benjamin-brunt

During her illness the children (Roger Edward was only 8 months old when his mother died) were looked after by Ann Jones, the unmarried daughter of Richard and Mary Jones, Borfanewydd; Ann’s father Richard had recently died in October 1868, and the tenancy of Borfanewydd, the farm they rented across the valley from Maesyblawdd, was held by Ann’s mother, Mary, then aged 67. As a younger woman Mary had earned money to help bring up their large family of six daughters and a son by

Borfanewydd Ann Brunt's home

Benjamin Brunt 1837- 1925

The story of a Welsh family exodus to Patagonia

Tus huellas nos marcaron el camino

"Your footprints made our road"

La historia de una familia Galesa en Patagonia

			Hanes allfudo teuluol i Batagonia
			Hanes allfudo teuluol i Batagonia

Early years

Benjamin Brunt was born at Hewscot in the Montgomeryshire parish of Trefeglwys on 7 February 1837. He died on his farm, Argoed in Patagonia on 12 May 1925. His gravestone in Dolafon, Patagonia bears the inscription, chosen by his descendants: “Your footprints made our road”. This brief account of his long life tells of the journey along that road: of his two marriages; of many years of hard work on rented farms around Trefeglwys; and of his emigration to Argentina in early 1881, where he and his family created Argoed from virgin territory.

Benjamin’s father, also Benjamin, had married his mother around 1834. It is likely that this was his father’s second marriage as there were grandchildren of Benjamin’s age. His sister Sarah had been born in 1835, and a second sister, Ann was born in 1839. Their farm, Hewscot, was only 4 acres, but by 1851 this had increased to 23 acres. Benjamin married Elizabeth Jones of Bryncrugog, Trefeglwys, in 1857, when he was twenty and she was twenty-one. They took a small farm at Pant y Badell (11 acres) where their first two children were born. The son David survived, but the daughter Elizabeth died young. After seven years they moved to Maesyblawd, a larger farm, rented from Oxford University, over the hill, and located off the main road from Llanidloes to Machynlleth, between Trefeglwys and Staylittle. By now they had another son, also Benjamin, and two daughters, Elizabeth (again) and Ann. Richard, John, and another son Roger Edward were born in the following years, but in the summer of 1871 there was tragedy. Elizabeth fell ill and died of scarlet fever in August 1871.

	working as a flannel weaver. At Borfanewydd (60 acres) things were uncertain after Richard’s death: Ann lived there with her mother, and two servants. It is not clear who was doing the hard manual work on the land.

A new beginning

When his wife Elizabeth died, Benjamin Brunt was left with seven children and the farm to look after. However, ten weeks after his first wife died, he married Ann Jones, in Bethel Calvinistic Methodist Chapel in Newtown. Ann was then 25 and Benjamin 34. They continued to farm together at Maesyblawdd until around 1875.

Meanwhile, Ann’s younger sister Elizabeth and her husband, John Hamer, had moved into Borfanewydd, although the tenancy remained with the widow, Mary Jones. Elizabeth and John had four children. Around 1884 they moved to the Bwlch, Oakley Park. One of their daughters, Mary Ellen, married Richard Evans, Tyddyn Farm. This web page is hosted by their grandson.

	Around 1875 Benjamin and Ann moved to Argoed as Peter’s new tenants. Here they lived with their growing family in the back half of the house while Peter and Margaret lived in more style at the front, sometimes distinguished as Argoed Hall. The Argoed was, and still is a substantial farm of some 133 acres of the fertile valley of the River Trannon and surrounding slopes. Here Benjamin and Ann farmed for the next six years, and here another son, Thomas was born in August 1877. Local tradition suggests that Benjamin was a very progressive farmer, using natural fertilisers long before they were commonly accepted. By now David, the eldest son was grown up and able to help his father, and there would have been help from the younger children. Nevertheless, these were difficult and unsettling times for Welsh hill farmers, with several years of wet summers; things were so bad that Oxford University reduced its rents to local tenant farmers to give some relief.

Moving on

Benjamin had now been a farmer around Trefeglwys for more than 20 years, and although successful and working one of the best farms in the area, he could see no prospect of ever owning a substantial farm of his own. His large family was reaching an age where they must find a life away from home, and at that time Montgomeryshire hill country was overpopulated; there were few opportunities for the young people. No doubt there were long discussions about the future around the Brunt family table at Argoed. Finally they decided. At the age of 44 Benjamin planned to take Ann and eight of the children to the rapidly developing Welsh colony in the Chubut Valley, Patagonia, in the southern part of Argentina. It is not clear which were the eight children, or what happened to those who did not go. Early in 1881 they left Trefeglwys by pony and trap for the train that would take them to Liverpool and a ship to Patagonia.

			Ann and Benjamin with two grandchildren sitting outside Argoed, the house they built in Patagonia.
	The original irrigation channels are still used today

There is a local story that shows how Benjamin was much respected by his neigbours. The Governor of Chubut (1900-1903), Alejandro Conesa, from San Juan where the climate favoured alfalpha as a crop, gave him the first seed to be planted as a trial in the Chubut valley, asking him to distribute this among the other farmers. When some offered him big money for a more generous share he refused, insisting on a fair allocation. It was the way of the Welsh.

From the mid 1880s, the Welsh began to explore and colonise the foothills of the Andes at Cwm Hyfryd, a journey of 12 days by wagon train, and some 300 miles away across the Patagonian desert. The same Roger Edward Brunt, who was 8 months old in Maesyblawdd when his mother died, was one of the first to settle there. In 1917 the railway from Puerto Madryn to the Chubut valley reached Dolafon, and this became the point of transfer for goods to and from the settlements in Cwm Hyfryd. Today these are the thriving towns of Esquel and Trevelin. Throughout Chubut and elsewhere in , Benjamin’s descendants are active members of the dynamic and modern community.


	In his considerable old age, Benjamin Brunt wrote a long letter to the Montgomeryshire Express, which they published in 1921. He had maintained a lively interest in Trefeglwys and its people, through correspondence over more than 40 years and through regular subscription to the paper. In his letter he describes how he now lives within 15 minutes of the railway. His orchard is a source of great pride to him, paying him well in both money and health. His lifelong support for Welsh culture and for the Calvinistic Methodist Church were still evident. Above all he rejoiced that even in Montgomeryshire, his old friends and their children were able to buy and work their own farms. He and Ann lived to great ages, confirming Benjamin’s belief that in Chubut they enjoyed the best climate on earth.

			The entrance to Podgy Brunt's farm, Chacra 278

						Saint David's Church, Dolavon




	Two views of the approaches to the Andes


	Many books in Welsh, Spanish or English have recorded aspects of the colonisation. Here are two to start with. Glyn Willams 1975 The Desert and the Dream: a study of Welsh colonisation in Chubut 1865-1915. University of Wales Press. An academic analysis of the social pressures that lead to the development of the colony. Sergio Sepiurka and Jorge Miglioli. 2005 Rocky Trip: the route of the Welsh in Patagonia. A popular and wonderfully illustrated account of the early years of Welsh settlement and travels, with many contemporary insights.