The father was a stone mason , and the son was brought up in that craft, but later on became a carpenter , then a builder , and finally a contractor on a fairly large scale. He m. ( 1843 ) Ann (d. 1873 ), daughter of Robert Jones , a very well-known drover , of Bwlch Bach , Dolwyddelan . In 1852 he bought the holding of Tyddyn Cethin , and transformed the homestead and its land alike. With all this business ability, Gethin was a good littérateur , a poet of some mark, and especially a well-informed local historian , as is shown by his printed parish histories of Penmachno , Ysbyty Ifan , and Dolwyddelan . He was paralysed at the beginning of 1882 , and d. 29 Jan. 1883 . In 1884 a volume entitled Gweithiau Gethin was published; it includes the histories mentioned above, and has a biographical introduction on which the present note is based.