February 2010 Archives

Following the remarkable meeting in the Penmachno cemetery which I've described in the last two Blogs I wrote an article about the meeting in "Gwreiddiau Gwynedd" and several other publications and talked on the radio in a series where people talked about remarkable coincidences in their lives. I happen to be a Chartered Statistician and I therefore consider the meeting to be a remarkable "random event" that does happen on rare occasions. At the time that Matthew and I met in Penmachno there would have been millions of people meeting each other in various places throughout the world. The vast majority of these meetings would have been totally unremarkable with friends, acquaintances and family meeting each other or total strangers meeting each other with no connection whatsoever between them. A small number of those meetings, however, would have been a remarkable chance random event as mine was with Matthew. I was pleased to have an article on this published in the Royal Statistical Society News in 2006.

I was then invited to give a talk about the meeting at my local Caernarfon Branch of the Gwynedd Family History Society. Preparing a talk of some 50/60 minutes takes a bit longer than writing an article but there is far more scope to show photographs and family tree diagrams to illustrate connections with the PowerPoint Projector. I gave the first talk in November 2003 and I've now given this first talk, in both Welsh and English, a further 18 times since then to various societies in Gwynedd.

The talk gives the family background of the Glasgwm Hall family and their achievements, the family in the USA and my attempts to seek out other relatives remaining in Wales and putting them in touch with their American cousins. Also included is the connection between this family and Lloyd George which was revealed in W R P George's book "The making of Lloyd George" and which has been highlighted again in Ffion Hague's recent book on "The women in Lloyd George's life". There is also a connection with Dafydd Wigley. The talk is illustrated with 36 PowerPoint photos and family trees and these include photos and newspaper cuttings that I received from San Francisco about the Californian family.

When I started to prepare the talk I intended to cover the story of my great grandmother, Margaret Ann Jones, but I soon realised that there was far too much material. I decided that I could prepare two talks and so started my saga of family history talks. The first talk is entitled "Morwyn Glasgwm Hall" in Welsh and "Upstairs and Downstairs at Glasgwm Hall" in English. However, it only concentrates on the Glasgwm Hall family or the "Upstairs" side of the English title. The story of Margaret Ann Jones, which could easily be the subject of a Catherine Cookson novel, is left to the second talk.

This first talk has already done the rounds of all the branches of the Gwynedd FHS and numerous history societies in both Welsh and English. The next delivery will be in Welsh in Blaenau Ffestiniog in September.

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

Bangor, 2 March (first Tuesday of each month) 7.00pm at the Quakers Meeting Hall, Dean Street: David Nicholas, "The Policeman's lot was a happy one"

Caernarfon, 25 February (last Thursday of each month) 7.00pm at the The Library, Lôn Pafiliwn: Gwynne Evan Owen, "Agweddau Cymreig y Mudiad Gwrth Caethwasiaeth"

Dolgellau, 11 March (second Thursday of each month) 7.00pm at the Royal Ship Hotel: Richard Jones, "Amgueddfa Werin Sain Fagan"

Conwy, 8 March (second Monday of each month) 7.00pm at Capel Ebenezer, Abergele Road, Old Colwyn: J Elwyn Hughes, "Caradog Pritchard"

Llangefni, 18 March (third Thursday of each month) 7.00pm at Capel Smyrna, Ffordd Glanhwfa: Subject to be confirmed

Pwllheli, 19 March (third Friday of each month) 7.00pm at Capel Seion, Lon Dywod:
Parch Harri Pari: "Y Tad Henry Dailey Maria Hughes"