Dear Pat, Confusing surname changes like these often crop up in the early 19th century just when civil registration gives out!! These two things often make progress beyond this barrier difficult if not impossible. That makes you knowledge of the *place* your ancestors liced all the more important. It would be unusual for the children of a marriage to take a maternal surname. If siblings exist with different surnames, they are much more likely to have been half-brothers and sisters. In a family of mixed surnames, if all were full brothers and sisters, it would be much more likely in your case that they would be either William(s) or (P)Richard(s). Of course, clerics sometimes made mistakes! Ian London SW9 "On July 25 1813, John son of William and Gwen Richard was baptised at St. Tudclud. Some of the children used the mother's surname of Jones; while others switched to Williams after their father - William Richard/Prichard. I believe that I found John Jones' in The Memorial Inscriptions of The Tabor Chapel booklet published by the Gwynedd FHS. Er cof am / JOHN mab Wm a GWEN JONES / a gladdwyd Chwefror 10 1834 / oed 21 I'm interested in learning more about the accident that killed John. What records would be available about slate quarries & deaths? Where would I find these records?" _________________________________________________________________ It's fast, it's easy and it's free. Get MSN Messenger today! http://www.msn.co.uk/messenger

I concur 100% with what Ian Thompson says, and researchers shoud be most careful when dealing what is commonly called patronymics. Some instances appear to have been quoted already, and here is another just for good measure: A man called Robert Jones, a Blacksmith in Caernarfon had three sons, the first two adopted the name Jones after their father, BUT the third decided to call himself John Roberts by inverting his father's two names. Got it? ROBERT JONES - JOHN ROBERTS. This John Roberts became a Doctor and a well known botanist in the Gwynedd area. What do make of that eh? T. Meirion Hughes. Editor, www.Cofis-dre-ar-y-we.co.uk (Bilingual Welsh/English) www.Cofis.co.uk (All inWelsh) ----- Original Message ----- From: "I Thompson" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, June 15, 2004 12:12 PM Subject: RE: [Cae] Penmachno > Dear Pat, > > Confusing surname changes like these often crop up in the early 19th century > just when civil registration gives out!! These two things often make > progress beyond this barrier difficult if not impossible. That makes you > knowledge of the *place* your ancestors liced all the more important. > > It would be unusual for the children of a marriage to take a maternal > surname. If siblings exist with different surnames, they are much more > likely to have been half-brothers and sisters. > > In a family of mixed surnames, if all were full brothers and sisters, it > would be much more likely in your case that they would be either William(s) > or (P)Richard(s). > > Of course, clerics sometimes made mistakes! > > Ian > London SW9 > > "On July 25 1813, John son of William and Gwen Richard was baptised at St. > Tudclud. Some of the children used the mother's surname of Jones; while > others > switched to Williams after their father - William Richard/Prichard. I > believe > that I found John Jones' in The Memorial Inscriptions of The Tabor Chapel > booklet published by the Gwynedd FHS. > > Er cof am / JOHN mab Wm a GWEN JONES / a gladdwyd Chwefror 10 1834 / oed 21 > > I'm interested in learning more about the accident that killed John. What > records would be available about slate quarries & deaths? Where would I find > these records?" > > _________________________________________________________________ > It's fast, it's easy and it's free. Get MSN Messenger today! > http://www.msn.co.uk/messenger > > > ==== WLS-CAERNARFONSHIRE Mailing List ==== > http://www.archiveshub.ac.uk/inst/uwbangor.shtml > Bangor University Archives > > ============================== > Gain access to over two billion names including the new Immigration > Collection with an Ancestry.com free trial. Click to learn more. > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=4930&sourceid=1237 > >