The site is now two years old. And things keep happening; something’s as predicted, some unexpected things. I now have well over 200 correspondents, about 2/3 of which are in North America, with most of the remainder being in UK, mainly Wales, some in England, with one in Australia, one couple in New Zealand, a Dutchman in Spain and one in South America.
I am currently being trained by my website designer, Alyson Egan of Seren Media to manage the Madoc site. This is my first attempt of uploading a web page, so you will have to bear with me if I don't get it right. I have put all the names on two lists, one Madoc UK, and one Madoc WW (World Wide). It is now easy to send E-mails to groups. I have also installed a “Discussion Board” on the site, this should allow you all to post your interest or pose your questions. I could not handle in depth correspondence of over 200 people. If there is anyone I have missed or have not fully satisfied his or her queries, then I apologise. If you want to set up Special Interest Sub Groups, please let me know.
I would like to give special thanks for support in managing this site to:
· Alyson Egan of Seren Media for designing the site and teaching me to manage it.
· James Willatts of the eCommerce Innovation Centre at Cardiff University for the “Discussion Board”.
· Tony Byng of DataWeb Technologies for technical support and domain name hosting.
· Stephen Grant-Davies for some software, which has been invaluable.
· Owain Bell of BDesign & Stephen Jones of Profiad Celtaidd for the “Referral Facility”.
We are all indebted to Jane Goodwin who undertook some DNA testing for us as part of her Doctorate Thesis. I will report back on this at a later date when I have spoken at length with Jane and fully understand the implications.
I am personally indebted to Doug Weathers for loaning me Zella Armstrong's book and sending me copies of John Williams book of 1791 and Ellen Pugh's book, "Brave His Soul". I would also like to thank Larry & Tammy Braithwaite for their welcome and generous hospitality when my wife and I passed through St George, Utah, on our trip around the canyons last summer. Larry also gave me a copy of a book, as yet unpublished, which contains numerous references to Madoc.
I am hoping to work with Stephen Grant-Davies, from Llanelli, who is an electronics honours graduate and is currently doing a masters in Multi-Media as a mature student, and with Keith Alexander, a College Information Systems Lecturer from the US, who has offered to design me a data base system to handle all the information I am receiving. Sorting this out is my final major hurdle as I am suffering from information overload. I feel that the site is coming together slowly, but steadily. I have also been offered support to prepare a Multimedia presentation by an American Bishop, The Most Rev. Jon Ryner, so I am hoping he can work with Stephen to develop something worthwhile. Maybe a lecture tour one day.
Stephen is also working with me to put a “Madoc Shop” together, which will offer high quality branded goods, so that the site can start paying for itself. I hope you will all support it.
And finally I am indebted to everyone who has taken an interest and contributed to the project.
So What’s
Been Happening This Past Year.
We have just formed the “Madoc International Research Association” (MIRA) and this site will be its official newsletter. Joining details etc. will be posted up as they emerge. We are honoured that Professor Bernard Knight CBE, MD, DM, PhD, DSc, LLD, FRCPath, MRCP, DMJ, Barrister, Britain's foremost Forensic Pathologist, has joined the Association. He has also written a novel based on the Madoc legend, so he knows the story well.
We have started some DNA analysis on people who believe that they are directly descended from the Royal House of Gwynedd or have strong Welsh links. We also tested Ken Lonewolf from the White Madoc. We had no response from the Mandan Elders for test samples. I will report back on these tests when the results have been analysed, but don’t hold your breath, because this is a very complex topic, and the results may not be what we expect.
The thing that has caught my imagination is the story of the “White Madoc”, who I mentioned in my last update. I am working with Ken Lonewolf on this as my particular area of research. We are searching for a copy of the treaty of 1783 between “Chief White Maddock” of the “White Maddock Tribe” of White Plains, 20 miles North East of Pittsburgh and the white people. Ken also mentions the illiterate renegade, no-account Girty Brothers, one of whom, James, spoke Welsh. Does anyone have any information on these no-good renegades.
Question : Does any one know where we can get information on the Girty Brothers?
This story is also supported by Martin Ogrosky’s assertion that Daniel Boone, whose mother was Welsh, (so he would have recognised the language) mentions in his journals "Welsh Indians in the back country, beyond the Alleghenies".
Question : Does any one know where we can get a
copy of Daniel Boone’s Journals & family history? We keep needing
to go back to source.
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Suzanne Jenkins has embarked on a PhD on the Madoc Legend at Lampeter University in West Wales. I have had one meeting with her and she also visited the Madoc Research Group, but we have lost touch. I understand that she has changed her E-mail address, which I will follow up.
Allyn Rees and I met Kathleen & Charles LeMieux in Cardiff. They are from Chicago and claim to be the Worlds foremost researchers on Columbus, who allegedly used maps showing the Welsh Seas. They have undertaken indepth research for the past thirty years, I feel quite a beginer in comparision. We gave them information on Madoc, and we are awaiting for information back off them. I know that they are still researching the Madoc link to Columbus and the time they have taken over it suggests there is some substance in the story. I wait the results of their research with great anticipation.
Tim Matthews, Chairman of the "Ancient Britain Historical Association" claims that it was "Madoc Morfran", the "Cormorant", a South Wales Prince, who lived circa 550 AD, contemporary with Arthyws (Arthur II - the Arthur of legend), who was the Madoc who visited America. Tim promised to send me the relevant information and despite several requests, I still dwell in ignorance. I am again disappointed and can only only quote the Dalai Lama "Share your knowledge. It is a way to achieve immortality".
Larry Braithwaite and Gerald Flickinger are both looking for the "Secret Book of Madoc" by the Welsh Elizabethan bard, Dr John Dee, who was a antiquarian and prolific writer. It is supposedly kept in the Arsenal Library in Paris, France, but we haven't managed to track it down yet.
Danny Crownover sent me information and photos of another stone tablet bearing inscriptions and John Meshkoff told me about a Welsh claymore (sword) and some buttons bearing a mermaid (Welsh) motif. Rhonda Elliot informed me about a bell with a continuous inscription around the rim and Butch Lakey has sent me details of some pre-Columbian European skulls found on a beach in California, but the site is a protected Indian Burial Place.
Bryn Griffiths of Llandrindod Wells, in Mid Wales, is searching for information on the remains of a Viking style boat found in the mud during drought conditions on the Mississippi around 1988, and I am supporting him. Stephen Jones of Profiad Celtaidd informed us about some bones which have been removed during excavations 35 feet from Bangor Cathedral, (legendary burial place of Madoc's father, Owain Gwynedd) and Neil Perry, Maesteg, is following it up, supported by MIRA.
Stephen Grant-Davies, Llanelli, is co-ordinating information on the Melungeons and Emlyn Williams, Swansea, is looking for the granite stone which has been removed from Lundy, which recorded Madoc's departure from the Island on his second voyage, in Ancient Welsh.
Many people have
shown an interest in Stone Forts and associated artefacts, including mummies,
which are located in Ohio, Tennessee, Indiana, Georgia and Kentucky, but to
date, no one has come forward to take a lead in this research.
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A Dutchman living in Spain, Kees Van Bemmelen, has enlightened us about one of the earliest references to Madoc by Willem the Minstrel, who wrote an epic animal poem "Van de Vos Reynaerde" (Reynard the Fox) somewhere between 1257 and 1271. It mentions MADOCKE as a job which has robbed the author of many hours of sleep.
Charles Hill has written about the policy of deliberate destruction of any pre-Columbian European sites by the US Government/Army following the War of Independence, which is understandable. However, it has done history a great disservice and ties in with the theory that all links between the Welsh & the Mandans have been deliberately removed, hence the missing sections from the Lewis & Clark Journals. Even if some journals had been lost on the return trip, it appears just too neat that only the sections referring to their stay with the Mandans went missing, and even if they had gone missing, I would have thought that the least Lewis would have done is provide a summary for his mentor and fellow Welshman, President Thomas Jefferson. Was Lewis' subsequent suicide a reflection of his betrayal of his people?
James Ritchie, a Professional Archivist and devout sceptic, has raised the issue about what "Parallels of Latitude" John Evans, Wuanfawr, referred to in his letter to Samuel Jones in Philadelphia. We checked in three books at a MIRA meeting and had three different answers. It is important as to whether the northernmost latitude quoted is the 40th or 49th. There was great debate at the time whether the border between the USA and Canada was going to be the 49 Degrees Latitude or the watershed in the area. Evans was an accomplished cartographer and would have known roughly where the 49th parallel was. At approximately 60 miles / degree of latitude, there is well over 500 miles difference between the 40th and 49th. If Evans had said there were no Welsh Indians below the 40th, then there may be an implication that there are Welsh Indians above it. It is important that we get back to the original letter.
Question: Where is the original letter from John Evans, Waunfawr, to Samuel Jones of Philadelphia, stating that there were no Welsh Indians between "certain" parallels? We need to get back to source material.
I am sure that in the early days someone offered me Richard Deacon's research material at a price beyond my meagre means. Despite a crashing and replaced computer and a virus attack, I thought I had a hard copy of everything, but I can't find any record of this offer. MIRA may be able to raise money to purchase it. Incidentally, Richard Deacon is a pseudonym of George Donald King MacCormick, born 1911.
Question:
Does anyone know the whereabouts of Richard Deacon's Research and is it still
for sale?
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I recently spent a week in Washington/New York. I had a whole day exploring the Smithsonian Institutes. I started in the Smithsonian Information Centre with 6 questions:
1. Question:
Where do I find a copy of the treaty between the White Maddock
and the white men dated 1783?
2. Question: Where is the original letter John Evan's Waunfawr sent to Samuel Jones in Philadelphia claiming that there there are no Welsh Indians between certain latitudes?
3. Question:
Why is there a big gap in Lewis & Clark's Journals covering the time they
spent with the Mandans?
Our Vision is Limited only by Our Imagination.
