Davies of Abergwyngregin

[Sammy612008]

Can anyone assist please.
I am trying to understand and trace the parents of William Davies born Abergwyngregin c1795 who married Mary ? Born Aber 1795. They left Aber for Mochdre, Conwy where they ran the White Horse Inn along with the smithy.
Was there any reason why this family should leave the area and move from Gwynedd to Denbighshire i suspect between 1820 - 1840 ?

[Jo Harding]

Hello sammy612008,

Welcome to Roots Chat.

There are some baptism entries for the name Davies in Abergwyngregin on Freereg around that time. These are as follows:

02/08/1787, John, son of William and Catherine Davies.
25/03/1789, Mary, daughter of William and Catherine Davies.
08/10/1791, Elizabeth, daughter of William and Catherine Davies.
12/03/1794, Elizabeth, daughter of William and Catherine Davies.

It appears that Elizabeth, baptised in 1791, must have died.

It is probable that William and Catherine would have named a son William after his father. There no nothing shown for a baptism for a William, son of William but it could be the record was missing, or lost.

What is the source of the place of birth for William bc1795? How do you know what year he was born?

Jo 

[Sammy612008]

Hi Jo
Thank you for responding first and foremost. William Davies birth year has been caculated across 3 census viz 1841 to 1861. His birth based on age is 1793 - 1795 born Dwygylfylci
He arrived in Mochdre i suspect between 1815 onwards. I know he was the village blacksmith and eventually inn keeper of the White Horse Inn an ancient inn dealing with horse and coaches and drovers in the area. What is fascinating is the move out of the area from Caernarvonshire to Denbighshire. His wife was Mary born Aber c 1795.
Jo. I do apologise William is definitely Dwygylfylchi and not Aber. Senior moment.
Ve

[Jo Harding]

Sorry, I haven't been able to locate any baptisms for Dwygyfylchi online for that period of time. I think it might be necessary to get someone to look this up for you in the archives.

Mochdre is not very far from Aber/Dwygyfylchi it shows as being 6.5 miles distance between them on the maps.

The Genuki site for this is here:

http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/wal/CAE/Dwygyfylchi

I couldn't find a marriage for William Davies to Mary either.

Jo.

[Sammy612008]

Jo
Many thanks for your time on the records. I drove up Sychnant on Thursday and was surprised how Mochdre and the Flagstaff dominated the horizon. Having looked also on the IGI records i found  Mary and William Davies married 1814 living in Abergwyngregyn. This may or may not be. What is recorded are the sons who were all born in Mochdre, Llandrillo yn Rhos the first one in 1818. So we know he took up residence around this time.
Just moving on i am listing the families of Mochdre across all census 1841 - 1901 so please feel free to contact me should you need research in and on the village.
Please keep my enquiry on the back burner so to speak and once again many thanks for your attention.
Regards
PS William Davies died 1873 aged 80 so birth year 1793

[Jo Harding]

I did a search on Freereg to see baptisms for Mary ? bc 1796in Abergywngregyn . It revealed a few baptisms there and these were as follows:

17 September 1794 Mary Rowland, daughter of William Rowland and Mary.
19 October 1794, Mary Williams, daughter of William Williams and Catherine.
10 July 1795, Mary Evans, daughter of John Evans and Ellin.
11 March 1798, Mary Williams, daughter of Robert Williams and Margaret Hughes.
13 May 1798, Mary Roberts, daughter of Robert Roberts and Catherine Hughes.

I based the search on the age of Mary given on the census returns, she was 56 in 1851. The 1798 baptisms were probably too late to be for her.

It appears she was from Abergywengregyn, so I would have expected them to have married there.

Jo.

[Sammy612008]

Jo
I think you may have struck a chord here with Abergwyngregyn as opposed to Aber. I will now work on the basis that William Davies must have received his blacksmith apprenticeship in the village prior to moving to Mochdre to set up a new life which spanned nearly 60 years.
Thank you so much for your time on this subject. Very much appreciated.
Kind regards 

[Jo Harding]

Pleased to be of help!

I noticed on the 1851 census, William's son, John, is shown as being a Blacksmith in the household. He is shown as aged 32, so that puts his year of birth as c1819. He appears to have been born in Mochdre.

In 1871, William Davies is living in one of the houses next to the White Horse Inn, named White Horse number 3. He is aged 77 and a widower. His occupation is Blacksmith. I noticed the White Horse is run by Jane Davies, widow, together with her son William, aged 15 an apprentice Blacksmith. Jane must have been married to a son of William. Do you know which one?

It is possible that William Davies was the son of a Blacksmith in Dwygyfylchi, or did his apprenticeship in Abergwyngregyn as you suggest.

Best,

Jo 

[Sammy612008]

Jo
Jane born 1827 was the wife of John born 1819.  After Jane died in 1892 her son William who was a blacksmith took over the White Horse Inn.
John 1819 is the son of William born 1793 Dwygylfylchi arrived in Mochdre sometime between 1815 and 1819 most probably as a ' trained' blacksmith. So i am assumming he served his apprentice in Aber albeit Dwygylfylchi and/ or district.
All good stuff.
Incidently the White Horse Inn is the forerunner of the Mountain View Hotel.
Regards