Friday 31 August 2007

My family connections, part 1

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.

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