John Owen Williams (Pedrog)

Rev. John Owen Williams (1853—1932) was a Welsh Congregational minister, poet and Archdruid[1]

Pedrog was born in May 1853 in Madryn, near Pwllheli, the youngest son of Owen and Martha Williams, both of whom were in service locally. He had a tragic childhood. At the age of two he was sent to stay with his father’s sister Jane Owen, in Llanbedrog, when his elder brother contracted smallpox. A few years later his mother died in childbirth. His father then decided to go to sea as a ship’s steward but his first voyage seemingly ended in a Melbourne hospital where he died. Pedrog’s memories of both his parents were few and hazy.