Janet
I have a photo copy of the David William Davies (1828-1907) manuscript. The original is located in the archives of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. David William Davies was my great great grandfather. He left Wales for the United States in 1855. His first language was Welsh and he also spoke English. The manuscript is written in Welsh and parts in English.
Although I was born and raised in California, over the years I have tried to verify the dates and names of the people listed in the manuscript. In the summers of 1977 and 1978 when I was a college student, I lived in Wales and visited many cousins who gave me new information on the families. I was able to take our family back to a man named Abel (b. c1650) who married Margaret John. At this point we have no evidence that his name was Abel John or John Abel as indicated in a previous post. We only know that his three children were Isaac Abel, John Abel and Gwenllian Abel. Following the Welsh custom of children taking their father's first name as their last name, it is likely that the first name of the father of these children was "Abel". We know that "Abel" was married to Margaret John because Isaac Abel in his will dated 1715 named his mother as "Margaret John" and she was still living. It was also Welsh custom in those days for the women to keep their birth names their entire life, so Margaret was the daughter of a man whose first name was John. Chances are that she would not have taken the last name of her husband.
I am hoping to find Abel's last name as this is my patriarchal line. If any one can find it please let me know. Here is my direct line back to Abel;
Abel (c1650-by1715) his son was
John Abel (c1680-11 May 1747, Penrhiwangharad) his son was
David John Abel (15 Jul 1705-1 Apr 1747, Penrhiwagngharad) his son was
John David (1731-9 May 1810, Hirwaun) his son was
David John (9 Mar 1754, Penrhiwangharad-25 Mar 1817, Llwynfelish, Cadoxton juxta Neath) his son was
William Davies (cApr 1789, Llwynfelish-22 Dec 1848, Hirwaun) his son was
David William Davies (28 Mar 1828, Hirwaun-30 Oct 1907, Idaho, USA) his son was
George Davies/Davis (7 Oct 1867-3 Dec 1962, Los Angeles, California) his son was
David Walter Davis (24 Nov 1896-18 Aug 1975) his son was
Joseph Warren Davis, living
Richard Warren Davis, living
Also a correction to my post above from a few years ago; Isaac Abell named his sister "Gwenllian Abell" in his will. Not Jennet. Gwenllian married John Watkin on 14 Feb 1708 at Llantwit juxta Neath, Glamorgan.
