This
is one of the more difficult names for the researcher in Glamorgan.
There are at least twenty different William or Williams families with
connections to our family tree, although it is possible that some of
them are themselves connected a few generations further back than I
have been able to trace them. Many of the earlier records refer to the
family name William, derived through patronymic naming from the
Christian name William of course; later we see William evolving into
Williams, often in the same family and in the same individual's
lifetime. And like David and Davies, Evan and Evans, etc., we see
William and Williams used interchangeably in official records,
particularly in the eighteenth century and early decades of the
nineteenth century. All I can attempt to do here is provide some examples of the William/Williams connections to our family tree.
I should start with
the only William family in our direct ancestry - our great great great
grandmother Sarah William of Llangeinor, who was born in 1770,
supposedly in Llangeinor, but I have yet to trace her baptism and her
parents. Sarah married Gwillim Thomas
of Blaengarw Farm, and their daughter Mary married our great great
grandfather Rees Powell. Their eldest daughter Catherine married Edward
Thomas of Braich Y Cwmmer and the couple had a daughter named Catherine who married Jenkin Williams
of Glyncorrwg. Another Catherine Thomas, in our tree, in the
neighbouring parish of Bettws, married the rather splendidly named Zephania Williams. This Catherine was a cousin of fellow researchers Jill Muir and Robert Wilkins,
whose tree connects with ours through the Rhondda Davieses - see below.
A little further along that branch of the tree, we find Robert Wilkins'
grandfather Edward Owen Williams who married Myra Jones of Llwynypia, daughter of Thomas Jones and Elvira Davies.
Having arrived in the Rhondda, we must mention Gwenllian Williams who married William Davies,
son of William Davies and Catherine Evan of Cwmsaerbren, thereby
ensuring that a good proportion of the Rhondda Davies farmers,
innkeepers and businessmen who were their descendants had Williams
blood in their veins. Taking that percentage even higher for her branch
of the family, their eldest daughter Gwenllian married William Williams,
son of Thomas and Elizabeth Williams of Tyntyla Farm, Penrhys, and she
and William took over Penrhys Ucha from Gwenllian's great uncle Evan
Davies (brother of our great great grandfather Richard Davies) when he
died. The eldest son of William Davies and Gwenllian Williams, William Davies (#560) married Sarah Bevan,
providing the link between our tree and those of Jill Muir and Robert
Wilkins, mentioned above. Still in the Rhondda, the youngest son of
William Davies and Catherine Evan, David Davies married Jane Williams
of Merthyr Tydfil; David and Jane lived at Bryngolwg House, Aberdare,
for most of their married life, David becoming an eminent doctor and
finally Medical Officer of Health for Aberdare.
In the Margam/Pyle
area there were just as many intermarriages between William(s) families
and our Powells and connected lines. The daughter of William Powell of
Eglwys Nynydd, Elizabeth Powell married William Williams
of Kenfig House Farm and at Tytanglwst Farm, Pyle, the widow of David
Morgan, and mother of William Morgan whose son and daughter married
into our Powell and David ancestral lines(see Morgan Family Connections), Alice Morgan, née Howell, married Rees William,
of New Park Farm, son of another Rees William of Pyle, who farmed
Ballas in the 1780's abd 1790's before the Jones family took over the
property. Alice and Rees were the great great great grandparents of
fellow researcher Chris Richards
of Bridgend. There was also Williams blood in most of the other local
farming family lines who were connected to our tree. The parents of
Isod Thomas who married William Loveluck and whose descendants married
into our Powell and David ancestral lines, were Elizabeth Williams and William Thomas; the brother of Elizabeth Savours who married William Powell, Robert Savours married Catherine William of Margam.
