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« on: Thursday 27 September 12 23:21 BST (UK) »
Hi there,
Thanks for your posts, sorry it's taken a little while to reply!
Your information certainly appears to tally with mine. There are Bracegirdle's in the churchyards of Beddgelert and Llanbeblig as far as I remember, but I don't think Nehemiah himself is among them. It's possible his grave was cleared during later building work at Llanbeblig, his burial certainly took place there in 1855.
My information is that Nehemiah came from Knutsford to Beddgelert in the early 1800's to work as a foreman on the Maddocks estate. He was very probably one of the English overseers brought in to keep the locals under control in the Plas Gwynant slate quarry. He lived at Hafod Tan y Graig (which is now an outward bound centre I believe).
After his first wife died, Nehemiah married Ellinor Williams in 1820 and moved to Caernarfon, where his son (also Nehemiah) worked as a smith on Turkey Shore. This Nehemiah had a daughter, Mary Ellen (b. 1866) who was my g-grand-mother.
I've not been able to find a baptism for Nehemiah Sr. in Knutsford despite days and days of fruitless searching in Chester Archives. We'll probably never find out anything more about him, I'm afraid!
Best wishes,
Rob