James Owen of Penrhos

and his descendants

Margaret Jane Shelby

John and Sarah’s third child was Margaret Jane Shelby. Margaret was born in Rumney, Monmouthshire in 1860 [Abergavenny, 1860, 4th qtr]; she was 5 months old in the 1861 census. In 1881 she was living with her parents in Pen Y Gelli near Minera and she was a milliner, a profession she followed throughout her life. She and her sister Sarah latterly ran a millinery business above a shop in Henblas Street, Wrexham.

In 1901 Margaret, still a milliner was living at 2 End Spring Road, Wrexham with her sister Sarah, her niece Miriam Labron and the adopted Henry Huband, who was then a whitesmith. Margaret never married. It was she who, I am told, claimed that her Owen line came from the Owens of Penrhos in Anglesey. She later lived in a house called Penrhos in Spring View Road, next door to her niece, Gwen (daughter of Louisa), and family; her brother Timothy Morgan Owen Shelby owned both these houses. She was living at 37 Spring Road, Rhosddu, Wrexham, when she died on 28 February 1932, aged 71. Her brother Timothy was executor of her will.

Sarah Ann Shelby

Margaret's sister, Sarah Ann Shelby, (b. 1872) [Wrexham 1872 4th quart.], the eighth child of Sarah and John Shelby, was among those who won prizes from the English Congregational Church, Adwy, in July 1882, for regular attendance, repeating verses and working home-lesson tablets. Sarah was known to her nephews and nieces as Aunt Lallie. She never married. She shares this page with her sister Margaret because she lived with her all her life. In 1901 she was the housekeeper at 2 End Spring Road, Wrexham. She died at the age of 49 on 24 October 1923 [Wrexham 1923 , 4th qt]; her niece, Charlotte (d. 1923), and Charlotte's husband, Edward (d 1922), were living with the two sisters when they died from tuberculosis, a highly contagious disease, so it is more than likely it was the cause of Sarah's death. The three of them share a grave in Wrexham cemetery. Sarah's brother Timothy was executor of her will.