John EVANS

  General Notes:

"John Evan (s) is said to have been born on the 12th February, 1798 (from his Bible). He was admitted a freeman of the borough (as a " cordwainer" ) on the 30th May,1818 (His name is noted as " John Evans Junier", suggesting that his father was indeed the John Evans, cordwainer, admitted in 1788). As a freeman he had a parliamentary vote; and in the manuscript poll book for the election of 1820 he is recorded as casting his vote for Ebeneser Ludlow. He married Ann Lewis (b. 1800) on the 12th May 1824 in the Parish Church of Llantrisant.

John Evan (II ) appears to have spent all his life within the one, large, parish of Llantrisant, or just out,side its boundaries, moving from hamlet to hamlet to pursue his trade (of Shoemaker). His earliest association seems to have been with Tonyrefail, where his first child, John (III), born on the 14th Feb 1825 , was baptised at St John's Chapel by the Rev. Evan Pritchard. Collena (1778-1827). The three following children, Jemima, Jenkin and Margaret, were born between 1821 and 1831 at 'New Mill', now Miskin village and were baptised by the famous Calvinistic Methodist preacher William Evans, Tonyrefall, (1795-1891). The fifth child, Rees, with whom we are directly concerned was born "at 7.0. o'clock in the forenoon Feb. 20th., 1833." The place of birth is not given in John Evan's Bible, but in the 1861 census is shown as "New Mill'. He was baptised on the 24th March 1833 "in Sion Chapel" by the Rev. Benjamin Evans, St. Fagans. Neither the place of birth. nor of baptism, of the sixth child, Ann (born 16th January 1835) is recorded. The seventh, Mary, was born on the 1st March 1837, at " Hendy" (presumably between Miskin and Pontyclum) and baptised by "Mr. Richard Thos., Llysyfronydd." The eighth, Evan, was born on the 27th January, 1840, at Gyfeillon and baptised by the Rev. Benjamin Evans' St. Fagans.

It is indeed at Gyfeillon - between Trehafod and Pontypridd, in Llanwynno parish, across the Rhondda river from Llantrisant parish, in one of a cluster of cottages at Tarran y Pistyll that the 1841 Census records John Evan (s), his wife and all his children except Jemima. By 1851, the family, now shrunk to wife and four children (Jenkin, "cordwainor", Rees, " underground haulier in coalmine", Ann, "general servant at home", and Evan, "shoemakerrs apprentice") were living at Graigddu Cottages, Dinas. By 1854 when he married, Rees Evans had gone to Aberaman to work, hauling coal for his future father-in-Iaw, John Davies. The 1861, census shows the old couple living at Cymer, with only their son John (III), now a Chelsea Pensioner after privations suffered in the Crimean War. (He died on the 3rd June in that year)."*

In the 1841 Survey, John was a shoemaker and living in Lanwonno, Wales. From this survey I estimated his birth at 1801 but these dates are only accurate to 5 years.
In 1851 his address was 83 Graigddu Cottages, Dinas

My mother's parents were John and Ann Evans, they too were God loving people, they lived and died in South Wales so it was not my privilege to know them. Grandfather may have died before I was born, but I remember a letter arriving with the news that Grandmother had passed away, I think I would then be about 10 years old. They had 4 sons and 4 daughters : Jemima, John, Rees, Jenkin, Ann, Margaret ( my Mother), Mary and Evan. #

Deaths : Sep 1869 EVANS John aged 71 Pontypridd 11a 158

# From a Brief Record of Family History And Some Facts Regarding Myself by William David Morgan 22-4-1937
*Monograph: 'Notes on the families of Rev. Morgan Humphrey Jones and Margaret Ann' (Evans) by Owen Morris Pages 15 - 18.

John married Ann LEWIS, daughter of Jenkin LEWIS and Mary Ann WATKINS, on 12 May 1824 in Llantrisant, Glamorgan, Wales. (Ann LEWIS was born about 1800 in Lantrisant, Glamorgan, Wales and died about 1879.)