Growing up in Courtney Street, stories of yesteryear were everywhere.
Whether it was the ghost of Joseph (my paternal grandmother’s side) as an explanation for every creak or unexplained happening, to the stories of the Green side history (Mum’s) a tramp, Aston Hall and other ‘facts’.
Everything was of interest to the small child I was, processing the stories, logging them away, somewhere cerebral, (in the brain for my sisters!), to be recalled some time, whenever, in the future.
That future came about in 2013. Mum, Nancy Killa (born Green), was moved to Sketty House, a residential care home in Swansea, after many years suffering from dementia housed in Garngoch Hospital.
On our first visit, we were welcomed by a kind lady enquiring “and who have you come to visit?” Beverly, my wife replied “Nancy Killa”. “I’m related to the Killas” was Caroline Parry’s response.
An exchange of email addresses followed and soon I was to share a coffee with Caroline and her Mum, Valerie Williams (nee Vaughan). From there the tangle of who belonged to who and when started to unravel.
But in true Killa tradition, this was not the start of the hunt. Quite out of the blue, I was contacted by Anne Brookfield (nee Hopkins) from Cyprus, who asked if I was any relation to Billy & Nancy Killa (my Mum & Dad). This triggered a couple of email exchanges, but, sadly not pursued as I was off travelling to Africa once more. Throw into the mix correspondence with David Randall Killa of Swansea, and it is fair to say my appetite was wetted, however, not much was done until July 2013 when so much information regarding the Killa family history was shared, I could not help but dig more and more.
2nd cousin Anne provided me with an Excel spreadsheet, which an american arm of the family had researched in part, and to my amazement, the tree showed branches of our family going back to when Thomas Killa (born 1670) married Sarah Rawling at Laugharne, Carmarthenshire, South Wales in 1699.
Since 2013, Beverly & I have been grave hunting in the Laugharne/Llanstephan area, found the Killa family plot in Cwmgelli cemetery, Swansea. I have spent countless hours filling the gaps in the spreadsheet, researching welsh newspapers online, and generally ‘googling’ the Killas.
The next step is to start writing the blog, set up a Facebook group and write to the Killa family worldwide and tell their stories.
Watch this space, feel free to comment or email me at – familytree@garethkilla.wales
killafamilytree 