Returning to the "land of my birth" and the culture of my ancestors, Steve and I attended the Welsh festival in Malad this summer. We met up with my sister Nancy, Marilyn and Dean Westenskow, and their daughter Julie, as well as some of the Marleys and then cousins we had never met. We are all related to Jonah Evans, our 3rd great grandfather who immigrated to America after converting to the LDS church, along with his wife Francis Bowen.
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| Aled Betts with Dr. Ron Dennis, former BYU teacher of Welsh |
Aled Betts, one of our Bowen relatives was a presenter. He is a Welsh historian and actually lives in Wales. He is related to Geraint Bowen, whom we met 10 years ago.
Descendents of Jonah Evans and Frances Bowen convened at a special family gathering with Mr. Betts Saturday in the basement of the 2nd ward chapel, which is adjacent to the park where the events was held. He shared photos and information related to the Bowen and Evans' lines.
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| Lillian Talbot, citizen of the year. |
We traveled about 10 miles out to Samaria, where Jonah was the first bishop. During this time he also remarried, as Francis had died. We also visited Lillian and Andy Tabot, her son, and Leann Bosworth her granddaughter. Lillian was my mother's 1st cousin. She is 90 years old now, but still lives alone out in the country. Her son and granddaughter are nearby.
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| Janet, Aled, and my sister, Nancy: The meeting of the Welsh |
Malad Valley has the largest per capita concentration of people of Welsh ancestry outside the country of Wales itself and they have revived the rich tradition of eisteddfod, Our relative Geraint, was honored several years ago in Wales at this event. One of the presenters is Ron Dennis, who led the trip to Wales and Scotland that we took. He taught Welsh at BYU for many years, and probably knows more about our Welsh family than we do.
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My Henderson grandparents home in Malad, where we spent many
early Christmases. |
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| Jonah Evans tombstone in the Samaria Cemetery near Malad |
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