original fabric. Its situation on a broad estuary and its central position with regard to a neighborhood rich in coal, iron and limestone, have combined to make Lianelly one of the many important industrial towns of South Wales. Anthracite and steam-coal from the collieries of the coast and along the Loughor Valley are exported from the extensive docks; and there are also large works for the smelting of copper and the manufacture of tin plates.

Llanelly, though an ancient parish and a borough by prescription under a portreeve and burgesses in the old lordship 0! Kidwelly, remained insignificant until the industrial development in South Wales during the19th century. In 1810 the combined population of Lianelly, with its four subsidiary hamlets of Berwick, Glyn, Hencoed and Westowe, only amounted to 2972; in 1840 the inhabitants of the borough hamlet alone had risen to 4173. Lianelly is now the most populous town in Wales outside the confines of Glamorganshire. In 1832 Llanelly was added as a contributory borough to the Carmarthen parliamentary district.

Digger - Great War Index. Victoria 1914-1920

Surname: BYNON
Given Names: Elizth
Event: D
Sex:
Spouse Surname/Father: Armstrong
Spouse Gvn Names/Mother: Unknown UNKNOWN
Age: 69
Age Code:
Birth Place:
Death Place: Golden Sq
Year: 1917
Reg. Number: 5022

Sunday, July 11, 2004 ... Elizabeth ARMSTRONG has been by far the hardest ancestor for me to find to date!!! Back in 2000-2001 when I first started my genealogy research I had attempted to find Elizabeth but to no avail. The only information I had was her death registration above and the name Elizabeth Armstrong is VERY popular in Durham. I might as well have been looking for John Smith! In the end I gave up searching, placing her in the "too hard" basket for another day.

It had been eating at me ever since that I had very little information and so I purchased her marriage certificate online in the hope that it would give me more information. It did, it gave me her parents' names, something I didn't have before! :D Refueled by this new information, I spent all last week asking the Durham Mailing List for help on lookups, searched site after site myself on the internet and didn't seem to be able to find any definite births or entries on the 1851 Census for Elizabeth. I've also been unsuccessful at locating her parents' marriage, there was simply no Dorothy WAUGH to John ARMSTRONG marriage to be found! :(

A friend and co-researcher on my Eastley line put me in touch with a lovely man from England, Michael, who has worked as hard as, if not harder, than I have to find my ggGrandmother. During the course of our searching he has also taken the time to educate me in the areas of English and Durham research, something I sorely needed! Michael has been ever so patient with me and always a wonderful ally in my quest! :D

I was becoming totally engrossed (and yes, obsessed! lol) with finding this woman but I was at a loss as to how I would achieve my goal. Despite the lack of information I had available, the Durham Mailing List members excelled themselves in trying to find Elizabeth, Dorothy and John Armstrong for me! :D By Wednesday evening I had approximately 78 email in my inbox, mostly from members of the list who had in most cases gone out of their way to help me find Elizabeth! I had become so dejected that we hadn't found her that I was about ready to pay someone to "sneak" a fake birth registration into the Records Office or disown her and adopt a new ggGrandmother! ;D

Just when I thought I'd never find her short of flying to England myself, a wonderful lady, Susan, on the Durham Mailing List offered to go to the Records Office and look for Elizabeth personally the next day. Not all records from Durham have been transcribed and made available on the internet, so this was a fantastic offer! I provided her with about 6 possible entries for Elizabeth together with registration numbers. Susan was becoming quite down when they hadn't found a positive hit by the second-last registration number but both Susan and her daughter let out a cheer when the Registrar told her the last one was my Elizabeth ... WOOHOO!!!!

Never in the past 3-4 years since I began my family tree had I been so totally engrossed, body, mind, heart and spirit in searching for one person!! I breathed a huge sigh of relief after reading Susan's email, thinking I could now take a break from Elizabeth for a little while until I purchased her birth certificate. That idea was shelved when I discovered 98 email in my inbox to answer ... groan! ;D It's taken me till today to finally catch up!

Without the help of the Durham Mailing List, Michael, Susan, Harry (Rootsweb Message Boards) and Paul (UK BDM Exchange Forum) I would never have found Elizabeth ARMSTRONG, born 1848 in Durham Northern. I would like to say a HUGE thank you to you all and hope that I can return the favour one day soon!! :D

According to the Durham Record Office's site, Elizabeth would've been baptised at St. Cuthbert Church of England, but I will need to have the records looked up to confirm this.