Dorothea Quarry Resolution Book, 1850-79 [front cover, image 1 of 10]

Description

Dorothea Quarry in the Nantlle Valley was worked between 1829 and 1849 by William Turner and his son-in-law John Morgans. When they announced their decision to sell the company in April 1849, a number of local quarrymen came together to establish a company and buy the quarry.

One of the founding members of the new company was the Methodist preacher John Jones (1796-1857), who was more commonly known as 'John Jones Talsarn'. Jones was a native of Dolwyddelan but had come to work as a quarryman in Tal-y-sarn in 1822, where he married Fanny Edwards, the daughter of a local quarry official, the following year. After his marriage, he left his employment in the quarry to concentrate on his work as a preacher, while his wife took charge of a small shop in the village. In 1852 he suffered a serious accident in the quarry and resolved to leave the industry. The company sold all their shares and Jones died five years later. Jones was an extremely popular preacher who is also remembered as a hymn-writer.

These selected pages are taken from the first resolution book of the new Dorothea Quarry Company and relate to the period 1850-51. Although the first few pages are written in English, the remainder of the minutes were kept in Welsh. The Reverend John Jones chaired the meetings of the shareholders which were held every two months at the quarry office. Following the meetings, the shareholders often returned to the home of John Jones where food and refreshments had been prepared by Fanny Jones.