Family name any suggestions please - Menel

[JustLooking]

Given that Thomas & Margaret Jones look the most likely parents of Evan, there is this marriage in Llangower:

20 April 1796 Thomas Jones and Margaret Evans (made her mark). Both otp, ba and sp. By Licence. Witnesses - H. Roberts and Edward Jones


I think going back further might be a bit more difficult as many records before that in Llangower use the  patronymic - my own ancestors included 


JL

[still-searching]

Thank you JL you are a marvel. That gives me much more to work with.

From what I discovered about the family they appeared pretty poor. Evan seems to have ended up as a servant until his death. Gwen suffered the same fate and was in the workhouse at one point. Ann was very lucky to escape when she married into the Knights.

Thank you again.

[JustLooking]

A wee bit more 

Baptisms to children of a Thomas and Margaret Jones:

Llangower
6 Jan 1797 John
15 Oct 1798 Evan (as above)
4 Oct 1799 Robert
13 Mar 1801 David
1 Nov 1802 Elizabeth
23 Sep 1804 Thomas
23 Mar 1806 Gwen - possibly died March 1834, aged 28  'of Ceri'
12 Apr 1807 William
16 Dec 1809 Margaret - possibly died May 1829, aged 21 'of Ceri'
12 Feb 1811 Hugh

Outside possible ~

11April 1821 Mary  - Thomas described as a labourer. Abode - Ceri - burial  April 21 1821

A death/burial of a Margaret Jones, aged 62 of Ceri - 20 Jan 1835 which would make a possible birth of 1773 - no bpt found around this time in Llangower but she could have been from another parish.

Note - these are only tentative as there might have been two Thomas and Margaret Jones having children at the same time.

Also attached is a photo of Llangower Church (St Gwyr)  which I took a while ago.


JL

[still-searching]

Thanks again.

I'll print and compare later. Thanks for the photo  I visited both Llangower and Llanycil churches last year. Shame one is unsafe and the other in private ownership now, that meant we couldn't enter either.

I know it's daft to try and track the origin of Menel but I was hoping that it would help me get further back. Also, as you know, the surname of Jones isn't the best to research 

The utter fairy story which had been passed down through the family is laughable, tinkered with I guess to make them sound more affluent than they were..lol

I really do appreciate your help.

[JustLooking]

Menel seems to be very unusual (compared with our usual Welsh surnames!) I've just put it into a search engine covering all the UK censuses 1841-1901 and have only come up with 21 occurrences (None from where they lived)   - 45 as first names ( including Men(n)ell) 

Could they have named him after an acquaintance/local dignitary, etc.

JL

Added - there seem  to be a lot in Yorkshire

[still-searching]

What makes me believe it's a family name is their use of Bateman too.

I will search on line newspapers to see if it pops up.

[Huwcyn]

Might the original name be a corruption of another, more obvious one , and its the corruption which has survived ?.
   A lot of names in rural Wales had biblical origins . I always thought that 'Gomer' was a genuine Welsh name. Apparently its the name of a prophet. I've seen it a lot in Wales , but never in England.
   Another possibility - expanding on the previous post - was that the name was in some was associated with an event/prominent person at the time  . The late Richard Burton, for instance, had an
older brother called Verdun Jenkins.
   
         

[JustLooking]

Hi Huwcyn

I've racked my brains and wondered about this name since it came up (different spellings and Maynel, Mendel (of peas fame who produced his paper in 1866*, etc., etc. ))  - I can't think of any alternatives that tie into the family - Have you got any ideas 

JL

* Good Welsh education at Llangollen   

[still-searching]

I shall do some more digging over the next couple of days and report back.

Thanks for your help.