Michael D Jones
- 1847: He was ordained as a minister of the Welsh Church at Cincinnati, Ohio.
- He played a prominent part in founding the Brython Association, its purpose being to help Welsh immigrants, and he was its secretary.
- 1850: After his return to Wales, he became Minister of Bwlchnewydd and Gibeon, Carmarthenshire.
- 1855: He became the Principal of Bala Independent College.
- He was instrumental in establishing Y Wladfa in Patagonia, and the colony would have likely failed if it weren’t for the financial support of Michael and his wife.
- 1871: He was declared bankrupt and had to sell his home and location of the college, Bodiwan, to its committee.
- 1879: At a committee held in Shrewsbury, called 'The Decapitation Committee', Michael was dismissed as Principal because of their opposition to his principles.
- After this the Independents had two colleges at Bala, one under M. D. Jones at Bodiwan and the other at Plas-yn-dre, which moved to Bangor in 1886.
- 1889: Both colleges were re-united, but Michael was allowed to remain at Bala in charge of the department of first year students.
- 1892: He resigned so that there would be only one college in Bangor, called 'The Bala-Bangor College'.
‘But the minister with the Independents, who was for almost forty years the Principal of an important theological college in his home town of Bala, has also been described as the “founding father of political nationalism in Wales”.’ – Dylan Moore, ‘Michael D. Jones: founder of Y Wladfa in Patagonia 1822 – 1898’, The National, 2 Mawrth 2022 – https://web.archive.org/web/20220308134239/https://www.thenational.wales/news/19962385.michael-d-jones-founder-y-wladfa-patagonia-1822—1898/