DAVIES - Skinners in Dolgellau & Tywyn

[baz143-au]

Oh.   I don't know if you are interested but Jannet's maternal line can be traced back to Owen ap Hywel ap Llwelyn.  (1480) It's documented in a book called "The ancestor and Descendants of Baron OWEN", by Mair BRADWEN, 1896

[Br1gau]

I know nothing at all about David Roberts apart from his marriage to Ann Elizabeth Davies.  I only came across him in the probate record for her father, so don't know his birth place, birth year, parents or occupation.

How interesting to hear of the book, do you have it?  I notice from the National Library records that it's just eleven pages, so I could photocopy it if you like.  There is also this online:
http://wbo.llgc.org.uk/en/s-OWEN-LEW-1555.html

Your uncle Griff must have spent hours ploughing through Parish records when he was here in 1910, he’d have been enthralled by the internet!

I should mention that I’m not related in any way.  My exercise was to trace the lives of various families who had lived in Corris; where they came from and what happened to them etc.  I thought I was doing so well until your Davies ancestors disappeared in Tywyn.  Below is the probate reference for Griffith David Davies.  Both wills can be ordered from the Justice Department at £6 each. Let me know if there's anything I can look up on a local level.  regards, brigau
http://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/probate/copies-of-grants-wills

[baz143-au]

Thanks for the offer.  I have a photocopy of the original hand written notes and a photocopy of the book.  Figured out what happened. Griff and Jennet split.  Griff came to Australia with the kids and settled in Ballarat.
David and Ann settled in seddon.  There is a memorium notice in the Sydney morning herald newspaper from 29th July, 1887.  Inserted by his three sons.  He returned to wales at some time and died at Towyn.  Article available at www.trove.nla.gov.au (Free)

Thanks for the references


Baz

[Br1gau]

hi Baz,

PRO Vic has the family in their unassisted passenger lists. F refers to the port of arrival, but I don't know which one.

DAVIES HENRY 28 DEC 1889 ERLANGEN F 255 001
DAVIES MARY 15 DEC 1889 ERLANGEN F 255 001
DAVIES EDWARD 11 DEC 1889 ERLANGEN F 255 001
DAVIES TYWYMA 9 DEC 1889 ERLANGEN F 255 001

ROBERTS DAVID 38 DEC 1889 ERLANGEN F 255 001
ROBERTS ANNA 35 DEC 1889 ERLANGEN F 255 001
ROBERTS ARNEA 6 DEC 1889 ERLANGEN F 255 001
ROBERTS MARY 4 DEC 1889 ERLANGEN F 255 001
ROBERTS GRIFFITH 2 DEC 1889 ERLANGEN F 255 001
ROBERTS MAGGIE 1 DEC 1889 ERLANGEN F 255 001

So to re-cap: Griffith D Davies went to Ballarat sometime after the 1881 census, probably after his daughter’s 1882 marriage to David Roberts, and then returned to Tywyn, dying there in 1886.  His three eldest sons were in Australia, probably NSW by 1887.  David and Anne E Roberts emigrated in 1889 aboard the Erlangen taking Anne’s four youngest siblings with them.  Their mother remained in Tywyn.  Quite a story there somewhere!

Here is a snip from the manifest of the Selkirkshire, arriving Sydney 13th Jan 1884, recording a £4 assisted passage for Griffith Davies aged 21, skinner / wool stapler from Merioneth.  The age certainly fits Anne Elizabeth’s eldest brother, Griffith Ch Davies, although he was recorded as a pupil teacher in the 1881 census.  If it's his father then about 40 years have been lost in transit! 

[Br1gau]

There's a bit more:

The Erlangen docked at the port of Melbourne.  Griffith D Davies’ will was also registered in Melbourne in 1892, so the files can be downloaded free from
http://prov.vic.gov.au/index_search?searchid=54

The reference to Griffith Davies’ ownership of Hendafarn in Corris is interesting.  In the will he requests that the tenant, Richard Jones be given first option to purchase the property.  Richard Jones was married to Catherine Rowlands whose brother, Evan, immigrated to Ballarat in 1852 and set up a bottled aerated water plant with great success owing to the lack of available clean drinking water there – a result of mining operations.  He subsequently amassed a great fortune (there is much on Google about him.)  When he died in 1894 he left Hendafarn to his sister Catherine back in Corris, so Evan Rowlands of Ballarat evidently bought the property from your Davies/Roberts family between 1892 and 1894 on his sister’s behalf. 

brigau