A Very Old Celtic Name

      In the translator's note by Wm R Cooper to Brut y Bryttaniait [The Chronicle of the Early Britons] he writes, "Welsh texts of any century present the English translator with a problem or two concerning personal and place names..."  He continues, "At the best of times, English readers find Welsh names impossibly difficult to pronounce and the immediate task is always to render the names so that the English reader will not constantly trip over them."

      Man, can you say that again. I've done a lot of tripping in my days of tree climbing. You can judge for yourself from the last post how one name can be written many different ways even when written in Welsh. Anyway, the son of Kadvarch (JA-1) is given such a simple name, Ynyr (JB-1), but it has a long, long story. 

      The earliest listing of this name is around 510 A.D., and Mike Ashley in his book (see post 20th February) on page 124 writes "Honorius is a name recorded as a ruler in Caerwent in southern Gwent, also known in Celtic as Ynyr." Wow, a Celtic name while the folks were still speaking P-Celtic. 

      Now a second listing is found in the very text that begins this post. At the last page of this translation it reads : "And Kadwallader sent Yvor, his son, and Ynyr, his nephew,...". Historically, this Kadwallader was involved with a Saxon named Penda sometime around the battle of Chester 613 A.D. A little further down this page it continues: "And Yvor, son of Kadwallader, and Ynyr his nephew, mustered a mighty army and brought them to the land of Britain where they waged war against the Saxons for twenty-eight years." The reference is Cooper, W.R., The Chronicle of the Early Britons - Brut y Bryttanialt- according to Jesus College MS LXI, an annotated translation, 2008.

      A third reference is found in The Welsh Triads or Trioedd Ynys Prydein. These triads are described as a mixed collection of triadic sayings that recount personages, events, or places in Welsh history. Triad xliii titled "Three Lively Steeds of the Island of Britain" gives the third horse "...and Roan Cloved-Hoof, horse of Iddon son of Ynyr Gwent". This may be a reference to the earliest Ynyr listed above as he was living in southern Gwent. There must have been reasons to remember this Celtic name.

      Anyway, after all this research into this Celtic name, a deep appreciation was realized to this ancestor who was given this name at his birth. A very old Celtic name it is.

Wait a Minute

      Now just you wait a minute. You've got to be kidding. Cad or Gad, forch or farch, varch or vorch you say. What makes you think they are all the same person? Why not four different individuals? C to G, o to a, and f to v, all letters that seem a far distance between each other in my English alphabet. A good question it is for all you family tree climbers. Hum...let's see.

      First, you need to trust your source of information. How correct, accurate, and reliable is the reference. Is there a way to corroborate (make more certain) the names, dates, locations, events, and stories that are recorded. 

      Second, are there more than one source that records the information. A family tree listed in one source should pretty match another. 

      Thirdly, double check that you are copying correctly the given facts. 

      Now in the case of our Gadforch (JA-1), the primary text is perhaps the most famous Welsh genealogical text Heraldic Visitations Of Wales and Part of the March, by Lewys Dwnn. (front page of my copy shown last post). It is stated here that between 1586 and 1613, "Transcribed From The Original Sources" by Dwnn, and that he is listed as "Deputy Herald At Arms." The copy shown last post is edited by Sir Samuel Rush Meyrick, and published 1846 in two volumes. In Vol.I, on page xv, JA-1 is spelled Cadfarch. On page 307 Vol. II, the name is spelled Kadfrach. Here we go, spelled two different ways in this trusted source of Welsh family trees.

      A second reference written by Thomas Nicholas, and first published 1872, is titled Annals and Antiquities of The Counties and County Families of Wales. It has been my favorite and most useful for climbing out the many branches of my Jones family tree. It also has two volumes, and on page 307 (Vol II) JA-1 is spelled Kadfarch. A copy of the cover page follows.

      A third source is The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland And Wales: Comprising A Registry Of Armorial Bearings From The Earliest To The Present. Written by Sir Bernard Burke, and his present time was 1884. On page 1035, JA-1 is spelled Cadforch. This text was one of the first accounts that got me climbing out many branches. The front page of my original copy found in a rare book room, Lexington, KY many years ago follows.

      In each of these sources the agnatic (male descent) matched, except for the spellings. Now wait a minute, how would you spell JA-1?

Top To Bottom

      Starting at the very top of my Jones family tree is JA-1. Remember, capital "J" stands for Jones, capital "A" stands for the first generation from the top, and the number (#) 1 labels the first individual.  Following this system, each individual receives a distinct code which can be utilized to keep all the branches somewhat in order.  So here goes...

      The very first grandfather is Gadforch. What a name to begin the branches. There are various spellings of this name which you will find is often the case going down the many branches. In the Welsh, Cad means war, and this generation was certainly facing many conflicts. He would have lived around the same time as the Viking raids were hitting the north west shores of Wales. War(forch) would certainly be an appropriate title. I have been unable to find a meaning of "forch" (farch, varch, or vorch) but war-something- must be the title.

      It would not be correct to suggest that when doing genealogy one begins at the top of the family tree. The reality is that one begins at the very bottom. You start with yourself, then to your folks, and then to the oldest known in the family. In my case, this story (starting from the bottom) is told from my early age of nine years in this very blog, "The Jones Genealogist". If interested in how things got started you can scroll down using the columns to the right of this screen. Identify the colorful pictures of the "Followers". Then scroll down to "Featured Post", and then to what is titled "Blog Archives". Now from here 2023, you scroll down to year 2010 and click onto a monthly column of posts for that year. Scroll down to the first month shown (July), to a post dated July 7, 2010. It is titled "50 Years of Genealogy"! Wow, if you have gotten to this point you show signs of a real tree climber.

      Anyway, the first document of Cadfarch (spelled differently from above) is found in the classic Welsh genealogical text by Lewys Dwnn p. xv. The inside cover page of my copy follows. Much more will be said regarding the top of my Jones family tree.

      Top to bottom, or bottom to top, tree climbing in any direction, it is.

A Genealogy Coding System

      After just a few years into all this genealogy stuff (now 62 years), it became obvious that a coding method would be helpful. Can you imagine how many John Jones there were in my Jones surname family tree? How to keep all these folks separated...generation after generation...and organized in a way to find anyone when it was time to piece together some of the tree branches. Since I am about to begin my own Jones surname family tree, explaining the method developed in the Y-chromosome transmission would be of assistance. Let's begin with the first three generations of my family as shown in the last post of February 27th. Here is that part of the branches as demonstrated.

     Now the first step was to code each generation of the family tree beginning with the founder (first in line as far back as one discovered). Using the English alphabet capital A-Z, each generation could be labeled and placed in chronological order for 26 generations.  Then, the letter "J" was used to label each individual as belonging to the JONES surname. Thus, for the first generation each family member would be identified "JA"...second generation "JB"...third generation "JC"...and on down the line. Next, each member would be given the number (#) as they were being discovered, such that the first grandfather would be coded "JA-1". His wife would be "JA-2" since you would not be here if each "JA-1" did not have a "JA-2"! When grandfather two (maternal side) was identified, he would be coded "JA-3" (wife JA-4) meaning they were in the first generation (A) and the 3rd and 4th individuals to be named. The second generation would be coded "JB", third generation "JC", and on down the line until "JZ" would be the 26th generation. Using the figure drawn above, first in line was Gadforch (JA-1) with wife's name undiscovered (JA-2). Their son was Ynyr (JB-1) with Rhiengar (JB-2). Their son was Tydyr (JC-1) with Anghard (JC-2) as shown. Down the line you can go, in structure and concept, even though each family member might not be identified by name. Give this method a go using your own family tree with what ever your surname. Just begin your coding with the first letter of your line of descent.