Copy of Ancestry Sheet

as sent to the Clwyd Family History Society (Gwyneth Wexler, 25th January 1987), and updated more recently by John Wexler.

From a letter (late 1986/early 1987) from Gwyneth Wexler to Mary Kerfoot:

When Falmai and Grace brought us over to see you in the summer, it was at the end of a long day, and earlier they had given us lunch in Bala, and in the same building, Grace had introduced us to Hafina Clwyd in the office of Y Faner. As you probably know, she is interested in David Williams Rhiwaedog too. A short time afterwards, she sent me quite a lot of information that she had on the subject, and after Christmas was over, I started sorting it out and fitting it in with what I already had, and this is my revised page for the family of David Williams and Margaret Jones, first at Coedymynach (120 acres), then at Gelli Grin (200 acres),as it is spelt in the Census return of the period, then at Rhiwaedog (700 acres). I have sent these notes to Grace, and to Bob in York, and also to Hafina, hoping that their comments and corrections will take things a little further. I think you may have something to add to it too, so I am writing to you now, (and in duplicate so that you can pass it all on to Berwyn who probably knows as much about it as anyone by this time) in the hope that you will both let me know if you have something to add to it, or can correct any dates or facts.

In 1848, when the family of David and Margaret Williams were still at Coedymynach, an old lady there died aged 90. Her name was Elizabeth Jones, and she may have been the mother of Mrs David Williams. They were still there five years later when Grace was born. She was much younger than the others, with a gap of ten years between her and Samuel, the next youngest.

They moved to Gelli Green in 1857, when Grace would have been 4, and all the others teen-agers or older. Elizabeth, born in 1829, was the eldest girl and she had already married and left home by the time Grace was born. Descended from the eldest daughter of the eldest daughter, Hafina Clwyd is a whole generation ahead of those of us who are descended from the youngest daughter. Elinor (spelt Eleanor, or Ellin) stayed at home, and of the four boys only William appears to have left home.

In 1864 at Gelli Grin, David, the second son, died aged 24. He was buried on August 29th. Eight days later, his mother was buried. Grace was 11 at the time. I wonder what happened. Diphtheria perhaps. Can you recall any mention of it within the family? I think you said you had photographs of the gravestones of David and Margaret Williams. Was there any clue there? I would like a copy of these photographs some time if you ever have them to spare. Hafina says that David Williams, Samuel Williams and John Williams (sons) are also buried there, but that comes from the Parish Register and I am not sure whether there were stones for them.

So Margaret Williams never reached Rhiwaedog. The family moved there some time between 1864 and 1871. At the time of the 1871 census, the people at Rhiwaedog were David Williams and his sons John (44) and Samuel (24), Ellin (37) and Jane Evans (13) grand-daughter, who must have been the daughter of Ann and Humphrey Evans, b. 1858. Grace, who would have been nearly 18, was not at Rhiwaedog, nor was William who would have been 28. Ten years later, Grace (27) was at Rhydonen Ucha with Samuel(34). I have not looked for Rhydonen in the 1871 census. Could it be that Grace and William were there then? Or were they at some farm nearer home? Or hired out to work somewhere? What became of William? Did he stay with the land, or did he become a shopkeeper or learn a trade or something?

Of the four sons, not one was married until after David Williams died, and then some time after that, John the eldest married Elizabeth Davies, daughter of John Davies, crudd, Llwyneinion. They had no children.

(This refers to information received from Grace in a letter in 1978. Copy attached)

Of the daughters, there is no information about Jane. She was born in 1836, but is not included in the 1841 census, or in any others. Perhaps she died when she was quite small. Elizabeth married Evan Hughes, Ann married Humphrey Evans and Elinor married Thomas Lloyd, while Grace became Mrs Jones. So there was no brother David Williams left, and no David Williams among Grace's nephews. The problem now is how does Davy Williams Cymdu - Dei Crudd - fit in? I knew the name, but I don't think I ever saw him. One of Ann's daughters married a Williams, but there is no David listed among children. Two of Ann's grand daughters married Williamses, and their children may not all be listed on the chart. There may be a clue here, or there may have been Williams cousins in the Bala area, and D.Williams Cymdu might have been one of these.

Since her other sisters were all more than 20 years older than Grace, they would have been over 80 by 1914, and it could have been one of their daughters who was at the Central Cafe. With the big age difference, it would not be surprising if Grace knew her nieces better than she knew her sisters. Another version (which comes to the same thing perhaps) which Grace told me last summer, was that the Central Cafe was run by a sister, and the mother lived with her. It was obviously not Grace's mother, but it could still be Ann and a daughter. It should be possible to find the name of the proprietor of the Central Cafe at the time in Kelly's Directory.

It is not my objective to trace ancestry back to the early kings. I am prepared to take that for granted - if you take things back far enough, there is something of all of them in all of us. I am more interested in the comparatively recent past, and the people themselves and how they lived. When I started, I defined my working period as from the beginning of photography, and I would like to make more progress to this end. I have been carrying on as though there was all the time in the world to do it, but I am realising that it becomes more difficult every year as old photographs are thrown away, and others become unusable because nobody knows any longer who they are.

We are thinking of going to the Family History conference at Llanbadarn in the summer, and if it is at all possible, I would like to spend some time making copies of whatever old photographs you have. Before then, I think I must start making a proper list of what I already have, and what I still need. Perhaps then I might persuade you to come here for a few days and bring them with you. It is much easier to do the job properly here where I have the proper equipment, but it is too much to carry around with me so I have to make do on my travels with a makeshift system.

Part of letter from Grace XL Sept 8th 1978

"I'm very interested in the essay Taid wrote. He must have been working one time in Cefn Canol area. I understood Taid came from Cefnddwysarn, Bala. I should think Bob knows quite a lot and could tell us some time. I know he had a brother at Llwyneinion Bala, they had one daughter who used to come to stay a couple of days occasionally at Penybryn when I was a child. Then there were two sisters living in Denbigh. I think at one time they were the caretaker of the Castle. I sometimes write to a grand daughter of one of them Jean Pentre Halkin. I remember us both going to Tyndrain when we were in our teens. Then Nain Rhospengwern came from a farm Rhiwaedog Bala or so I understand. They both got married and came to live at Rhydonnen Ucha, Llantisilio near Llangollen, a nice farm today but so far from everywhere those days. Our grandmother had a brother who came this way to live. I think he was the father of the David Williams you mention. We used to call him Uncle Davy Cymdu. He had a sister who kept the Central Cafe at Oswestry during the first World War. Her mother lived with her. I suppose their father had died. I never saw them but I heard say they did very well there, such a lot of soldiers at Park Hall then."