Williams of Conway, Newborough, Maltraeth, Dwyran and Holyhead, and Roberts of Newborough

Jack and Alexander are linked to the Williamses and Robertses via their grandmother, RITA MARGARET UNWIN (1917-2000), the daughter of ANN ELLEN WILLIAMS (1892-1962). Direct ancestors are shown in red.

The Williams family history is below. Click here for the Roberts line

My Williamses have links to Conway, Newborough, Malltraeth and Dwyran, the last three being in the southern corner of Anglesey, as well as Bodedern and Holyhead

The furthest we can get back with this line is gt gt gt grandfather Robert Williams, born in Conway in 1791 - mainly thanks to my cousin, John Duvall, who persisted "till I was Williamsed out, and just had to go for a beer"!

Robert and Margaret (d.o.b. unknown) had nine children: John (1813, possibly died young), Mary (1814), Catherine (1816), William (born 1818, bapt May 23, 1818), John (1818 - twins?), Robert (1821), Margaret (1824), Hugh (1827) and Thomas (1829).

The family are on the 1841 census living at Upper Gate St, Conway:
Robert, 50,
Margaret, 50,
John, 20,
Hugh, 14,
Thomas, 11,.

It is possible that the girls were married and William and Robert were elsewhere. Could William, a railway labourer aged 23 at the time, have been working on the line to Holyhead, where he met his wife, who was born in the village of Bodedern, just a few miles from the causeway to Holy Island?

William Williams (1818) and wife Margaret had six children in Conway: Robert (1845), Thomas (1847), Catherine (1848, died 1849), Jane (1849, died before 1851?), Catherine (c1850) and Margaret Jane (1851), then a further two in Holyhead: William (c1855) and Ellen (1860).

They are on the 1851 census, living on the north side of Upper Gate St, Conway:
William, 32, rail lab, b Conway
Margaret, 30, b Bodedern
Thomas, 3, b Conway
Catherine 1, b Conway
and lodgers Thomas Williams [William's brother?], 17, rail lab, b Conway, and Elizabeth Roberts, 14, home servant, b Conway.

Gt grandfather Robert was living with his grandparents in 62 Chapel Street, Conway.
Robert Williams, 60, a shoemaker, b Conway
Margaret, 63, b Conway
Hugh, 24, a railway labourer, b Conway
Catherine, 34, b Conway
Robert, 5, grandson, b Conway

In the 1861 census, William Williams's family is living at 28, Kingsland, Holyhead:
William Williams, head, married, 43, watchman, b Conway
Margret (?) Williams, wife, 42, b Bodedern, Anglesey
Robert Williams, son, 16, mariner, b Conway
Thomas Williams, son, 14, b Conway
Cathrin Williams, daughter, 11, scholar, b Conway
Margret Jane Williams, daughter, 9, scholar, b Conway
William Williams, son, 6, scholar, b Holyhead
Ellen Williams, daughter, 4mths, b Holyhead

From this, we can say that William Williams and children moved from Conway to Holyhead at some stage between 1852 and 1855. Watchman is a curious calling - was he an early policeman, or a navigational watchman on the shore?

Oldest son Robert b1845, became a mariner, then a labourer, then a railwayman, and finally an engine driver.

Robert had three sons and a daughter (Edward, Robert, Owen, and Margaret) from his first marriage to Laura Prichad (Prichard) of Bodedern. Laura made the sampler on the right. Robert and Luara's granddaughter via Margaret was Lizzie Williams of Penwal, Pen Lon, Newborough, whom I used to visit up until her death in the 1990s. See the Pen Wal story.

Following Laura's death, Robert married my gt grandmother Margaret, formerly Williams, nee Roberts, who was his housekeeper after Laura's death. She was a widow who had one son, John H. More on the Roberts line.

In the 1881 Census, Robert Williams is living at Kingsland, Holyhead
Robert WILLIAMS,  36, born Conway, General Laborer 
Laura WILLIAMS Wife, 35, born Bodedern, Anglesey, Wales
Edward E. WILLIAMS, 14, Bodedern, Anglesey, Wales 
Robert H. WILLIAMS, 13, Holyhead, Anglesey, Wales 
Owen E. WILLIAMS, 10,  Holyhead, Anglesey, Wales 

NB: Daughter Margaret Alice was born in 1882, and John in 1885.

In 1892, at the time of the birth of my grandmother, Ann Ellen, in 1892, Robert and his second wife Margaret were living in Holyhead. Their second daughter, Eliza Jane, was born in Newborough in 1897/98.

By 1901, the family had followed thousands of other Welsh people and moved to the Walton district of Liverpool.

Anne married George Laurence Unwin. (For more information see the Unwin family tree).

In the 1901 Census, the family were at 31 Bardsay Road, Walton on the Hill, Liverpool
Robert Williams 56 b Conway, railway foreman
Margaret Williams, 41, b Newborough
John H Williams, son, 16, born Holyhead, Errand boy
Ann E Williams, 9, b Holyhead
Eliza J Williams, 3, b Newborough
William Roberts, brother in law to Robert Williams, single, 23, carpenter, joiner, born Anglesey.