Dear Enid,
Regarding your notice about families at Rhydyfen & Fedwlwyd farms in the
Bala area, & Edwards families in the Bala area -
1) Can you confirm that 'your' Fedwlwyd is c1 mile WNW of Bala, grid
reference 908367; & that 'your' Rhydyfen is c2 miles W of Corwen, about a
quarter of a mile N of Druid (which is on the A5) just off the road to
Bettws GG, grid reference 042440?
2) Assuming that these are 'your' farms, it looks as if both were in the
old county of Merioneth (ie before recent boundary changes), so their
parish records of baptisms, marriages & burials will be at the Gwynedd
Records Office at Dolgellau. Fedwlwyd probably Llanycil parish, whereas
Rhydyfen I'm not sure - Bettws GG/Gwyddelwern/Corwen. Do you have access
to Dolgellau? - I don't know if you live in Blaenau Ffestiniog or San
Francisco! Local churchyards & cemeteries also useful - gravestones
invariably refer to where people lived, often to where they originally came
from. Nonconformist records are not so easy to access, but various
microfilms are available & give some information, usually pre-1837.
3) Census records - have you checked these? The 1881 CD-ROM a good starting
point. Probate Index post-1858 I have also found quite useful at times -
available on microfiche at most UK County Records Offices. School
Admissions Registers also very useful, IF available, giving eg dates of
birth of all children listed, together with addresses & parents' names.
4) "Edwards families in Bala area" - I very much sympathise with your
problem here. My mother's father was John Roberts of Llandrillo
(1841-1911), & tracing his family is not easy - I reckon there are even
more Roberts than Edwards in this area. One way in which I have been
dealing with the problem is to fully transcribe & index as many Llandrillo
records as possible : censuses, parish records, nonconformist baptism
records, burial/cemetery/graveyard records (v useful recent listing by
Clwyd FHS), registers of electors, probate index references, school
admission registers etc. By chance one of my current local/family history
projects has been the Edwards family of the 'new mill' (y Felin Newydd) in
Llandrillo : one of the better-known descendants was Sir Hughie Idwal
Edwards, VC.
Although I spend most of my time at present in East Anglia, I have a
cottage in Llandrillo & so spend quite a bit of time there. Let me know if
I can help you in any way.
Best Wishes,
Jeff Delves