This is a bilingual post.
Y teulu Harries we’n byw yn y tý canol yn y llun hwn. Teiliwr we Mr Willie Harries, ac wedd e’n ishte â’i linie wedi croesi, ar ben y ford, yn ffenest y parlwr, i weitho gyda nedwi ac edau.
We ganddo fe â’i wraig, Lisi, lawer o blant, ond dim ond un mab. Ulysses we enw’r mab, ond bydde Lisi Harries bob amser yn cyfeirio ato fel ‘Uwi ni’. Menyw fach dwt, a chanddi wallt gwyn, yn gwisgo ‘tam’ coch ar ei phen bob amser we ‘Anti Lisi’. Wêdd hi’n drysorydd Capel Bach y Cwm ac yn gyfrifol am lanhau’r adeilad hefyd. Mwy tebygol o fynd i’r dafarn na’r Capel oedd William Harries.
Fe fydde Lisi’n gwneud ei gwaith glanhau yn y capel ar brynhawn neu nos Sadwrn, yn barod ar gyfer yr Ysgol Sul, drannoeth. Fe fydde Cwrdd Gweddi yn cael ei gynnal pob nos Fowrth ac fe fydde y Parchg Wynn Owen yn cerdded i’r Cwm o Benucha’r Dre, ym mhob tywydd, gaeaf neu haf, i gynnal y Cwrdd.
O fwrw heibio i weld Anti Lisi, wrth ei gwaith yn glanhau’r Capel, fe fydde croeso a gwên ganddi bob amser. Wedd hi’n un serchog iawn er gwaetha treialon ei bywyd. We ganddi ffordd ddiddorol o weithio. “Shwt ti’n meddwl cawn ni hwnnw lawr o fanna?” holai, o sylwi ar whith-cor (rhwyd corryn) mewn cornel uchel, uwchben ffenest. “Wel, dangosa i ti!” medde hi. Dyma hi’n creu pelen o’r clwtyn we ganddi i ddwstio, ac yn towlu’r belen i ligad y whith-cor. Gyda nerth yr ergyd a phwyse’r belen, lawr â’r whith-corn yn gyfan! ‘Na ni, rhwydd!’ medde Anti Lisi, gan chwerthin. Daeth ‘Rene, merch Lisi, yn drysorydd y Capel Bach. Eithriad oedd iddi beido a bod yn y Cwrdd Gweddi ar nos Fowrth, ond os nad oedd hi yno, byddai’n rhaid cario ‘casgliad’ yr Ysgol Sul, we’n cael ei gynnal rhwng 2-3 o’r gloch, lawr i waelod y Cei ati yn rhif 35. Wrth gnocio ar y drws, bydde ‘Rene yn galw ‘Dere mewn, dere at y tân fan hyn.’ Bydde hi yn gwneud lle i chi ar ei phwys ar y sgiw yn y shimne fowr. Wedd hi fel nyth o gysurus yno, a’r seld a’r sgiwydd yn adlewyrchu gole’r fflame.
Os edrychwn ni ar wybodaeth Cyfrifiad, cawn weld mai ym mhentre Dinas y cafodd Lisi (Mary Elizabeth) ei geni ar 20-9-1870, a William wedi ei eni yn Abergweun ar 9-11-1864. Aeth y ddau ‘bant i’r gweithie’ ym mlynyddoedd cynnar eu priodas. Ganwyd eu plant Martha Ann a Maggie yn Griffithstown, Mynwy, ond yn Abergwaun y ganwyd y gweddill. Cafodd Ulyssus T. ei eni yn 1899 wedi iddynt symud nôl i’r ardal, hefyd Rachel Irene, Beryl a Sarah Augusta. Teulu mowr ar gyfer bwthyn mor fach. Yn 1921 we William Harries yn gwneud gwaith teilwra i gwmni W J Davies, Abergwaun. We’i ferch, Maggie yn gweitho yn siop ‘William James, Draper‘ fel ‘draper’s assistant’, ac Irene yn brentis gwiniadyddes gyda Mrs Griffiths, Stryd y Cwm Abergweun. Merch ysgol 11 oed we Beryl yn 1921. Ganwyd mwy o blant, ond buont farw yn ifanc.
Priododd Martha Ann a dod yn Mrs Prosser. Daeth Margaret yn wraig i Thomas Millet Carthew, rheolwr pwll glo. (Ganwyd un ferch iddynt yn Ionawr 1924, sef Glenys Irene Carthew. Fel Glenys Cour MBE, daeth hi yn artist o safon rhyngwladol, ac mae’n dal i fyw a gweithio yn Abertawe). Aeth Ulysses i Abertawe gan weithio i’r GWR fel ‘boilermaker’s mate’ yn 1917, pan oedd yn ddeunaw oed. Priododd yn 1926. Priododd Sarah Augusta â George Shapland, ac we ganddynt ddwy ferch sydd yn y llun uchod. Erbyn 1939, we rhif 35, Y Cei tipyn gwacach. Dim ond William a Lisi oedd ar ôl. Ond wedi eu dyddie nhw, daeth ‘Rene, eu merch, we’n ddibriod, nôl i fyw yno. Bu hi’n gweithio yn siop grocer Roberts (lle mae Caffi Cresswell heddi) am sawl blwyddyn, yn cerdded rhwng ei chartre a’i gwaith ym mhob tywydd, pob dydd. Mewn tywydd garw iawn byddai Mr Roberts yn eu rhedeg hi gatre yn ei fan fach frown. Wedyn, bu’n helpu yn siop fach y Cwm gyda Mrs Lois Jackson am flynydde, tan ei bod dros ei phedwar ugain. (We’r teulu Harries, Y Cei, yn perthyn i Mrs Lois Jackson) Fel we’n gyffredin yn yr 1970au, wedd hi’n gwisgo ‘housecoat’ tra’n gweithio yn y siop. Yn rhif 35 y bu’n byw, am weddill ei hoes a phawb yn ei hadnabod fel ‘Anti ‘Rene’. | For several decades, the Harries family lived in the middle house in this picture. Mr Willie Harries was a tailor by trade and he would sit, legs crossed, on the table in the parlour, using the light from the window with which to stitch.He and his wife, Lisi, had many children, but just one son- Ulysses. Lisi Harries would always refer to him as ‘Uwi ni’ (Our Uwi). Lisi was a neat little woman, with white hair, always wearing a red ‘tam’ (beret) on her head. She was known as ‘Auntie Lisi’ to all. She was treasurer of ‘Capel Bach y Cwm‘ – the chapel on the corner by the bridge – long since demolished. Lisi was also responsible for cleaning ‘Capel Bach’, but her husband was far more likely to go to the pub than to chapel. Lisi would do her cleaning work on Saturday afternoon or evening, ready for Sunday School, the next day. A Prayer Meeting would be held every Tuesday night and Reverend Wynn Owen would walk to Lower Town from Pendre, in all weathers, winter or summer, to lead the Prayer Meeting. Should you drop by to see Aunty Lisi, at work cleaning the Chapel, she would always make you feel welcome with a smile. She was always chirpy and jolly in spite of many trials in life. She had an interesting way of working. “How do you think we’ll get that down from there?” she’d ask, noticing a spiders web in a high corner, above a window. “Well, I’ll show you!” she would say. She would squeeze her duster into a ball and throw it deftly into the middle of the web. The web would fall clean away, wrapped around the duster, intact! ‘See, easy!’ Aunt Lisi would laugh. Lisi’s daughter, ‘Rene became treasurer at Capel Bach. It was uncommon for ‘Rene to miss the Prayer Meeting on a Tuesday night. If she wasn’t there, the Sunday School ‘collection’ (which was held between 2-3pm on Sunday afternoon), would have to be carried down to no 35 on the Quay. Having heard you knocking the door, ‘Rene would call out ‘Come in, come warm by the fire.’ She would make room for you beside her on the settle in the inglenook. Her home was a warm, cozy nest, and the Welsh dresser & settle reflected the light of the flames. If we look at Census records, we can see that Auntie Lisi was born Mary Elizabeth in the village of Dinas on 20-9-1870, and William was born in Fishguard on 9-11-1864. They went together to the South Wales Valleys in search of work in the early years of their marriage. Their children Martha Ann and Maggie were born in Griffithstown, Monmouth, but the rest were born in Fishguard. Their son, Ulyssus Thomas was born in 1899, after their move back to Fishguard, also Rachel Irene, Beryl and Sarah Augusta. A large family for such a small cottage. In 1921 William Harries was tailoring for ‘W J Davies, Tailor’, Fishguard. His daughter, Maggie worked at ‘William James, Draper’ as a ‘draper’s assistant’, and Irene was an apprentice dressmaker with Mrs Griffiths, Main St, Fishguard. Beryl was an 11-year-old schoolgirl in 1921. More children had been born but didn’t live to adulthood.
In time, Martha Ann got married and became Mrs Prosser. Margaret became the wife of Thomas Millet Carthew, a mine manager. (One daughter was born to them in January 1924, Glenys Irene Carthew. As Glenys Cour MBE, she became an artist of international renown and still lives and works in Swansea). Ulysses went to Swansea to work for the GWR as a ‘boilermaker’s mate’ in 1917, when he was eighteen years old. He married in 1926. Sarah Augusta married George Shapland, and they had two daughters who are seen in the above photograph. By 1939, no 35, the Quay was a lot emptier. Only William and Lisi were left. But after they died, ‘Rene, their unmarried daughter, came back to live on the Quay. She worked in Roberts’ grocer shop (where Cresswell Cafe is today) for several years, walking between her home and the shop in all weathers, every day. In very bad weather Mr Roberts would run her home in his little brown van. Later, she helped out for many years in the little shop and Post Office with Mrs Lois Jackson, in Lower Town. (The Harries family of Quay St were related to Mrs Lois Jackson) She would always wear a ‘housecoat’, as was the custom in the 1970s, while working behind the counter and continued till she was well past 80 yrs old. She was at number 35, for the rest of her life and everyone knew her as ‘Aunty ‘Rene’. |
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