Early Welsh Descendants

The earliest descendants of Tudor Trevor(JC-1) are given in the previous three posts. Three sons and a daughter begin this descent. Gronwy(JD-1), the eldest, has a daughter as sole heir, and this line begins the family of Elystan Glodrydd(JF-6) one of the Royal Tribes of Wales. The senior line then moves to the second son Llydocka(JD-2), who's daughter marries Ednowan Bendew(JE-8). This begins another Welsh tribal group which has frequent descendants. Llydocka's son Llywarch gam(JE-4) becomes the head of the senior branch, taking the arms of Tudor Trevor(JC-1). The baby son, Dingad(JD-3), has a son Rhiwallon(JE-1), who begins his family's descent taking a different arms for distinction from the senior branch. In Burke, p.884, this is given as: "Rywallon (Rywallow ap Dyngad ap Tudor-Trevor, Lord of Bromfield, co. Denbigh). Erm. a lion ramp. sa." The lion rampant was the principle charge(image)(symbol) for both, but the tinctures(colors) were different. This puzzled me for many years until I was able to get some understanding of the use of arms in this time period. At any rate, the son of Dingad(JD-3), Rhiwallon(JE-1), has a different arms recorded, and is used by some of the descendants of Rhiwallon(JE-1). At later dates, the arms of Tudor Trevor(JC-1) is claimed by some branches of Dingad(JD-3), thus generating some confusion among the lineages. In summary to this point, my direct JONES line from Gadforch(JA-1) is:

Gadforch(JA-1)
Ynyr(JB-1)
Tudor Trevor(JC-1)
Dingad(JD-3) [The boys color coded blue.]
Rhiwallon(JE-1)
Cynrig(JF-1), slain 1073 A.D.

The Boys in Blue

Dingad(JD-3), the baby boy of Tudor Trevor(JC-1) is the line that my JONES surname descends. His linage is colored "blue" and is shown in the family tree which displays all the children of Tudor. As late as 1584, the land of Dingad(JD-3) is recorded. It is in the records of the Hanmer family of Pentrepant, Shropshire, that a field called "Eryn Dingad and the mountain there" is recorded. This land is near Selattyn-Porkington, which continues to be an area of my JONES family down through the generations. [Shropshire Archives:Catalogue Ref. 894 and 1144/ ref.1144/9- 23 November 1584.] Selattyn [frequently called Porkington] is a strategic location just about equal distance between the River Dee and the River Severn. It is in the middle of the small land bridge which allows access to the mountains. Head north and you gain access to the mouth of the Dee (trade to the north lands). Head south and you gain access to the mouth of the Severn, an access to the channel. Just a few miles away was the large hill fort "Old Oswestry" and the southern most anchor to the family's land.

The son of Dingad(JD-3), Rhiwallon(JE-1) receives a great deal of attention as "Lord of Bromfield". Bromfield is a latter name for the Welsh Maelor, which was family's land from Gadforch(JA-1). Rhiwallon's son Cynrig(JF-1), has his death date recorded in many of the early records [1073 A.D.] It is his death that leads to a lot of family retribution and conflict. Much more to come.

The Children of Tudor Trevor

There were four children of record giving distinct lines from the life of Tudor Trevor. Gronwy (JD-1) was the oldest male, but daughtered out in the next generation.[This means that his line became a maternal line.] A daughter was Ardryn (JD-4). Tudor's second son was Llydocka (JD-2) who married Angharad (JD-6) and gave rise to a great number of future Welsh families. His baby boy was Dingad (JD-3) who married Sysli(Cicely)(JD-7) and gave rise to my JONES family. It was through this baby boy that my Y-DNA was passed.

The figure to the right is my drawing of the start of this family tree. Five generations are shown. At the top is Gadforch (Kadfarch)(JA-1). The numbers are the references to this individual in the records present in the last post. The number (1) is Dwnn, the number (2) is Nicholas, and the number (3) is Burke. Near each name on the family tree is the list of reference from which the family as been pieced together. Starting with the children of Tudor Trevor, a color code is used the help separate the children's descendents. Pink is Gronwy (JD-1). Yellow is Llydocka (JD-2). Blue is Dingad (JD-3). This color code will also be used to help keep straight the various family lines as they evole. This is only the beginning!