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Ancient bards, Welsh gipsies, and Celtic folklore in the cauldron of regeneration
Western Folklore, Fall 1998 by Blyn-Ladrew, Roslyn
A late eighteenth-century account runs: "As soon as ever the country people saw the old Gypsies with their fiddles, they would laugh, and their feet would begin to dance, and their hands to clap" (Matthew Wood, describing Abram Wood's family, in Sampson 1926: Part IV, 138, quoted in Jarman and Jarman 1991:63). Another description from ca. 1825 notes: "There is a great deal of amusement found by those that used to follow barns. They have many country people coming [to] them to hear their music and to dance on the green, or sometimes in the barn, but most oftener in the house in a big kitchen; and the country people would be staring at the Gypsies with all their eyes, and the Gypsies would stare at the people to see them such fools" (letter from John Roberts to Francis Groome, dated November 22, 1877, reprinted in E.E. Roberts 1981:132). And ca. 1840 it was recorded that "The people of the neighborhood soon came to know that I came home, and a great many visited our camp, some of the highest; and I had to play my harp for them to dance upon the green, and they made me a very great welcome" John Roberts's description, printed in Groome 1880:294, and quoted in Jarman and Jarman 1991:113). Such popularity, with Abram on fiddle and his sons on harp or fiddle, is in and of itself sufficient evidence of the family's great talent and their role in preserving Welsh folk music. Had the circumstances differed slightly, we would probably only know of the Woods through scant references to this time period. But this is just the preliminary period of the Wood/Roberts fame.
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THE WOOD AND ROBERTs FAmiLIES
Edward Woolley, who was a former member of the Sae. [sic] Harmonic Musical Antiquarian and Other Society,8 penned his description of John Roberts and his daughter Mary Ann in 1861. His description is a considerable leap in acclaim from the simple appreciation of fiddle music in a country kitchen. Between Abram Wood's lifetime and that of John Roberts, some significant changes occurred which contributed to Roberts's success. The new eisteddfodau were just getting started in Abram's life but were well established in Roberts's time and provided a convenient performance venue. The native traditions were continuing to decline, making Roberts's lifetime even more favorable for his new role as "ancient bard" than Abram's would have been. And of course, Roberts was half Welsh.
Abram Wood, the fiddler, had left England and began traveling through Wales around 1750, during the peak of folk music repression in Wales. He had four children and it was his granddaughter Sarah (1796-1869), daughter of William Wood and Mary Stanley, who challenged family tradition and married out of the Gipsy network. About 1815 she married John Robert Lewis (1786-ca. 1868) of Pentrefoelas, in then Denbighshire, a nonGipsy Welshman who, having recently returned from military service, saw her and fell in love with her. Although the marriage was not initially approved by either family, it was successful and long-lasting. Sarah and John Robert Lewis had eight children, including John Roberts, who adopted his father's middle name as his own surname. Musical talent was strong on both sides of the family. John Robert Lewis's father and oldest brother were both ballad-singers and composers of popular verse. The Wood side of the family was very musical. Abram's son William (dates unknown) played fiddle, and Valentine (ca. 1742-1818) was the family's first harpist, known more for his pioneering role than for actual virtuosity. William's son Archelaus (dates unknown) was a proficient harpist and may have given John Roberts his first lessons. Valentine's son Adam (ca. 1762/7-ca. 1852/7) was also a good harpist and Adam's son John (1800-1844) achieved harp fame under the name 'John Wood Jones" (Jarman and Jarman 1991:64-66, 102).
