JONES, DAVID RICHARD (1832 - 1916), Welsh-American poet

Born 24 October 1832 at Bryntirion, Dolwyddelan, Caernarfonshire, son of Richard Jones (who was brother to John Jones, Tal-y-sarn, 1796 - 1857). He emigrated with his parents to the U.S.A. in August 1845, attended school in Cambria, Wisconsin, for a few months, and worked on his father's farm until 1852 when he was articled to an architect. He worked for firms in St. Paul and Chicago until 1873 when he opened on his own, retiring in 1887; he died in 1916. He began to write verse in 1858, and many of his poems appeared in the columns of Y Drych (Utica). The influence of the ideas of Charles Darwin on his poems was very marked, and for that reason they were unacceptable to many Welsh people, especially Yr Ymchwil am y Goleuni (Dolwyddelan, 1910); T. Gwynn Jones, on the other hand, considered D.R. Jones to be a good poet. Before this the author had published Hanes Bywyd yr 'Hen Sion Llwyd' (Cambria, Wisconsin, 1897), whilst ' Rhiangerdd Mona'r Gelli,' (which had taken the prize at an eisteddfod in Cambria) appeared in Y Drych, 30 July and 6 August 1903, and a poem ' Yr Ysgrwd yn y Gilgell ' in the same newspaper on 24 July 1902.

Author

• Robert (Bob) Owen, (1885 - 1962)

Sources

• The Cambrian, 1903, 125-7
• Y Brython (Liverpool), 16 November 1911
• T. Gwynn Jones, Llenyddiaeth Gymraeg, y bedwaredd ganrif ar bymtheg llawlyfr at wasanaeth darllenwyr (Caernarfon 1920), 1920
• Y Drych, 7 May 1903

Additional Links

• Wikidata: Q20567243

Published date: 1959

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