Dear cousins,
My, it has been quiet lately. I finally got my "Merion in the Welsh
Tract" and find it has pictures, including Fron Goch - which resembles a
Welsh farmhouse we saw- and of Merion Meeting 100 years ago. The present one
has white siding. It was interesting to note that our ancestors are buried
in the adjoining cemetery, along with the native Americans they befriended.
I found this in "Merion" -
At the time of Henry VIII reformation and destruction of the
convents and abbys also occured in Wales - (pp10, 11)
"Of all those rich and magnificent convents and abbeys which had
been founded and endowed with broad lands and fat livings by the earlier
Welsh Princes, there was not left one stone upon another. It is even
believed that the church buildings themselves were in some cases partially
destroyed, and it is certain that the lands were sold to the Welsh gentry for
what they would bring. Such, indeed, was the fate of the Abbey of Marcella,
near Bala, in Merionethshire, which were disposed of to the ancestors of the
present Price family of Rhiwlas, who moved thither from Denbighshire,
bringing with them mny other families, kinsmen or tenants, for there new
estates."
Footnote-
"There was quite a large exodus from Denbighshire to the immediate
neighborhood of Bala after the fall of the monasteries and sale of church
lands in that vicinity. Among those who settled in Penllyn at that time were
the families of Owen, of Fron Goch"
Another entry - p 59
"East of Bala Lake, and south of the town, lies the parish of
LLangower. Northeast of the lake extends LLandderfel
........................Fron Gogh, the home of the Owen Family, of Merion,
and the Evans Family, of Gwynedd, was mostly in Llandderfelm although partly,
for church purposes, in Llanfor Parish. Other large estates are: Rhiwlas,
Plasynghrogen...................Southwest .....stretches
Llanuwdhllyn........In this part of Merionethshire the townships were often
named after the chief estate which they contained; these estates were divided
into farms of various sizes, each one of which was usually known by some name
derived either from a peculiarity of the locality, a tradition, or the mere
idle fancy of some farmer, landlord or tenant."
That's all for now
Priscilla