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.