Author: Dai Davies
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Reflecting on Your Self to Discover Your Ancestors
Turn names and dates into rich stories that connect with your family and wider audiences. In this talk, Dai discusses how reflecting on our own lives in the present can help us do just that. Whether you love gardening, have a pet, live with disabilities, or are fascinated with history, this talk will show you…
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Forget the Family Tree. Tend Your Family Ivy!
Fear not the rabbit holes! Looking beyond your direct ancestors is actually a crucial part of developing a deep understanding of your family history and breaking down your brick walls. In this talk, Dai discusses the concept of the “family ivy,” those families that appear on the margins of your family tree generation after generation,…
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Happy Pride! 1826, 1926, 2026, and Beyond!
In her 1999 book All About Love, bell hooks offers up M. Scott Peck’s definition of love as one of the few clear literary explanations of love in our society. For Peck, love is “the will to extend one’s self for the purpose of nurturing one’s own or another’s spiritual growth.” In a sense, this…
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The Organiser: Elizabeth Margaret Davies of Kensington, London (1882–1946)
Elizabeth Margaret Davies, commonly known as Bessie, grew up among the rolling, green hills of the Teifi Valley in west Wales. She was the eldest daughter of the well-known Davies’ of Velindre House. But when the chaos of World War I arrived at the shores of Britain, the familiy mobilised in any way they could.…
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Sleep my Beloved
It was March, 1939. The world was tense with anticipation for the coming war. The two dictators, Hitler and Mussolini, were busy carrying out their imperialist machinations on the continent and, at home, the Swansea Air Raid Precaution Corps was busily preparing the town should the conflict spill over the English Channel. The newspapers reminded…
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A Local Hero: Thomas Evans of College Street, Lampeter (1875–1906)
1899 was a busy year for Thomas Evans of Lampeter. After years of training as an apprentice, Thomas finally left home for the nearby town of Lampeter to open his butcher’s shop. [1] Whether he chose to become a butcher or it chose him, he was following in his father’s footsteps. His parents, Evan Evans…
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The Phone Under the Settee
The light on the answering machine was always blinking. Blinking as I got home from school. Blinking when we got back with the groceries. Blinking. Blinking. Blinking… Why does nobody ever answer this blinkin’ phone!? Oh where oh where has the telephone gone?Do you think we can ever find it again?Could be under the settee…
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A Rural Reverend: Tegid Arthur Davies of Llanfihangel y Pennant (1870–1921)
December 13th, 1893, was an important day in the life of 23-year-old Tegid Arthur Davies. After years of hard work, he finally graduated from St. David’s College in Lampeter with his Bachelors degree (with honours).[1] This was the first big step towards following in the footsteps of his father and two elder brothers in becoming…
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The Orator: Margaret Davies of Llwynon, Cellan
Stretched before Margaret sat a crowd of 90 children from Cellan day school. On this Boxing Day, 1894, she and her husband had invited the students and their teachers to their home for tea. Margaret had just presented each child with a Bible and Christmas card and now they all sat, faces eager, applauding and…
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Cellan’s Lending Library: Education in a Small Welsh Place
It was a day like any other in the Welsh parish of Cellan, September 25th, 1765, when a small iron chest arrived at the doors of All Saints’ Anglican Church. A special delivery, the first of its kind, for the Rev. Williams. Heavy, despite its size, the chest was lugged onto a sturdy wooden pew…