'O D' gan 'D J' / a description of O D Jones, Fishguard headmaster by his friend D J Williams.

Ganwyd ‘O.D.’ yn y flwyddyn 1876, a’i fagu ar aelwyd grefyddol, barchus, ddiwylliedig,  yn ardal y chwareli a’i syched dwfn am addysg. Bro ei febyd oedd Blaenau Ffestiniog. Roedd ei dad yn flaenor capel Methodus Bethesda a byddai Owen bach yn aelod o’r Band of Hope yno.  Oherwydd y fagwraeth hon, roedd ‘O,D.’, fel dyn, yn Gymro gwlatgar a Phiwritan selog. “Dyn duwiol wedi mynd ar goll ydw i, gardd wedi tyfu’n chwyn,” meddai weithiau amdano’i hun yn ei funudau mwyaf difrifol a sobr.

“Saeson o Sir Aberteifi oedd ein hathrawon ni yn ysgol Ffestiniog gynt,” meddai ef. Wedi ymadael â’r Ysgol Sir yno aeth i Goleg Prifysgol Aberystwyth i ennill ei dystysgrif athro gan fod yn ddisgybl yn nosbarth Cymraeg Syr Edward Anwyl, gwr a barchai, byth wedyn, hyd at addoliad. Cychwynnodd ar ei swydd fel athro gyntaf yn Ffestiniog, ac yna yng Nghasnewydd, a phriodi cyd-athrawes ag ef yno, Miss Annie Price o ochr Mynydd Epynt, ger Llanwrtyd. Bu hithau iddo wedyn yn ymgeledd  weddill ei oes.

Daeth O.D. a’i briod yn bâr ifanc hardd i Abergwaun yn 1903. Bu iddynt dri o blant,­-Ieuan, yr hynaf, sy’n awr yn byw yng Nghaerfyrddin, Danni, yr ail, a laddwyd yn yr Ail Ryfel Byd, ac Elen, yr ieuengaf, a chanddi, yn ei ffordd dawelach, lawer o dalent ei thad.

Roedd yn Abergwaun y dyddiau hynny ddau senedd-dy. Y cyntaf ohonynt, ‘Ty’r Arglwyddi’, fel y gellid ei alw, ydoedd Siop Martin ar y Sgwâr. Oriadurwr wrth ei alwedigaeth ydoedd J. G. Martin, ac ysgrifennydd gofalus y Tabernacl, eglwys y Parch H. T. Jacob yn ei ddydd. Roedd ei siop, lle y gwerthid papurau hefyd, yn ail gartref i’r sawl a alwai heibio. Yno y byddai pregethwyr o bob enwad, ac un ‘ffeirad,’ Glynfab ffraeth a hoffus o’r Dinas gerllaw; yn athrawon, megis John Hughes, Montreal, a J. J. Evans, Tyddewi, yn eu tro; y cyfreithwyr hefyd, ac ambell wr busnes yn cwrdd. Yn y “Tŷ” hwn, trafodid materion y dydd, yn lleol a byd-lydan. 

Ac yn awr fe drown i mewn i Dŷ’r Cyffredin yn Abergwaun , — sef i Siop Morgans y Barber ar gornel Penslad, lle llawn mor gyfleus a llawn cystal ei gwmnïaeth. ‘R oedd yma stafell eang, stof gynnes yn y canol, a mainc o gwmpas y muriau. Ar wahân i cwsmeriaid a gymerai eu tro i’w shafio neu dorri gwalltau, hen bensiynwyr oedd mwyafrif yr aelodau sefydlog yma,­hen forwyr wedi angori ar y tir sych, ac weithiau gapten llong a geisiai’i lordan hi o hyd megis cynt, ac ambell lowr a marciau’r ffâs ar ei wyneb a ddaethai yn ôl i’w gynefin cyntaf i ddiweddu ei yrfa.

Y Prif Weinidog, yn ei got wen oedd Morgans ei hun, -tenau ei wyneb a sobr ei wedd, ond a winc slei yng nghornel ei lygad glas. Daethai yno o Gastell Nedd, ddechrau’r ganrif, tua’r un adeg ag O.D., yn llanc o ryw dri chwarter Sais o ran iaith. Ond dysgodd Gymraeg yn dda, gan ddod yn ddiacon a chodwr canu yn Hermon, capel y Bedyddwyr, lle y teyrnasai’r Hybarch Ddan Dafys gydag urddas deon eglwysig. ‘Roedd gan Morgans un dalent arbennig arall: dyna’r agent provocateur, y codwr cynnen swyddogol, mwyaf deheuig lwyddiannus a welwyd erioed. Deallai ei gynulleidfa yn dda. A phan fyddai pethau dipyn yn fflat yn y ‘Senedd’ weithiau, a chwpwl go lew wedi dod ynghyd yno, fe ollyngai Morgans o gornel ei geg, ac ar hap, megis, ryw air bach neu awgrym diniwed, i bob golwg, a chyn pen fawr o dro fe fyddai bant yno, ac weithiau’n poethi’n ddadl wyllt, a neb yn rhyw sicr iawn beth oedd wedi achosi’r helynt. ‘R own i’n aelod achlysurol o’r ddau Dy pan ganiatâi amser. ‘R oedd yn werth i ddyn ddod i Siop Morgans y Barbwr i dorri’i wallt ddwywaith yr wythnos yr adeg honno, hyd yn oed pe na bai’r un gwalltyn ar ei ben.

Roedd personoliaeth O.D. yn ddylanwad go fawr yn Abergwaun, ac yn y sir o ran hynny. Ond nid oedd y dylanwad hwn er lles, bob amser. Roedd yn aelod ffyddlon ym Mhentowr, y capel Methodus, ac yn athro Ysgol Sul rhagorol. “Y gwat” (Tafarn y Ship and Anchor) yn gymaint â dim gadwodd O.D. o’r sêt fawr.  O.D. yn bennaf a sefydlodd Cymdeithas y Cymrodorion a fu’n llewyrchu yma er dechrau’r ganrif. Ef hefyd fu’r prif symudydd i wahodd yr Eisteddfod Genedlaethol i Abergwaun yn 1936, gan weithio, gydag eraill, hyd nes llwyddo. Pan gyhoeddodd Llys yr Eisteddfod yn y cyfarfod cyhoeddus ar gyfer hynny yng Nghastell Nedd yn 1934, mai i Abergwaun yr oedd yr Eisteddfod i ddod nesaf yn y De, ebychiad O.D. wrth y sawl a eisteddai wrth ei ochr ar y pryd ydoedd: “Duw, beth wnawn ni’n awr!”

Hawdd fyddai llanw llyfr cyfan á storïau am O.D.- cymysg da a drwg. Gallai O.D. fod wedi mynd ymhell petai ganddo sadrwydd cymeriad i gydfynd â’i ddoniau naturiol disglair. Nid oedd ganddo rithyn o uchelgais personol, chwarae teg iddo. Byddai weithiau yn gweddio mewn cyfarfod diolchgarwch am y cynhaeaf yng nghapel Pentowr. Doedd gan neb arall weddi mwy dethol a chyfoethog eu hymadroddion, nac yn fwy angerddol ddwys eu hymbiliau na’r gweddiau hynny. Roedd y gynulleidfa yn syfrdan  o glywed O.D. ar ei gliniau.

‘O.D.’ was born in  Blaenau Ffestiniog in 1876, and grew up in a religious, respectful, cultured household. His deep thirst for education was instilled in him through the influence of this quarrying community. His father was a deacon at Bethesda Methodist Chapel and little Owen was a member of the Band of Hope there.  ‘O.D.’, as a man, was a patriotic Welshman and believed in Puritan values. “I’m a godly man gone to seed, a garden grown wild with weeds,” he sometimes said of himself in his most serious and sober moments.

“Our teachers at Ffestiniog school were English speaking, from Cardiganshire ,” he would said. After leaving the County School there he went to Aberystwyth University College to earn his teacher’s certificate and be a pupil in Sir Edward Anwyl’s Welsh class. He respected Sir Edward greatly. He first started as a teacher in Ffestiniog, and then in Newport, Monmouthshire, and there married a fellow teacher, Miss Annie Price, from the Epynt Mountain, near Llanwrtyd Wells. She was a rock to him for the rest of his life.

O.D. and his spouse arrived at Fishguard in 1903, a beautiful young couple. They had three children,-Ieuan, the oldest, who lived later in Carmarthen, Danni, the second, who was killed in the Second World War, and Elen, the youngest, who, in a quieter way, inherited much of her father’s talent.

Now, at Fishguard in those days, there were two parliament houses. The first of them, the ‘House of Lords’, as might be called, was the Martin Shop on the Square. J. G. Martin was a watchmaker, and the careful secretary of Tabernacle Chapel, the church of the venerable Rev H. T. Jacob in his day. His shop, where papers were also sold, was a second home for those who called. There would be local preachers of all denominations, and one ‘vicar’,  Rev. Glynfab from Dinas Cross; teachers, such as John Hughes, Montreal, and J. J. Evans, St Davids, also; the lawyers as well, and a few businessmen all met. In this “House”, the issues of the day were discussed, both locally and world wide.

And now we turn to the ‘House of Commons’ in Fishguard , — Morgans Barber  Shop on the corner of Penslade. Here was a wide room, a warm stove in the middle, and a bench around the walls. Apart from customers who took turns to shave or cut hair, the majority of the regular members here were old pensioners, old sailors anchored on dry land, and sometimes a ship’s captain , and the occasional collier with faces marked with scars of blue, that came back to their childhood haunts to end their days.

The Prime Minister, in his white coat, was Morgans, – thin faced and sober-eyed, but showing a wink in the corner of his blue eye. He came to Fishguard from Neath, at the beginning of the century, around the same time as O.D.,being three quarters English in terms of language. But he learned Welsh well, becoming a deacon and a ‘leader of song’ in Hermon, the Baptist chapel, where the venerable Dan Davies reigned with the dignity of an ecclesiastical dean. ‘Morgans had one more special talent: he was an ‘agent provocateur’, the most dexterous’stirrer’ ever seen. He understood his audience well. And when things were sometimes a bit flat in ‘parliament’, and people’s conversations were drying up, Morgans dropped from the corner of his mouth, and at random, some small word or an innocent suggestion, apparently, and before long, the debate would heat up into a wild discussion, and nobody was very sure what had caused the trouble!

‘D J’ was an occasional member of both Houses when time allowed. ‘It was worth  coming to Morgans Shop to cut your hair twice a week at that time, even if you didn’t have a single hair on your head!’ he would say.

O.D.’s personality was a real influence in Fishguard, and in the county for that matter. But this influence was not always for the good. He was a loyal member of Pentowr, the Methodist chapel, and an excellent Sunday School teacher. But his alliegence to The Ship and Anchor as much as anything kept O.D. from from gaining his deacon’s seat in the ‘Sedd fawr’. It was O.D. who mainly founded the Society of ‘Cymrodorion’ (Welsh Society) in Fishguard which has flourished since the beginning of the century. He was also the main instigator in inviting the National Eisteddfod to Fishguard in 1936, working, with others, until achieving success. When the Eisteddfod Court announced at the public meeting in Neath in 1934, that the Eisteddfod was to be held at Fishguard,  O.D. exclaimed to the person sitting beside him at the time: “God, what do we do now!”

It would be easy to fill a whole book of stories about O.D.- a mixed anthology of good and bad – like O.D. himself. He might have gone a long way had his strength of character matched his natural talents. He had not an ounce of personal ambition, fair play to him. He would sometimes pray at the harvest festival at Pentowr. No one else prayed with more intense passion than he. The audience was stunned to hear O.D. on his knees.