Jacob Davies was born around 1825 at Hendai farm in the parish of Pencarreg, Carmarthenshire, Wales. He came from a farming family and was the son of Timothy Davies and Margaret Davies.[1] He probably grew up a Unitarian and continued to be a member of Caeronen Unitarian Chapel as an adult.

Jacob lived the majority of his life at Hendai, a farm of almost 100 acres, which had been owned by his family for at least three generations. He married in 1859[2] to Anne Jones who came from a wealthy, landowning, Unitarian family from a neighbouring parish. Together, they had five children. Sadly, their three eldest were victims to the childhood illnesses of the time—two of those children, Timothy and Mary, died from scarlet fever on the same day in 1865.[3]

Jacob’s wife, Anne, passed away at the age of 36, just seven months after the birth of their youngest child, Mary Anne.[4] In 1874, seven years after the death of his first wife, he married Mary Davies,[5] the daughter of another Unitarian, farming family from Pencarreg.

Jacob’s obituary notes that, as a person, he was shy, reserved, and hesitant to take the lead in community matters, but achieved great things when pushed into leadership positions. However, he doesn’t appear very frequently among the social pages in the newspapers. He was still well known in his community, in part, because of his wealth, some of which he used to patronise religious organizations of various denominations. Much of his wealth was in land and, just a week before his death, Jacob purchased another 150 acre farm near the town of Lampeter.[6]

Jacob died by suicide on September 1, 1875, at the age of 52.[7] According to his obituary, “a large crowd came together to escort his remains to Caeronen cemetery“ and the Rev. Rees Cribyn Jones, who would become his son-in-law three decades later, performed the burial rites. At the funeral, Rev. Jones read Matthew xxvi. 41: “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”[8] Jacob was laid to rest alongside his first wife and their three children who predeceased them.[9]

Crisis Safety Plan

This booklet contains the Stanley-Brown Safety Plan and can help guide you through filling out a safety plan. The safety plan helps you write out your warning signs, internal coping strategies, people and settings that offer distraction, trusted people and professionals who you can contact during a crisis, and ways to make your environment safer. You can fill out the sheet on your own or in conversation with someone you trust. I’ve written my own safety plan and I found the booklet’s prompts to be really helpful.

If you are in immediate need of support, check HERE for helplines in your country.

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[1] 1851. England and Wales Census, 1851. Carmarthenshire, Pencarreg, District 1a. Digital Images. Ancestry. Entry for Timothy Davies, p. 2 (p. 3/25), entry 11.

[2] 1859. England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1837-1915. Cardiganshire, Lampeter. Digital Images. Ancestry. Entry for Jacob Davies and Anne Jones. Registered 1859, D Quarter, vol. 11B, p. 111.

[3] 1865. 1865. Anonymous, “Marw Gofion,” Yr Arthraw 10, no. 115 (1815): 24. http://hdl.handle.net/10107/2106946

[4] 2021. Cardiganshire Family History Society, “Plwyf Cellan Parish, Ceredigion, Monumental Inscriptions at All Saint’s Church, Caeronnen, & Erw Chapels, Cellan War Memorial as at 2002,” Row 2, entry CA20, p. 17.

[5] 1874. Carmarthenshire Marriages and Banns. Pencarreg. Digital Images. Ancestry. Entry for Jacob Davies and Mary Davies, p. 99 (p. 101/152), Jul. 14, 1874, entry 198.

[6] 1875. Anonymous, “Hunan-Laddiad,” Baner ac Amserau Cymru, September 11, 1875, p. 5, col. 3. Digital Images. National Library of Wales. https://newspapers.library.wales/view/4293644/4293649/57/

[7] 1875. Anonymous, “Suicide,” The Cambrian News and Merionethshire Standard, September 3, 1875, p. 10, col. 4. Digital Images. National Library of Wales. https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3307558/3307568/68/

[8] 1875. Anonymous. “Marwgofion.” Yr Ymofynydd no. 33 (1875), 216. http://hdl.handle.net/10107/2560564.

[9] 2021. Cardiganshire Family History Society, “Plwyf Cellan Parish, Ceredigion, Monumental Inscriptions at All Saint’s Church, Caeronnen, & Erw Chapels, Cellan War Memorial as at 2002,” Row 2, entry CA20, p. 17.