Decipher a headstone (In Welsh)

[SherlockBones]

Hi guys

I received the following details of a headstone in Llandegai. The sender doesn't know Welsh so I am asked for help to decipher. Thanks in advance. Jon

Er cof an Blant
Henry ac Esther Parry
Craig y Pandy (Gynt)
Edward a fu farw Awst 22, 1873
Yn 2 Fl@ a 9 Mls oed
Henry a fu farw Rhagf. 21, 1878
Yn 10 mls oed

( Mae’r Rhieni uchod wedi ym fudo I Tasmania)

[Chilternbirder]

What little Welsh I learned has been unused for over 40 years but with a little recourse to an on line translator the sense of the inscription is:

In memory of the children of Henry and Esther Parry.
(Craig y Pandy is a place name, presumably a farm or hamlet where they lived)
What follows are the names, dates of death and ages
Awst is August, Rhagf is an abbreviation of Rhagfyr - December

[KGarrad]

Roughly:

In memory of the children of
Henry and Esther Parry
Craig y Pandy (Formerly)
Edward died August 22, 1873
2 years and 9 months old
Henry died December 21, 1878
10 months of age

(The above Parents have to migrate in Tasmania)

[KGarrad]

FreeBMD shows:

Death, September qtr 1873
Bangor district     vol 11b, page 315
Parry, Edward      age 2

Also, but wrong dates?
Death, March qtr 1878
Bangor district     vol 11b, page 407

Parry, Henry      age 0

[nestagj]

Could the stone have been put up some years afterwards perhaps if the parents had sent money for the stone and the recollections of the person who put the stone up wasn't exact.

I have also noticed that when deaths are registered the months are not counted - for example I had twins who died within a couple of months of each other (i did not know they were twins at the time) one was shown as 1 year old and the other was shown as 18 months;for a while I thought that we had a case of one of the children being the "adopted" by the parents until I found the birth and saw they were twins.....I think it was the way the informant notified the age......in the first case the child was just under 16 months so in the welsh way when asked how old they would probably said "blwydd" which translated to a year old but by the time the second twin died she would have been just 18 months so the informant could have said "deunaw mis" - 18 months !

I think the December date is probably just an error on the part of whoever put the stone up. 



Nesta

[wrjones]

This may help those looking for similar translations of Gravestones;
http://www.clwydfhs.org.uk/miscellanea/gravestones.htm

Regards
William Russell Jones.

[SherlockBones]

Thanks guys. Appreciate the info. It has been an excellent help.

Cheers

[ejones4765]

Hi Jon,

Have you had anymore info on our Family? This site is good isn't it.

Dewi

[EmyrBorth]

Hi
Parish Register gives date of burial of Henry Parry, Craig y Pandy, as 20/12/1879,  age 10 months. There is a birth in BMD first quarter of 1879. No birth entries in the Parish Registers; probably they were nonconformists.
The parents are buried in the next grave; Esther died 1909, Henry 1916. Parish Register at Caernarfon Archives only goes as far as 1908.
Esther is recorded in the Censuses all the way thro' from 1871 - 1901; so if she went to Tasmania, she must have gone and returned between Censuses. Found Henry 1871 - 1911, except for 1891.

Newspaper report 1885:
BETHESDA. EMIGRATION.  It is a great relief to many that Mr W J. Parry has been able to secure free passages to Tasmania for quarrymen and their families; 3 left in the 'Austrial' on the l5th day of last month and 8 left in the 'Cuzco' on the 29th day of the same month; 55 more leave in the 'Liguria' on the 13th inst, and he is allowed we understand to book 50 more to go by the 'Iberia' on the 26th of May.
Also advert:
TASMANIA, AUSTRALIA. WANTED AT BANGOR SLATE QUARRY, BANGOR, NEAR LAUNCESTON, ONE HUNDRED SPLITTERS AND ROCK-MEN. PRESENT rate of Wages, 7s 6d per Day of Eight Hours; or 7s 6d for Countess Slates. Married men with small families preferred. Free Passage granted to intending Emigrants, of the above classes. Those paying full passagees money get a FREE GRANT OF LAND. For Particulars of Land Grants apply to TASMANIAN EMIGRATION DEPARTMENT, 791 Gracechurch- street, London, E.C.; and for Free Passage to G. GRIFFITHS, Esq., Criccieth, Carnarvonshire. 3899
(Area of free land was 50 acres)

Newspaper reports at the time record that Penrhyn Quarry were getting rid of 100 workers and reducing the wages of those remaining. Also that there were a large number of men between 14 and 18 yrs old who had never worked.

Do you know how many of the family went to Tasmania and how many, if any, stayed, and how many came back ?
Emyr