In the summer of 1995 I received a grant from Tenri University to study in Wales. Initially, I was stationed at the University of Wales, Lampeter branch, where I attended the ULPAN course in Welsh language. However, my research took me throughout mid and southern Wales. Because of the proximity of Lampeter to Aberystwyth, I spent my weekends at the National Library of Aberystwyth where I pursued my research on Eynon family history.
Using the library's extensive microfilm collection, I was able to transcribe the birth and death indexes of all Eynons in Great Britian from 1836 to 1900. I entered part of this on a computer while I was there in Wales, and the rest I compiled upon my return to Tenri. There were 1654 Eynon births and 1036 Eynon deaths recorded for that period of 64 years. The marriages for the same period were also later transcribed. Here I am in front of the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth.
My search began in a backward fashion and had me picking up traces in Swansea, Bridgend, Merthyr Tydfil, Portsmouth, and Pembroke. Through two months of searching, using census records, bishop's transcripts and parish records, I was able to eventually locate their point of origin in the village of Begelly in Pembrokeshire. Upon visiting the Begelly parish church dedicated to St. Mary, I was able to produce stone rubbings of the gravestones of my ancestors. (see picture).
During my search, I was able to meet several other Eynons also conducting their own family history research and our intertwining work has been mutually inspirational over the last several years. Sharon Eynon of Anglesey, North Wales I met with several times in the National Library of Wales, and Jayne Eynon I met through the Family History Society of Dyfed of which I eventually became a member. Our discussions eventually led to the creation of an Eynon Family History Society, which was established in early 1998.