Firm evidence for the ancestry of my father's family can be traced as far back as 1575, with the marriage of Richard Rowberry to Izott Smyth in Thornbury, Herefordshire, although there are records of a Roger de Roubry living in the same area even earlier, in 1327. The descendents of Richard and Izott continued to live in Thornbury for the next 200 years, and it was their great-grandson Thomas (1663 - 1718) who was the common ancestor of myself and the American Rowberry families. The family continued to live in Herefordshire until, in around 1841, John Rowberry (b. 1785) emigrated to the USA, along with his wife and six children. One of those children, also John (b. 1825 in Herefordshire), later had four wives - three of them simultaneously, as was permitted by his church at that time - and fathered no less than 27 children, thus ensuring the continuity of the family name in the USA. John Rowberry (senior)'s grandfather Thomas (b. 1663 in Herefordshire) was my six-times-great-grandfather, and beyond that the American lines and my family have common roots. Family trees for the descent from John Rowberry can be found on Polly Rubery's site by clicking on this link; my own ancestry from the earliest date recorded - can be seen on the family tree on this page.

	By the time my father - Alfred Edwin Rowberry but known as Edwin David - was born, our branch of the family was settled in the valleys of South Wales. My great-grandfather, Alfred George Rowberry, was born in Herefordshire in 1868 but married Elizabeth Rees, a Welsh girl, in 1889 and is listed in the 1901 census as speaking both Welsh and English. He lived, with his large family, in the mining village of Tylorstown, which is where my father was born; he married a Yorkshire girl and moved north to her home town of Hull, and that is where I was born. Some of the last three generations of the Rowberry line in my family.
	Alfred Edwin (a.k.a Edwin David) b.1915 d.1989 with his son David Robert (b.1951) - photo taken in 1968 when David joined the RAF, following in his father's footsteps.	David Robert Rowberry (b. 1951) with his wife Pat (formerly Norris)
	Wedding photo of my parents Edwin David and Diana Mary Harley (b.1925) on 13/2/46	Edwin & Dianne Gwynneth on her wedding day (26/10/68) to Peter Edmund Davies
	The Davies family 1997 - daughter and grandchildren of Edwin David & Diana Mary Rowberry. L-R Catherine Helen, Christopher Peter, Dianne Gwynneth and Andrew Stephen.

My father's uncle on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Debt of Honour database : Edwin Charles Rowberry : Monmouthshire Regiment : d. 17/8/1918 aged 22 and buried at Borre, France.

To study individual branches of my family tree, click on the chosen surname button below: