JONES
,
LEWIS
(
1836
-
1904
),
pioneer in Patagonia, and writer
;
b. at
Caernarvon
. He moved to
Holyhead
where, in conjunction with his fellow-
printer
Evan
Jones
(afterwards of
Caernarvon
) (
1836
-
1915
) (q.v.)
he
edited
the
Pwnsh Cymraeg
. He then went to
Liverpool
where he became one of the leaders of the
Welsh Colony movement
. In
1862
he was sent with
capt.
(afterwards
Sir
)
T. Love
Jones-Parry
(q.v. under
Parry
of
Madryn
family
) to explore
Patagonia
, and returned with a report so highly coloured as to be misleading. The result was that he persuaded
Welsh
emigrants to undertake the venture, and he and
Edwin Cynrig
Roberts
were sent to prepare the way for the first contingent. The emigrants were disappointed, there was a quarrel, and after three months
Jones
left for
Buenos Aires
where he spent the next eighteen months working as a
printer
. In
1867
, however, when he heard that the
Welsh
colonists were proposing to leave
Patagonia
, he returned to that country and, by the exercise of his unusual gift of oratory, persuaded them to stay there. He was for a short time
governor
of
Patagonia
— the only
Welshman
ever to have been appointed by the
government of Argentina
to this post. But he was also on occasion thrown into prison for attempting to uphold the rights of the
Welsh
. He
imported his own printing press
and
started two newspapers
—
Ein Breiniad
,
1878
, and
Y Dravod
,
1891
; the latter is still being published. A lecture given before the
Cymmrodorion
in
1885
, when he was visiting
Wales
, was subsequently published, and his book
Y Wladfa Gymreig
was published in
1898
. He had two daughters —
Eluned
Morgan
(q.v.)
and another who married
Llwyd ap Iwan
, son of
Michael D.
Jones
(q.v.)
.
Lewis
Jones
was a gallant
leader in the Colony
for thirty-five years, but he was heart-broken when the land was ravaged by the great floods of
1899
. He d.
26 Nov. 1904
at the age of 68.
Bibliography:
-
R. Bryn Williams
,
Cymry Patagonia
, Aberystwyth,
1942
, 13, 20-31, 43-6, 53, 61-4,
Straeon Patagonia
, Gwasg Aberystwyth,
1946
, and
Rhyddiaith y Wladfa
, Denbigh Gwasg Gee,
1949
.
Author:
Rev. Richard Bryn Williams, M.A., (1902-81), Rhuthyn / Aberystwyth
