The Rev. Michael D. Jones and the Rev. D. S. Davies, c.1885

Description

The Rev. Michael D. Jones (1822-98) was born in the village of Llanuwchllyn, near Bala. Jones was a Congregational minister and Principal of the Independent College at Bala. He is widely regarded as the leader of the movement to establish a Welsh settlement in Patagonia.

David Stephen Davies (1841-98) was a native of Plas-marl, near Swansea, who emigrated to the United States of America in 1857. He soon began to preach and was ordained in 1862, and he eventually took charge of one of New York's chapels. There, he played a prominent role in the work of promoting the emigration movement among Welsh-Americans. In 1874 he decided to visit Patagonia and left New York with a small contingent of emigrants on board the 'Electric Spark' in February that year. However, disaster struck during the voyage, and the ship was wrecked near the coast of Brasil. Although the precious cargo of agricultural machinery was lost, the passengers succeeded in reaching Buenos Aires, where they took refuge for a short while in the Emigrants House, before being taken on the ship 'Irene' to Patagonia. D. S. Davies spent four months in Patagonia and on his return to Wales he wrote a detailed report on life in the Settlement. The report originally appeared as a series of articles in the Welsh-American newspaper 'Baner America', but was later published in 1875 as a pamphlet funded by Edwin Cynrig Roberts. The report provides a detailed description of the natural resources of Patagonia, along with population figures and information regarding the religious life of the Settlement. After returning to Wales, D. S. Davies took up a position as minister in Bangor, and later in Carmarthen, where he died in 1898.