No 39: Why I became interested

People ask my why I became interested in my family history and I've already referred numerous times to my mother's origins in Penmachno. My ancestors on the side of my grandfather, Robert Cadwlader Williams, were quite easy to trace but there was a big question mark on my grandmother's side. I knew that a couple called Mark and Jane Owen had adopted her but I also knew that I had met her mother, my great grandmother, when I was a small child. My mother was approaching 80 before she told me the full story.

My great grandmother, Margaret Ann Jones, was born in 1865 and by 1887 was a servant in a manor house in Penmachno called Glasgwm Hall, which had been in the ownership of Lord Mostyn and then Lord Penrhyn. By 1887 the tenant was Owen Jones who was the nephew and business partner of Owen Gethin Jones a famous builder, Eisteddfod bard and local historian. They had developed a successful building and civil engineering business and had been busy with the development of the railways in North Wales during the second half of the nineteenth century. The pinnacle of their achievements was the building of the railway from Betws y Coed to Dolwyddelen including a 27-arched viaduct over the river Lledr, which is called "Pont Gethin" (Gethin's Bridge) to this day and is marked as such on the OS maps.

In 1887 Margaret Ann became pregnant and the father was one of Owen Jones's sons. Now Owen Jones was a prominent member of the local chapel. He was a Sunday School teacher and his eldest son, the Rev. David Owen Jones, was making a name for himself as a Wesleyan minister. Owen Jones did not want a scandal and decided to exile the prodigal son to America and he was never seen in Penmachno again. My grandmother, Jane Jones, was born. There was no contact between Jane and her father but my mother said that she had often wondered as a child, before she knew the story, why she always received birthday and Christmas presents from members of the Glasgwm Hall family. None of her friends received such presents!

Once she had started to tell this story my mother would often wonder what had happened to her grandfather in the USA. Did he have any descendents? Where could these relatives be living? I had started to become interested in family history and I had thought, rather vaguely, of how I would go about trying to trace this family in the USA. I could probably find the name of this son of Glasgwm Hall but how on earth would I go about trying to find any records of him and his descendents in the USA? This would be like looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack I thought.

I'm fortunate that I have a friend, Vivian Parry Williams, who has written a book on the history of Penmachno, "Plwyf Penmachno", and a book on the life of Owen Gethin Jones, "Owen Gethin Jones: Ei Fywyd a'i Feiau". Vivian has been of enormous help to me in compiling my family history and he told me that he had some papers that would be of interest to me. As we were both going to a funeral in Penmachno on Saturday 11 May 2002, we arranged to meet.

Following the chapel service and the burial service in the new cemetery Vivian and I walked back to his car so that he could give me the documents. We took a short cut through the old churchyard and started talking about some of the family graves. As we talked, a man and a small girl approached us and asked my friend if he was Vivian and we realised that he was an American. Someone had told him that they had seen Vivian go into the churchyard and that he was a person who could probably help him look for the grave of his ancestor.

"What is the name of your ancestor?" asked Vivian. "Owen Jones", replied the stranger and I was astounded. Was this a descendent of Owen Jones, my great great grandfather, who has come to look for his grave? Vivian assumed that he wanted the grave of Owen Gethin Jones and we proceeded to the grave of this famous man.

As we talked, however, I became convinced that the person that he was looking for was Owen Jones from Glasgwm Hall and I was inwardly becoming very excited. "I have some papers in the car, would you like to see them?" asked the American who had by this time introduced himself as Matthew Ogburn. "Yes please," I replied instantly and we went to find the papers.

Matthew showed me his family tree and there it was, the name that I had been desperately wishing to see, Owen Jones, Glasgwm Hall. Above were the familiar names of his father, William Jones, and his grandfather, David Jones, and below was the name of his son whom he'd sent to America, William Ogwen Jones! At last I knew the name of my grandmother's father. I could see that Matthew, although more than 20 years my junior, was of the same generation as me. William Ogwen Jones was his great grandfather and also my great grandfather. The needle in the haystack that I hadn't even started looking for was standing in front of me!

The Gwynedd Family History Society meetings for the next four weeks are:

Bangor, 2 February (first Tuesday of each month) 7.00pm at the Quakers Meeting Hall, Dean Street: Peter Brindley, "Bangor Pier"

Caernarfon, 28 January (last Thursday of each month) 7.00pm at the The Library, Lôn Pafiliwn: Parch Harri Parry, "Meddygon Dafad Wyllt"

Dolgellau, 11 February (second Thursday of each month) 7.00pm at the Royal Ship Hotel: Rhian Williams, "Pobl mynd a dwad"

Conwy, 11 January (second Monday of each month) 7.00pm at Capel Ebenezer, Abergele Road, Old Colwyn (please note new meeting place):
Peter Brindley, "The Vicar, the Prince and See"

Llangefni, 21 January (third Thursday of each month) 7.00pm at Capel Smyrna, Ffordd Glanhwfa: Workshop in Llangefni Archives

Pwllheli, 15 January (third Friday of each month) 7.00pm at Capel Seion, Lon Dywod:
Hywel Roberts, "Anffawd fawr fy hen daid" This meeting has been cancelled due to the bad weather.