On the road in Wales

This was not an ancestry road trip.  But if we find some ancestors along the way, we might as well stop, right? #genealogistmotto

Dru's dad's side of the family is from Wales and England.

Dru from LA
His dad Gary Hargreaves born in Canada
Gary's mom Mary Edith Jones born in Canada
Mary Edith's dad James Caradoc Jones born in Wales
James' parents William and Mary Frances Jones born in Wales

William Jones was a clergyman in the Church of England in the late 1800s, early 1900s. He served in a couple different areas in the north of Wales, not too far from Liverpool.  One town is called Brynford, Holywell.  He lived there with his wife and children for a few years around the turn of the century.  He later changed parishes and ended up passing away in the new location years later. Brynford must have been special to them because the family plots are here.

We came to visit.  Here is Dru at the grave of his great great grandparents.  The headstone is damaged and sadly not well maintained.

This is the church.  The grave is in the churchyard.

We caught the current rector as she was leaving.  Another church member, perhaps her assistant, offered to retrieve the burial records.  How nice!  These were in the Burial Register with records from 1917 on.

It is interesting that William Jones was a clergyman. That was a very good profession in those days. The job usually came with a home to live in called the vicarage. Each little town in England has one. One of the locations they lived in had 14 rooms. That's a lot even by today's standards!

Makes me wonder what kind of a person he was. Was he a spiritual person? Why did he become a clergyman? Did he always want to know God and the Bible? Did he see the difference between the Bible and what the church taught? How did he feel about that? Did he instill a love for God in his children?  Did Dru's family's values trickle down in some way from this Welsh family?