Andrew family home page

Francis and Mary Bennallack

Francis Bennallack and Mary

Brownfield were married on the 28th. May

1829 in the town of Redruth, Cornwall.

Francis cannot be traced before this time

but Mary was born in Falmouth to

Thomas and Sarah Brownfield, both born

around 1780. Thomas was a shoemaker. Sarah’s maiden name was Trevithick

and although there is no direct link to the

railway engineer Richard Trevithick the

family lines appear to converge further

back in time. Unfortunately final proof of

this in the records has proved elusive.

In Redruth Francis was a copper miner. Just as Swansea was the centre of Britain’s and

indeed the world’s copper smelting, so the town of Redruth was the centre of Britain’s

copper mining. By the 1830’s Cornwall was unable to meet the demand for copper and more

was being imported from Chile and Cuba. This may well have prompted Francis to move to

Swansea and work as a copper agent. In Swansea they at first lived in Foxhole, but following

the deaths of two of their children with TB they moved to Pleasant Street in about 1848. Queen

Street, where John Andrew lived, opened onto Pleasant Street and it is not surprising that

John’s son James and Francis’ daughter Mary, both English immigrants, struck up a friendship

that led to their marriage. Francis died in 1854 just nine months after daughter Mary and James

Andrew were married in 1853. Mary Bennallack moved to Garden Street by 1861 and has not

been traced since then. The family had a total of seven children.