I visited my family's old home in Pentraeth, Anglesey, in 1998, and saw the gravestones of some of my ancestors. It was very emotional for me as I had not been there since I was a small child with my mother before we left to live in New Zealand. As you can imagine it was very difficult to find information about my ancestors, being so far away from Wales, though the internet has been a great help in the last few years.
ANGLESEY FAMILY HISTORY
Around 1770 William Jones was born in Llanfairycwmwd. We do not know exactly who he married as there are no records kept in this parish, the church of that time does not exist anymore, no tombstones or parish records have been saved. The 1841 census says his son William Jones was born in 1794 in Llanfairycwmwd and moved to Amlwch.
William Jones marries Anne Williams on 23rd October 1823 in Amlwch. There are parish records and a wedding certificate stating an uncle, Hugh Williams, and another person called Rowland Williams were witnesses. Anne and William could not write as they made their mark by placing a cross on the wedding certificate.
We cannot find any records of Anne Williams' birth, but her gravestone in Pentraeth indicates she was born in 1805, and the 1841 census states she was born at Tre'r Beirdd, Amlwch. Hugh Williams is mentioned in Pentraeth parish records - he died at Pen yr Allt (pictured below) in 1833 aged 66. We think he was an bachelor because he left everything to his 14 nieces and nephews - £20 each, which was a considerable sum in those days. He did not leave anything to his brother John Williams, (Ann's father) who seems to be still alive when Hugh Williams died in 1833.
John Williams had four daughters, Ellinor, Mary, Ann and Gwen. His sister Magdalan Hughes had four sons - Owen, John, Richard and Thomas and two daughters Ann and Mary Hughes.
From what I can make out reading Hugh Williams' Will, he owned more than one farm or land around the district. Though he did not seem to have many belongings or animals on the farm (Pen yr Allt) when he died, he had a reasonable amount of money in his purse, £72, even leaving his maidservant £10!
Hugh Williams left his land and property to William Williams and John Williams (Jnr). They were the sons of William Williams, deceased brother of Hugh Williams.
The 1841 census states that William and Anne Jones are head of house and they have four children who died at an early age (Ann age 10, Hugh age 5, Mary age 6) and are buried in Pentraeth with their parents. On the 1851 census William appears and Ellen and another Mary as the other previous one has died like Hugh at the age of five. There have been two Hughs so far, both have died very young, but the name has been used again for the next child born!
In 1879 William Jones dies and Ann his wife takes over the running of the farm. By 1871 census their son William has moved to Mold for work (he is a stonemason) and he meets Prudence Foulkes.
William Jones marries Prudence Foulkes in Chester in 1871. They then moved back to 12 Bridge Street, Mold, where William Foulkes Jones is born 1871. Jane-Ellen Jones is born 1877. On the 1881 census his sister Ellen Jones is head of house and not married, No one else is living there on the night of the 1881 census, but her mother must have been away from the farm that night.
Read on...
