My recent researches into my family history has revealed some interesting connections. Many years ago I was told that one of these was a link to David Lloyd George. This was pretty exciting hearing this but no one in the family quite knew how we were related. So one of my goals was to find this elusive connection, and all I had to go on was a remark from an American relative said to my great aunt Olwen. At the time I only knew of one family, in Los Angeles, that were related to us. Today I know of many, residing in different parts of the US, and there are more that I don't know of yet. However, researching this link with one of Wales famous men was long and many dead ends were reached. Eventually, I decided that there was no link and went on other areas of research involving other ancestors. I went on the hunt for other American cousins when I discovered, quite by accident, that we had ancestors in Vermont. There was a sister of my great great grandfather, Mary Lloyd Williams, who I could not find in the 1881 census. I knew she had married a Griffith Isaac Roberts, a slate miner from Tanygrisiau, Blaenau Ffestiniog, and had 2 young children by 1871, the whole family could not be found 10 years later. This prompted me to think that they had emigrated. Fortunately the 1880 US census is free (on the family search website), and I found them there. They had emigrated in 1874 and had started to have American children. Eventually they would have 6 surviving infants, one other, Jane, died soon after birth and is buried in Blaenau Ffestiniog.
Researching the survivors has not been easy, though with the help of Ancestry.com I have managed to find who they married. Further information can be found on my web site at http://www.gwynhughes.co.uk/ . Obtaining the death certificate for Mary has helped me clear up the mystery of where the connection with David Lloyd George is. With the name Lloyd in my mother's family the assumption was that the great man was linked to us somehow. Now, I knew that Mary's father was a William Williams born in Penrhos, near Pwllheli. What I didn't know was her mother Jane's maiden name. The death certificate revealed all! She was Jane Lloyd! This is how the Lloyd name was introduced to many future Williams decendants, including my mum's brother, John Lloyd Williams.
So, this proved that there was no familial link to David Lloyd George, and that the Lloyd name in our family originated from a family from Llanfrothen. Luckily, there is a pedigree link to Jane Lloyd on the Family Search website, therefore more information was available.
However, a few months ago I researched into another ancestor, a brother to my great great grandmother Grace Evans, Morris Owen Evans. He was a congregational minister, born at Ty'n Ddol, a farmhouse in Tanygrisiau, in 1857. I found out that he married a Katherine Daniel, born near Bala and she had a brother David Robert Daniel. Here, at last was the link to David Lloyd George! Not a family one but nevertheless a link. DR Daniel will be found in all books on DLLG as they set up a newspaper together, Yr Utgorn Ryddid, at Pwllheli. He went on holidays with DLLG and friends, and was a close confidant to his family. This explains why DLLG was regarded highly by my ancestors, and I hope to find out if Morris was involved and included in the sphere of influence that his brother-in-law was involved with. He and his family also emigrated, to Cincinnati, Ohio.
More ineresting family links soon.
Friday, 31 August 2007
Wednesday, 29 August 2007
Creating your own family tree website
This is a handy little web site I've found that anyone can use for free and start their very own family tree. I have been looking around to show graphically my family tree that is easy on the eye. This is it, and can be found on Tribal Pages.com . It's easy to register and you can control the privacy of the site by registering an administrator and a visitor password. I chose the standard privacy option so that I could share certain information on the web, but there are other options available.
You can also link with other trees (just as Genes Reunited do) and search for your ancestors.
Worth a try!
You can also link with other trees (just as Genes Reunited do) and search for your ancestors.
Worth a try!
Tuesday, 28 August 2007
Best Album of the Year?
I doubt that it will win any awards but the best ones never do, do they? Although Porcupine Tree's new album (I still call them albums - showing my age!) 'Fear of a Blank Planet' has turned out to be their most succesful to date, I think Blackfield second album (titled 'Blackfield II') is a little gem, and is the best I've heard this year. It's so good I don't think I will hear a better one, even writing this in August!
Blackfield are a collaboration of Steven Wilson (of Porcupine Tree) and Israeli singer songwriter Aviv Geffen and together they write good melodic songs. Often described as Wilson's pop outlet, the songs are invariably laden with guitar riffs. They are very big in Israel because of Geffen's long standing popularity. Here is a link to a preview of their second album, courtesy of You Tube.
This isn't wishy washy pop drivel. These compositions reflect the state of the world we live in, hard hitting reality, no sugar coating!
Here is one of the best videos I've seen for a long while:
Here is a live in the studio version of their Israeli hit 'Pain' (from the first album)
Interview with Steven Wilson talking about Blackfield II
Again there are plenty of stuff on You Tube if you want to see and hear more.
Sunday, 26 August 2007
Back to the Tree!
It's about time I used this blog to bring to serious music fans the quality of the group Porcupine Tree. I have been harping on for years now how good this group is and of course other side projects that Steven Wilson is involved with. With the power of You Tube I can now show how good this music is.
A documentary on the making of Deadwing (2005) can be watched here
This is the song 'Trains' combined with an anime video
There are also loads of tribute versions of songs of the band. Here are a couple of my favoutites.
There are loads of vids on the group on You Tube. They're worth checking out.
Thursday, 23 August 2007
Simon's Exam results
It's been an eventful week for my son Simon which keeps getting better for him. He got his exam results this morning and he has obtained 8 GCSE's which include a couple of B's for both History and Welsh. We are all very proud of him, especially as it has been a traumatic couple of years for him at the school. He will have an interview tomorrow to see if he is allowed to enter the 6th form. He has the grades in the subjects he wants to A levels in so hopefully some more good news tomorrow. His nain took us all for lunch to The Estuary at Glan Conwy and we had a very good meal and a very nice time. It was nice to sink a couple if beers for a change!
Tuesday, 21 August 2007
Simon is 16
My oldest son was 16 yesterday so we decided to take him to a place he didn't think he would ever get the chance to go. We took him to Manchester United's ground Old Trafford where they take people around the ground on stadium tours. He was very pleased with the 'present that we could not wrap up' and bought him a new Man United football shirt with 'Tevez' on the back of it. We also took him to lunch at the Red Cafe, and I can recommend the buffet there. The tour guide, Stewart, was very entertaining and luckily I got away from revealing the knowledge of my football team. It would have been very awkward if he had found that I support Leeds United as they are not so hot nowadays and there is fierce rivalry between the two!
Judging at how many times Simon thanked us during the day I think we got it right this year!
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