Tudor Trevor (JC-1) Founder of The Tribe

Tudor Trevor (JC-1) is identified as "Founder of The Tribe of The Marches".  He is perhaps the most well documented of the folks residing among the Welsh family groups.  There are at least 15 family surnames that claim their descent from this individual.  My own "Jones of Llwynon" being one of these family groups.  The figure below shows a listing of these family surnames, with several branching to multiple branches.

His wife is identified as Angharad, a daughter of Howel Dda.  Howel Dda has a great deal to do with Welsh history and codification of the laws of Wales.  It is perhaps this marriage that helps settle the dust of continual warfare between the "southern" and "northern" tribes.  At least before the Viking attacks, there was an attempt to unite the culture of Wales.

Tudor Trevor (JC-1) is described as being "Lord of Hereford, Whittington, and Both Maelors".  By this generation, it would appear that Oswestry has been lost [perhaps in exchange for Hereford], and a section of the "south" had been added.  Of course, Hereford was a very slippery slice of land to hang on to.  It must have been from this point that Whittington became the location of the families settlement.

              [Please note that you can click on the picture to enlarge the view.]

Providing Bread

Titles seemed to be an important aspect of name calling.  From the earliest time in English history, a title was taken (or given) in a variety of circumstances.  Ynyr(JB-1) ap Gadforch(JA-1) is given the title of "lord".  This title is applied to "both Maelors", "Oswestry", and "Whittington".  Now the word "lord" is derived from the Anglo-Saxon (Old English) word hlaford.  This word seems to be derived from the word hlaf which means loaf (or bread).  It certainly makes sense that the family group (tribe/clan) would look to the bread provider for helping the family to survive.  Having power or authority over others depended upon "bread".  Over time, this would lead to the fact that one became the provider (owner) of land or other real property and became known at "the lord".

Now the figure above is my attempt to show the geographic location of "both Maelor", "Oswestry", and "Whittington".  Both Maelors were part of "hundred of Exestan" from the Anglo-Saxon view.  [King Edgar of Mercia seemed to think that he owned it when he bestowed it upon St. Werburgh's Abbey, Chester in 958 AD.]  There seemed to be two settlement patterns were the Welsh kept control of the northwestern section (Welsh Maelor), and the Saxons took control of the southeastern section (English Maelor). [The name Maelor Saesneg is frequently used.]

Oswestry was the battle ground between both.  It is recorded as being founded by the "Britons" as Maes Usswalt around 500 AD. (Maserfield).  It became a swinging door between the settlement pattern of the Saxons and the land claims of the "Briton" (Welsh).  It took its present name from the battle fought 5 August 642 AD when the Pagans(Penda) won over the Christians (Oswald) and Oswald got chopped up afterward. [His body parts were place on several trees thus becoming "Oswald's Tree".

Whittington was equally as old being described as "drev wen" by a Welsh poet Llygar Gwr (Llowarch Hen) meaning "The White Town".  In the Topographical Dictionary of England, Vol.II, p.461, it is described as what was to become "...property and chief residence of Tudor Trevor...", but that is yet to come. [Tudor Trevor (JC-1)]

The red line roughly shows the relationship to Wat's Dyke, being the Anglo-Saxon line in the soil.  Both Oswestry and Whittington guard the entrance to the land bridge to Wales.  My Welsh family tree begins providing bread here before 900 AD.

Ynyr (JB-1) Rooted in the Soil

The only recorded son of Cadfarch (JA-1) is Ynyr (JB-1).  In one record he is listed as Membyr.  It would seem that there was trouble dealing with this name since it is given as "Honorius or Ynyr" with Ynyr described as "Celtic". [See British Kings and Queens, p. 124, by Mike Ashley]  This name is utilized ca. 510 AD in southern Gwent, and would explain some of the connections to south Wales which appears in the next several generations of my family tree.  It becomes a "Welsh" name used occasionally, with Inigo Jones taking this name.[Much more will be said to document this finding.]  He is described as "Lord of Whittington and both Maelors".  This would simply mean a land owner, but much has been made of these titles.

His consort (wife) was Rhiengar (JB-2), who is described as "heir to Hereford".  Some of her lineage has also been recorded, but is not shown in the figure above.  The references which document Ynyr are given.[Dwnn, Burke, Nicholas]   It would seem that by this generation [second from Cadfarch (JA-1), but 26th generation from the beginning], identification with a specific geographic location had been made.  The family tree becomes rooted in the soil.

The Lay of The Land

By the time of Cadfarch [ca. 850 AD], the reigns of power had been taken by several family groups.  Family dynasty had become the "norm" and developed into larger political units.

Gwynedd, a region which took its name from the tribe of the Venedotae, had settled the area to the northwest. [Cunedda and his boys are given credit for this.]

Powys was the dynasty along the upper eastern borders of what was to become Wales.  A branch of this dynasty came to be known as Rhwny Gwy a Hafren (between Wye and Severn) which becomes one branch of my own Welsh family tree.

Eliseg, in whose memory the still-existing monument, the Eliseg Pillar, helped re-establish the claims of Powys.  It is in the valley of the Dee that Cadfarch had his family.  It would have been around the time under the rule of Rhodri Mawr (Rhodri The Great, 844-878 AD) that the family began its settlement in this area.

The drawing to the right shows a general outline of the main "kingdoms" of Wales during its early period.  The southern sections were more divided into various kingdoms, but were about to see their rise under the grandson of Rhodri Mawr.   Fighting, fighting, war, war... Cadfarch's name would describe the time.

Cadfarch (JA-1) Leaf One...sort of

Starting a family tree can be a challenge.   Who's on first...as they say.  After roughly 30 years of tree climbing, it appeared that Cadfarch was the first generation.   He became JA-1, and for years thought to be the top of my family tree. However, some years later, I found 25 more generations to add to the family tree.  Thus, number one, becomes in reality, the 25th generation of my Welsh family tree.  Oh well, I suspect there might be more tree climbing yet to come.

At any rate, the figure to the right shows my page from the family tree documentation notebook.  It is supposed to represent Cadfarch (Kadfarch) (Cadvarch) JA-1, and his partner (unknown) JA-2.  The references to his life are given in the listings underneath the "square and circle" drawn.  Dwnn and Nicholas give his name, and various other sources (later in time) spell it a variety of ways.

In the Welsh, "Cad" means war, and "farch" or "farch" means chair.  A War Chair I guess.   The Viking raids had begun along the northern coast of Wales, and I suspect this grandfather was looked to help fight.  The Anglo-Saxons were also being tied up with their own Danish invasion, and the Kingdom of Powys was able to gain back some of the border lands lost to the Saxons. (Offa's Dyke)   It would seem that from Cadfach ca. 850 AD, the family became established in Valley of the Dee...leaf one...sort of.

Additional references: Dwnn Vol.II, p.307, Nicholas, Vol.II, p. 354, and Burke p.1035 (1884 Ed.).

My Welsh Family Tree - Leaves and Branches

Leaves and branches are part of the family tree.  Just how one goes about figuring out all the connections help make up the tree climbing experience.  Then, putting everything together so that it makes some kind of record that can be followed, and examined, by anyone else who wishes to climb these branches, is just as important.  A map of the leaves and branches so to speak.  A family record it is.

This post tries to give the concepts utilized in my own Welsh tree climbing.  The past three post have given the major sources of information and documentation for part of this tree climbing.  The figure to the right gives the first page of my own family coding system which began many years ago.  I show it here to demonstrate one method that can be used to help keep the leaves and branches organized.  It is simple.  The letter "J" stands for my surname JONES.  The letters of  the alphabet are then used to represent the "generation", with "A" = generation "one", "B" = generation 2,...etc,etc.  Of course, this assumes that you have decided where the family begins. [I found 24 more generations after this was coded, so had to make adjustments!]  The number is then used to identify each individual that has been documented.  Thus a "leaf" [individual] is uniquely coded, i.e., JA-1 = Gadforch, and generations [branches] JA, JB, JC, identified.

Leaves and branches, a way to climb trees.  Thus the beginning of my Welsh family tree.

My Welsh Family Tree (Part III) Personal Research

Needless to say, Welsh tree climbing can be as difficult as JONES surname tree climbing.  Connecting the ends to the middle can be quite an undertaking.  First you have to have a sense of both ends, and then some sense of how to piece these ends together!  The two previous posts list several references which have helped me get one end of the branch. [The Welsh Branch!]  This post list the research that has helped me get the other side of this branch. [The American Side!]

There are three foundations of this genealogy.   Documentation, documentation, and documentation.  No way around the brick walls.   Some 52 years of doing this genealogy has left me many, many, many, references.  My personal research has involved many sources and materials.   They started as piles and piles of notes, pictures, tables, charts, graphs, records, etc...etc..., and when ever I want to find a certain documentation,  I often failed to uncover its location among my stacks.   Thus began my notebooks.  They helped me organize my research into a specific, locatable source.  I place a subject title, and number on each notebook so that I could at least put my finger on a reference or research topic if needed.  Over the years I now have more than 250 notebooks!

I thought it would be helpful to at least outline these notebook topics, and give some idea of their content.  When I give the documentation of my Welsh Family Tree, the research/references can be found in these notebooks.   A blog called The Jones Genealogist Research Notebooks has been started. [http://tjgresearchnotebooks.blogspot.com]  It can be used to give the genealogist an idea of the sources used during my own JONES tree climbing.  It can also be searched by topic using "search this blog" indicator along the top right of the blog site.  The notebooks are physically located in my personal research library, The Joseph Wheeler Jones Memorial Library, Danville, KY.  They are available for use if arrangements are made.   Please come for a visit.