Many thanks to all who replied to request for help - what a great response. Sadly, it looks like Griffith Morgan Davies's son, Griffith Maurice Davies may have divorced after only a year of marriage, and my hopes of there being any living descendants are low. The one resource in which it is tricky to find Griffith Morgan Davies is the 1930 census. When asked his surname, he gave a rather bizarre Welsh inspired patronymic surname with Anglo-Saxon influences. I could not find him on a full name search so eventually carried out a first name search only with birth year and place. This revealed a Griffith M Morrison of the correct age who was a US Army veteran of the both the Spanish American War and WW1. To cap it all, he also had a Norwegian born wife named Anna, 25 years his junior. Griffith was the son of Maurice Griffith Davies of Maesydderwen, Llandissilio, and it appears that for this census, he chose to use a surname derived from his father's first name. So, at least in some form the Welsh patronymic naming tradition was alive in 1930s California. Jonathan Pike -----Original Message----- From: Jonathan Pike Sent: Sunday, February 19, 2012 10:48 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [Dyfed] Griffith Morgan Davies Hi All I wonder if someone with access to the American edition of Ancestry might be able to help me with a couple of look-ups. My grandfather’s uncle Griffith Morgan Davies was born at Llandissilio on the Pembrokeshire – Carmarthenshire border in 1866. He left for the USA in 1894, on board the “Teutonic” passing through Ellis Island on 29th March. His last contact with Wales was in 1898 when a legal document was sent by him from the Philippines. This was the time of the Spanish American War and Griffith was serving in the US Army. In 1910 he was he was in Alaska but by 1920 he was in Washington State, married to a Norwegian woman named Anna, 25 years his junior. He finally became a naturalised US citizen in 1919, the year he left the army. He died in 1938 and was buried at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego. His widow was buried by his side in 1974. Until yesterday I had believed him to be childless but taking advantage of the free access to the 1930 census, I found him in San Diego with a child named Griffith M., aged 1 year and 8 months old (born 1928). I would like to trace this child if possible. I would be grateful if someone could look up the following Ancestry records: 1) California Birth Index, 1905-1995 for Griffith Maurice Davies 2) California Marriage Index, 1960-1985 for marriage of Griffith M. Davies and Joyce V. Dinkins 3) Social Security Death Index for death of Griffith Davies, 2009, San Diego There are also a couple of references to a Griffith M. Davies in US Public Records Index. I am not sure which one this might be. It would be great if someone can help me here. Regards, Jonathan Pike ================================ Dyfed list http://home.clara.net/daibevan/DyfedML.html ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message