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Wedi’i eni yn yr 1840au, roedd David Lewis yn byw gyda’i deulu ger yr hen Gei yn Wdig. Masiwn (saer maen) oedd ei dad William.
Mae’r toriadau papur newydd yn adrodd hanes bywyd David. Ychydig o addysg gafodd, ac aeth i’r môr yn ifanc. Daeth o hyd i wraig yng Nghaerdydd lle cafodd ei ddenu i ganfod gwaith. Cwympodd ar fwrdd llong ac anafodd ei ysgwydd a bu yn yr ysbyty am beth amser. Yn anffodus, collodd ei wraig a nifer o blant i epidemig y ffliw. Ymfudodd eraill o’i blant i America.
Hwyliodd, ei gwch – y ‘Ladybird’, o amgylch yr arfordir i Abergwaun a gwneud bywoliaeth trwy gludo teithwyr a chargo… ond daeth hyn i ben gyda dyfodiad y rheilffordd i Wdig. Penderfynodd ‘Lewis Yacht’ fel y’i gelwid, hwylio’r cwch i’r traeth ar benllanw a setlo i fywyd tawel yn byw arni, ger y bont yng Nghwm Abergwaun. Roedd ei frawd a’i deulu yn byw ochr draw’r afon yn un o’r bythynnod ym mhen draw’r Cei.
Mae dwy garreg fedd yn y fynwent y tu ôl i Gapel y Tabernacl yn coffau brawd a rhieni David, ond ble mae ‘Lewis Yacht’ wedi ei gladdu?
Born in the 1840s, David Lewis lived with this family at Goodwick Quay – his father William was a stone mason.
The newspaper cuttings tell the story of how David had little education and went to sea at an early age. He found a wife at Cardiff where he had been drawn to find work. He had a fall, injuring his shoulder and was hospitalised for some time. He lost his wife and several children to the flu epidemic. Others of his children emigrated to America.
He sailed Ladybird, his boat, around the coast to Fishguard and made a living by carrying passengers and cargo…. but this all ended with the arrival of the railway at Goodwick. ‘Lewis Yacht’ as he was known, beached Ladybird on the high tide and settled to a quiet life living on the shingle near the bridge in Lower Fishguard. His brother and his family opposite in one of the cottages at the end of the Quay.
Two headstones at the cemetery behind Tabernacle Chapel commemorate David’s brother and parents, but where is David buried?
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I’m William and Martha Lewis’ great-great grandson, and John and Tamar Lewis’ great grandson. Thank you Natasha for directing me to this post and thank you to the author for sharing it. I’ve not looked into the life of David Evan Lewis, so this is fascinating.
David’s two younger brothers were also seafarers. John was in the Royal Navy and then the Coast Guard, before settling in Fishguard and living in Yorke Villa on Quay Street at the time the newspaper article was written in 1910. His youngest brother Stephen was in the Merchant Navy and emigrated to Australia in the 1870s.
John and Tamar had nine children: five sons and four daughters. Four of their sons were in the Merchant Navy, but three of them died at sea as commemorated by the headstone. Their fifth and youngest son Stanley, my grandfather, became a boot repairer working for Caleb Jenkins at West End Boot Stores on West Street. However he was clearly proud of his family’s seafaring roots as, when Stanley died in 1970, his son (my father) scattered his ashes at sea.
John died in 1926, a couple of years before Tamar. Absent from the headstone, I suspect he too was scattered at sea.
I will be in Fishguard in a few weeks’ time to commemorate the centenary of my father’s birth. I shall also be visiting the Tabernacle graveyard to pay my respects.
The first photograph as per the caption, is the grave of the parents of David Lewis”the Yacht”. It would appear that his sister is also buried there. The second photo is of the family of his brother John. The first name, Henry George was born in 1872. As the memorial records, all three boys were the sons of John and Tamar Lewis. Henry was the first to drown and the memorial was erected in his name. They probably did not expect to have to record two further sons and so when tragedy struck the script had to be smaller to ensure all could be recorded on the same stone. Perhaps the father John is also buried there but not recorded. If more information comes to light we will add it to the post.
These two gravestones are very confusing! And only partially legible. The first one commemorates William and Martha Lewis who died in 1886 and 1893 respectively, also Margaret (a daughter?) who died in 1922.
The second one commemorates, first, Henry George Lewis (dob illegible) who was drowned in the Bristol Channel in 1891, and two brothers David (dob 1882) and Arthur (dob 1885), drowned in the S. Atlantic in 1907, sons of John and Tamar – who is also buried there.
So, was Henry their uncle? And where is John, their father, buried?
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