Good evening Emyr, thank you very much for this information, it is very interesting.
My interest and connection to this Evans family is through my paternal grandmother, Margaret Jane Evans, more often known as Maggie Jane Evans. I struggled for many years to locate her in any records. Through a lot of help and advice from contributors on this site, I discovered that my paternal grandmother was born on 1st May 1888 in Barmouth and her birth name was Margaret Jane Anwyl. Her mother was a Catherine Anwyl but no father was listed on the birth certificate. Margaret Jane had an older brother, Griffith Anwyl, born on 12th January 1885 in Llangelynnin. Again, no father was listed on the birth certificate.
Shortly after Margaret Jane was born, Catherine Anwyl married Robert Evans (Robert junior). They married on 14th May 1889. Catherine was listed as being a spinster, but Robert was listed as being a widower. I have not been able to track down his first wife yet.
After this date my grandmother's surname is listed as Evans and not Anwyl on Census records. I do not know if Robert formally adopted her or not. My father, who is now deceased, did tell me that his mother, Margaret Jane, was very reluctant to talk about her father. The family rumour was that the father of Griffith and Margaret Jane was already married and that is why no fathers name appears on the birth certificates. I do not know if there is any truth in this though.
Robert and Catherine went on to have the following children:
Evan Anwyl Evans, born 7th January 1891, died 27th March 1892.
Ellen Anne Evans, born 12th March 1893.
Samuel Evans, born 18th January 1896
Evan Anwyl Evans, born 6th April 1900.
I have only recently discovered all of this information, thanks to Gadget and Catherine. You may have seen in the earlier replies to the thread that Catherine died in 1900, shortly after the birth of Evan Anwyl Evans in 1900. Robert went on to quickly marry a 3rd wife, a Mary Jones. I have ordered the death certificate for Catherine and the marriage certificate for Robert Evans/Mary Jones. I should receive these next week.
My grandmother Margaret Jane, I believe, was in boardings at the 1901 Census with a Mary A Davies, a widow, in Barmouth. Mary A Davies was 74 years old.
Her brother, Samuel Evans, again I believe, was a guest at Y-Felin, Llandanwg. He was 6 years old. Staying with a John and Jane Jones, plus their children Thomas Jones and Emmanuel Jones.
I have not been able to find Ellen Anne Evans location in the 1901 Census.
I have not had the opportunity of searching the 1911 census records yet for Griffith, Margaret Jane, Samuel, Ellen Anne or Evan Anwyl Evans.
I have had my DNA test done through Ancestry and my tree is also public. I think that we would only show up as a match though if Robert Evans junior was the biological father of Griffith and Margaret Jane. Margaret Jane went on to marry my grandfather, Llewellyn Turner, in 1924. They settled in Porthmadog, where my father was born.
I am currently updating my tree on Family Tree Maker with all of the new information I have discovered. I will then upload this new tree to Ancestry and delete my old out of date tree. I will then re-attach my DNA test results to this new tree.
I hope that this information helps you Emyr. I appreciate the information that you have given me.
Best wishes
Stephen