Introduction

William Jeffreys [Jeffreys-667, LYPD-JQT] is mentioned as a relative in a number of articles about the John family. The only one which specifies a relationship is the obituary of Margaret John [John-2584, LBV2-7XC] in the Rhondda Leader (3 Nov 1906), which mentions Mr. W. Jeffreys, Treherbert (uncle) and Mr. Willie Jeffreys (cousin).

Looking at census records, we find only one Mr. W. Jeffreys in Treherbert in this era - William Jeffreys, who has a son William Edward Jeffreys, also named on one census as Willie. As there are no other people who match the description, I am reasonably confident in saying that this is the Mr. W. Jeffreys who is the uncle of Margaret John.

Margaret’s pedigree is as follows:

Pedigree chart for Margaret John. Her parents are David John and Sarah Jones. David's parents are William John and Margaret Evans. Sarah's parents are David Jones and Ann.

Willie Jeffreys’s pedigree is as follows - his father William Jeffreys is the Mr. W Jeffreys identified as an uncle of Margaret John:

Pedigree chart for William Edward Jeffreys. His parents are William Jeffreys and Alice Jenkins. William Sr's parents are David Jeffreys and Mary Jones. David's father is Jeffrey Jeffreys. Mary's father is William Jones. Alice's father is Thomas Jenkins.

If William Jeffreys [Jeffreys-667, LYPD-JQT] were truly an uncle of Margaret John [John-2584, LBV2-7XC], we would expect to find that either he or his wife would have the surname “John”, “Jones” or “Rees”, those being the surnames of Margaret’s parents and deceased step-mother. As this is clearly not the case, it seems likely that the degree of relation is slightly further than that – this is not necessarily unexpected, as the newspapers were not always accurate in how they specified relationships in such articles, and we only have a single mention to go on. Perhaps he was a great uncle (although this is maybe unlikely considering that the age difference is only about 20 years), or a 1st cousin once removed.

His mother, Mary Jones [Jones-102727, L6Q3-R4F], seems like a plausible possibility for a connection – if nothing else because of her surname and county of birth. Margaret’s grandfather David Jones [Jones-102595, GHBB-B4N] was born in Llandeilo; Mary Jones was born in Llansadwrn, about 7 miles away. It’s not a conclusive match, but it’s possible that there are family connections there. Perhaps Mary and David were siblings?

Another possibility is that the connection is through Margaret’s husband, John Preece. His pedigree is as follows:

Pedigree chart for John Preece. His parents are Alfred Preece and Mary Thomas. Alfred's parents are John Prees and Margaret Stephens. Mary's father is William Thomas.

However once again there are no obvious connections – and both of John’s parents are from the Cardiff area, not Carmarthenshire. So this doesn’t seem very likely.

A further possibility is that the connection is via Margaret’s father David John’s first wife Mary Rees – but I don’t have any information about her, and I don’t have any reason to necessarily believe that she was from Carmarthenshire, as they married in Merthyr Tydfil.

It looks like the connection via the Jones family is most likely, but nothing is proven as of yet.

Questions

  1. Who were David Jones’s parents and siblings? Could his father have been William?
  2. Are there any other plausible connections?

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