Slightly fuzzy disposition this morning after yesterday’s rugby. Don’t want to talk about it. I realise it was me wot brought the subject up. Will be walking to pick up the car a little later. Could have walked there yesterday but had a few bags to take so THG suggested I drive round. She always makes a lorra sense does THG. Gets me a bit of exercise an all.
Otherwise a relaxing day ahead observing the sabbath. Oo look it’s the sabbath. Yes, so I see. Shall we observe it? Why the devil not! Pun intended. I may stick some paper down on my coffee table top project. Have decided to apply a base layer of miscellaneous coverings – maps n stuff. I also have a scorecard from a test match at trent bridge. Oh and a card from the Deauville-La Toques race meeting we went to a couple of years ago. Good times. It’s a big sheet rather than a card, showing lots of different racing colours.
Made a very interesting discovery yesterday. I was transcribing the will of John Jones, my 7 great grandfather. I had decided it was going to be a lot easier to interpret if it was in Arial 11 font rather than the original scribble. John Jones died in 1731 but his will was made in 1723 when his death seemed imminent. Fortunately the lad recovered and lived another eight years. There was no mention of his wife so I’m thinking she predeceased him. In 1722/23 there was a severe smallpox epidemic in Carmarthenshire so that may well have done for her but he made it through.
Anyway the interesting bit was the fact that he left a bushel of pilcorn (oats) to the poor of the parish of Llanlloney and another to the congregation of Pencader. Three trusted friends were given guardianship of his son David. They were James Lewis of Llanllawddog, David Johnes of Penkarreg and David Thomas of Llanlloney. I have the wills of the first two. They were both ministers of religion, the former in Pencarreg and Pantycreuddyn, two of the early Independent (Congregationalist) churches in Wales. Dave also mentioned these two places together with Rhydybont, a nearby baptist church, specifically in the context of them being protestant dissenting churches.
So that tells me that my ancestor was a religious dissenter at a time when this was still very much in its infancy. Quite a few families from the area left for the Americas, a hazardous trip not to be undertaken lightly especially if you were a child. The odds were not good for children under the age of six to survive the journey. John Jones’ son David also left a bushel of pilcorn to the congregation of Pencader so he must have quite naturally continued with the dissent. After the Toleration Act of 1688 private homes could be licensed to hold religious meetings and such gatherings are documented at our farm, Maesnonni, in the 1740s.
I’d better stop there as I can go on for hours on this subject. The time has come to break the fast.