Paternal Ancestry of ?Margaretta Prichard (est 1650 –?1728)
1st Generation
1.?MARGARETTA PRICHARD (est b.1650 - ?bur 7 May 1728 St Peter's, Carmarthen)
For the first four generations of this chart, we followed David Edwardes’
pedigrees of the PRICHARD and LEIGH families as he recorded them in 1684-85 in
his Carmarthenshire Book (pp.148,165). We used three forms of his surviving
manuscripts cataloged as the Bodleian Additional Manuscripts C177,178,179 at
Oxford University: microfilm no..230630 from the Family History Library in Salt
Lake City, the transcriptions in the GGB on microfilm no.104351, and
especially the compilations and commentary by Peter C. Bartrum. Edwardes gives
no first name for this woman, so we speculatively attributed to her the name of
an otherwise unidentified Margaretta Leigh whose burial was recorded in St
Peter’s parish in Carmarthen. The question mark refers only to her name, not her
family status. Her birth year was estimated from her possible age for the
christening of her first known child in December 1671. She married OAKLEY LEIGH,
dyer, son of RICHARD LEIGH and DOROTHY OAKLEY of Carmarthen. Her eight known
children were christened at St Peter’s from 1671 to 1686, and her last son
OAKLEY LEIGH is attributed without finding his christening record. We have no
historical documentation for her marriage, and rely on the Edwardes pedigrees
and the church christening and burial records. See
LEIGH DESCENDACY CHART for her husband and children.
2nd Generation back from ?Margaretta Prichard
2.JOHN PRICHARD (est b.1610 - aft 1661)
Though the PRICHARD family had first lived in Abergwili, JOHN may have moved
to Carmarthen by 1661, when we assume he was the John Pritchard who paid
6d toward the Free and Voluntary Present to Charles II in Carmarthen in
1661 (PRO E179/264/15). This was a decade earlier than ?MARGARETTA’s assumed
marriage date before her first child was christened in December 1671. This is
the only historical documentation we have for JOHN, unless he was the "John
Prichard, Corvicer" buried at St Peter’s in Carmarthen on 2 July 1686. The
name PRICHARD was formed during the period of change from the patronymic system
(see Welsh Names). In his pedigree of the PRICHARD family, David Edwardes gives the name as Jon
Prich’t, and the t and d were apparently interchangeable
because he also gives the name Richard as Rich’t (Carms Book, p.165). It
is conceivable that JOHN or his descendant may have used the name John
Richard of Abergwili, because we found a man of that name as father of Maud
who married "Jon David of Llanegwad" (GGB, Elistan 44-45, Film
no.104351), but we have not studied the records of Llanegwad. Jon David
descended in a collateral line from 322.RHYDDERCH ap RHYS through his son Ieuan
who was the brother of ?MARGARETTA’s ancestor 161.MARGRED f. RHYDDERCH ap RHYS,
wife of 160.RHYDDERCH ap THOMAS FYCHAN (Bartrum, Elystan Glodrydd 55 (B) and
David Edwardes, Carms Book, p.120).
3.NN UNKNOWN
No name was given for JOHN’S wife in any known pedigree. Here is an example
of how completely a woman's identity could be lost from family history, though
further study, e.g. of Abergwili wills and deeds if available, might still be
fruitful.
3rd Generation back from ?Margaretta Prichard
4.RICHARD WILLIAM (est b.1570 -
?)
The pedigree by David Edwardes does not always reproduce the earlier original
names, but since he gives the name "Wm" after the first names for RICHARD
and his brother Hugh in the pedigree of their wives’ family (Carms Book, p.10),
we assume he was indicating that both men used the Welsh patronymic in its
modified form without "ap." See Welsh Names.
RICHARD’s son JOHN also took a patronymic surname in the form PRICHARD, as we
saw. Hugh’s son John took the surname Hughes and settled in Carmarthen; for his
family see the Biography of STEPHEN HUGHES. Of RICHARD’s life we know nothing, and we found no historical documentation for him. However, he married the daughter of a prominent gentry family in Abergwili, and his brother Hugh
married her sister, so they must have been socially and financially acceptable
to the local gentry.
5.NN f. JOHN ap REES (est b.1580 - ?)
Both sons of 8.WILLIAM PRICHARD, i.e. RICHARD and Hugh, married unnamed
daughters of 10.JOHN ap REES and his wife 11.ELIZABETH. Again we have an example
of how wives’ names were neglected in common records. We have no historical
documentation of her life or her marriage, and we are not aware of any property
transfer in her dowry. But at least we know her parents, so her ancestral line
is given fully. As this distinguished line is very long and multi-branched, we
extracted one part and gave it separately as
the
Branch
Chart
giving the lines of 46.HUGH VAUGHAN and
95.JANE LEWIS.
4th Generation back from ?Margaretta Prichard
8.WILLIAM PRICHARD "wich came out of North Wales to Abergwyly"
(est b.1530 - ?)
Edwardes’ pedigree says WILLIAM came from North Wales, where he was likely a
younger son or he would probably have stayed with an inherited farm or estate
(Carms Book, p.165). He must have been fairly wealthy to be assessed the Lay
Subsidy tax in Abergwili in 1597-8, which he paid as William ap Richard
(PRO E179/220/117). This is our only historical documentation for him, but it
dates him as a contemporary of JOHN ap REES and RALPH LEIGH and gives a
generational fit, since WILLIAM’S two sons married JOHN’s two daughters, and his
great-granddaughter ?MARGARETTA married RALPH’s grandson OAKLEY LEIGH.
Unfortunately the Abergwili records do not distinguish between tax on land and
tax on goods, so the record tells us nothing of WILLIAM’s ownership or
occupation. It is suggestive that WILLIAM's grandson John Hughes was a "relatively
prosperous silk mercer" (Jenkins p.204), and that his great-granddaughter
?MARGARETTA married into the LEIGH family that was involved in cloth
making/trading and haberdashery. Perhaps WILLIAM himself was in the cloth
business and therefore moved south to the Carmarthen area, which was still
active in weaving and cloth trade through the 16th century
(Mendenhall, Shrewsbury Drapers, pp.67-9).
9.NN WYN "of North Wales" (est b.1540 - ?)
WILLIAM’s wife is given in Edwardes’ pedigree as "... ...WYN from North
Wales," which suggests she may have come from the large multi-branched
Wyn/Wynne gentry family, but there are no other clues to help identify her
(Carms Book, p.165).
10.JOHN ap REES of Aranell, Abergwili (est b.1540 - aft 1597)
We largely followed the pedigree by Gruffudd Hiraethog in Peniarth MS 132
p.222 (given in Bartrum’s collection as Elystan Glodrydd 50 to 52E), and also
the pedigree of JOHN’S family by David Edwardes (Carms Book, p.10). The family
patriarch for whom the pedigree was named was Elystan Glodrydd, a 10th
century ruler of the land between the Wye and Severn rivers in mid-Wales on the
border with England (J. Davies p.115). Many of JOHN's ancestors were known in
Welsh history, so from the 13th century his pedigree was securely
documented in numerous state records, many of which appear in Ralph A.
Griffiths' The Principality of Wales in the Later Middle Ages and are
cited in our HISTORICAL NARRATIVE. Of JOHN himself we know only that he was the
Collector of the Lay Subsidy in Carmarthen in 1597/8 (PRO E179/220/117).
This date would make him a contemporary of RALPH LEIGH, our earliest known LEIGH
who lived in Carmarthen, and also a contemporary of WILLIAM PRICHARD, whose two
sons married JOHN’s two daughters. The pedigrees show no brother so JOHN may
have inherited the family lands, though he likely lived in Carmarthen. Aranell
was in Abergwili parish, probably on the river Anell which enters the Tywi river
near White Mill, 4 miles east of Carmarthen, but the property has not survived
as a known location. According to the Golden Grove pedigree (Film
no.104351) JOHN’s sister NN married David Williams, but this statement rests on
a misinterpretation of Edwardes’ pedigree on p.10, where David Williams’ wife
belonged to the adjoining pedigree of "Wm Jon gllm of Llangathen." Names were
being anglicized in JOHN’s time, and we use the spelling ap REES because
we found it with a contemporary use of his name, but the pedigrees give his
father’s name in the Welsh form "RHYS".
11.ELIZABETH f. THOMAS ap RHYS of Ravensdale. (est b.1540 - ?)
Like her husband’s family, ELIZABETH’s family was ancient, and many of their
lines intersect and share ancestors. David Edwardes recorded (Carms Book, p.98)
that she lived at Ravensdale (Cwmgigfran in Welsh) about 3 miles east of
Carmarthen, and her male ancestors had a long pedigree (as seen in Gruffudd
Hiraethog’s Peniarth 134), but they do not seem to have occupied official
positions documented by Griffiths. The family patriarch was listed as the
historically known Urien, king of Rheged (d.ca 577 A.D), but for several
centuries many family links are missing, so the pedigrees begin with and are
titled for Urien’s descendant Einion ap Llywarch. THOMAS ap RHYS appears in the
pedigree numbered by Bartrum as Einion ap Llywarch 12 (A). In ELIZABETH’s
maternal line, she had several descents from the medieval Welsh princes, and
this line is very well documented in history. Her mother’s LEWIS descent is
given separately with her VAUGHAN descent in
the
Branch Chart 1-2. Her BOWEN descent is given here with her
grandmother 47JANE BOWEN and her great-grandfather 94.MORRIS BOWEN. All of these
figures played important roles in Welsh history, which we summarize in the
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE.
5th Generation back from ?Margaretta Prichard
10. JOHN Line
| 20.RHYS ap THOMAS ap LEWIS of Aranell (est. b. 1510-? |
Gruffudd Hiraethog connected RHYS with Aranell (Peniarth 132, p.222), but we have not found the deeds or wills of the family, nor noted any occupation or official function held by RHYS.
21.NN f. JAMES READ (est. b. 1520 -
Bartrum’s pedigree does not list a wife for RHYS (Elystan Glodrydd 52 (E),
but David Edwardes lists "... f. James Read" (Carms Book, pp.6,10), and
this name was taken into the GGB (Adv. Carms 206-7, 778, Film no.104349
and 5-6, Film no.104351). Edwardes’ first pedigree entry for this READ daughter
is written by RHYS’S name but is only a reference to "p.6" (the Read family),
where she is actually given under RHYS’S father THOMAS, then corrected
"rather Rs Tho Les." The GGB gives the error then corrects it in the
same way (Elistan Glodrydd 10, Film no.104351). Edwardes’ pedigree is late and
has no historical confirmation that we are aware of for this wife, so she is
uncertain. The READ family came to Wales from England by the late 14th century,
presumably when 1344.THOMAS READ was given an official appointment in
Carmarthen. R.R.Davies named "Thomas Rede of Carmarthen (and Bristol)"
as one of two examples of a "trader of international standing" in the 14th
century, so he may have come as a merchant (Conquest, p.413). The
family occupied important positions, and some later members became officials and
burgesses in Carmarthen borough (Jones, "Green Castle," pp. 3-10).
11. ELIZABETH Line
22.THOMAS ap RHYS of Ravensdale (est b.1510 - ?) |
|
As already said, THOMAS’s ancestors appear in the pedigree titled for Einion
ap Llywarch (in Bartrum’s collection 12A). THOMAS inherited Ravensdale and
Penddeulwyn, and they passed to his son Gruffudd (brother of our 11.ELIZABETH),
but Gruffudd had only a daughter Frances, who took the property to her husband
Rowland Walter. Their son William Walter and his wife Elizabeth
Protheroe/Prydderch of Hawksbrook were parents of one of our most fascinating
relatives, the notorious though unfairly maligned Lucy Walter. A near tragic
figure, Lucy became the mistress of Charles Stuart, later Charles II, and the
mother of the "unfortunate Duke of Monmouth." See
biography of
LUCY WALTER. The Walter family continued as owners of the estate until
Penddeulwyn was sold in 1746 and Ravensdale in 1786 (Jones, Historic
Carms Homes, pp.147, 47).
23.ELEN f. HUGH VAUGHAN (est b.1510 - ?) |
|
Gruffudd Hiraethog recorded the pedigree of his contemporary HUGH VAUGHAN,
and it is described in the HISTORICAL NARRATIVE. Bartrum cites Peniarth 133
p.146, Peniarth 132 p.343, and Peniarth 134 p.324, in his pedigree Bleddyn ap
Cynfyn 8 (A2). HUGH had eight daughters including our ELEN who married THOMAS ap
RHYS. We know nothing of her personal life, but she had three highly
distinguished lines with considerable documentation as well as accepted
pedigrees. Her lines to the medieval Welsh princes from her father and from her
maternal LEWIS grandmother were extracted from the rest of her ancestry and
given separately as Branch
Chart 1-2. Her
BOWEN line is continued here with her mother 47.JANE BOWEN and grandfather
94.MORRIS BOWEN.
6th Generation back from ?Margaretta Prichard
10. JOHN Line
40.THOMAS ap LEWYS of Aranell (est b.1480 - ?)
This grandfather of 10.JOHN ap REES lived at Aranell as did his son 20.RHYS
and his father 80.LEWYS, according to Peniarth 132 (given in Bartrum’s Elystan
Glodrydd 52 (E). The pedigree also gives THOMAS a sister Jonet who married a man
related to a wife in the direct male line of ELIZABETH of Ravensdale. See
45.MEDDEFUS. We know nothing of THOMAS’s occupation or personal life, so perhaps
he was primarily landed gentry without other occupation.
41.MARGRED f. RHYS (est b.1480 - ?) |
|
Listed by Gruffudd Hiraethog with her husband, MARGRED claimed descent from
Cynddelw ab Einion of Carmarthenshire, but Bartrum shows that the person claimed
to be her mother was not of the right generation, and the ancestry (Cyn ab Ein
1) of her father Rhys ap Thomas ap Dafydd ap Llywelyn ap Hywel consisted of a
list of names, and left a four generation gap between Hywel and the patriarch
Cynddelw, so we did not include it here.
21. NN Read Line
42.JAMES READ of Roche Castle (est b.1490 - ?) |
|
This branch of the READ family settled at Roche Castle in Laugharne to the
south west of Carmarthen (Bartrum, Read 2, citing Gruffudd Hiraethog in Peniarth
132 p.187). Jones writes that in 1550 JAMES READ was described as owner of a
mansion house called Roches alias Maccwells Walls at Laugharn (Historic
Carms Homes, p.174), but we have found no documentary reference to his
marriage.
43.MARGRED f. HARRY (est b.1490 - ?) |
|
Bartrum gives the reference Einion ap Llywarch (8C) for MARGRED, who is shown
as descended through her grandmother 173.ELEN from 320.THOMAS FYCHAN ap THOMAS,
an ancestor of JOHN ap REES.
11. ELIZABETH Line
44.RHYS ap JOHN of Ravensdale (est b.1480 - ?) |
|
Gruffudd Hiraethog (Peniarth 134, p.201) says RHYS persuaded his father JOHN
to will all his land (i.e.Penddeulwyn) to him if his elder brother David left
only a daughter Gwenllian, not a son, and this is what happened (see Bartrum,
Einion ap Llywarch 12(A) in Additions and corrections, second series).
RHYS got the estate, but his grandson Gruffudd did not have a male heir so the
family lost the estate to Gruffudd’s daughter’s husband. RHYS is the first one
named as owner of Ravensdale, neighboring to Penddeulwyn, and it appears that he
built the house at Ravensdale on his estate, as described in the HISTORICAL
NARRATIVE.
45.MEDDEFUS Line
45.MEDDEFUS f. EINION ap DAFYDD (est
b.1480 - ?) |
|
Her name and marriage were recorded in her husband’s pedigree by Gruffudd
Hiraethog (Peniarth 134, p.201). This is within the time limit of three
generations, so we consider her historically documented. Her own family pedigree
was numbered by Bartrum as Cydifor Fawr 7(B). We gave this wife special
attention for two reasons. First, we hoped that her several interactions between
the lines of JOHN ap REES and ELIZABETH f. THOMAS would reveal deeper relations
and more information about family members. She married into the line of
ELIZABETH and lived at Ravensdale, but her brother Dafydd had descendants who
lived not far from Aranell at Clyngwyn near Bronwydd Arms north of Carmarthen
(so perhaps she herself had lived there), The descendants of their third cousin
Lewys ap Thomas, who was one of the first Justices of the Peace in 1536, lived
nearby at Cwmgwili. Also, MEDDEFUS was a second cousin of JOHN ap REES’S
grandfather 40.THOMAS ap LEWYS of Aranell because his grandmother 161.MARGRED
and her grandmother 181.ELEN were sisters (both daughters of 323.RHYDDERCH ap
RHYS). Then 40.THOMAS’S sister Jonet married into the family of MEDDEFUS,
according to THOMAS’s pedigree (Elystan Glodrydd 52 (E) and hers (Cydifor Fawr 7
(A). This seemed a promising situation for further study. Moreover, as the
second reason, the claimed line of MEDDEFUS goes back to BLEDRI LATIMERIUS,
Welsh interpreter to the Normans, and we hoped she would have a more reliable
line to BLEDRI than the line of 95.JANE LEWIS’S ancestor 3040.LLYWELYN ab IFOR,
or the line of 2577.MARGRED through BLEDRI’s son RHYS. If nothing else, we hoped
for interaction among these three families with the same patriarch,
Cydifor Fawr, especially since MEDDEFUS was the mother-in-law of JANE LEWIS’s
granddaughter 23.ELEN VAUGHAN. So far, unfortunately, the hoped-for increase or
deepening of connections did not occur, and no historical evidence was found to
support any of the three lines to BLEDRI LATIMER. Much of the line of
45.MEDDEFUS remains only listed names, but it has at least a little historical
documentation and may be worth further study in the future.
11.ELIZABETH Line
46.HUGH VAUGHAN (est b.1460 - aft 1547) |
|
See the HISTORICAL NARRATIVE and Branch Chart1-2 for this founder of the important Golden Grove family.
47.JANE BOWEN Line
|
47.JANE BOWEN (est b.1480 - aft 1547) |
|
For JANE’S mother’s LEWIS ancestry, see the HISTORICAL NARRATIVE and
Branch Chart 1-2.
For JANE’S BOWEN ancestry, see her father below, 94.MORRIS BOWEN. Of JANE herself we know only that she
bore one son and eight daughters, seven growing up and marrying. As a widow she
married Jenkin Lloyd of Blaen Tren (Dwnn, I, 32). She appears to have
been over 60 years
old when she remarried, according to Star Chamber records that HUGH was
still alive in 1547 (Ifan ab Owen Edwards, A catalogue of Star Chamber proceedings
relating to Wales, p.3, cited by Francis Jones, "The Vaughans,"
p.99).
7th Generation back from ?Margaretta Prichard
10.JOHN Line
80.LEWYS ap RHYDDERCH of Aranell (est b.1450 -
aft 1511) |
|
He is the earliest in the line of 10.JOHN ap REES who is known to have lived
in Abergwili parish, according to Gruffudd Hiraethog’s pedigree in Peniarth 132
p.222 (numbered by Bartrum as Elystan Glodrydd 52 and 52E). LEWYS’S father came
from Llangathen parish to the east of Abergwili, but moved to Cryngae in the
north of the county when he remarried to the heiress of Cryngae after the death
of LEWYS’S mother. In 1511 LEWYS was bailiff of Carmarthen, as documented by
Ralph Griffiths (Principality, p.344).
81.DYDDGU Line
81.DYDDGU f. JOHN DDU (black-haired) (est b.1460 - ?) |
|
According to Bartrum’s note (Elystan Glodrydd 58), she had cousins living in
Abergwili, and like her husband she claimed descent from Elystan Glodrydd, but
through a different branch in the 11th century. We have found no
documentary evidence for the marriage, and it was not recorded within the
three-generation limit, so it is uncertain.
21.NN
READ Line
84.JOHN READ (est b.1460 - ? |
|
We found no details of the life of JOHN READ of Roche Castle, except that the
herald William Fellows recorded the arms of JOHN and his son Thomas READ of
"Roche beside Laghan" in 1530 as ‘Argent, three reeds palewise in fess
Or, banded Argent,’ (On a silver shield three vertical gold reeds or pipes
on a silver band through the center third of the shield) (Jones, Historic
Carms Homes, p.174). JOHN was recorded by Gruffudd Hiraethog in Peniarth
132, pp.184,187.
85.ELSBETH f. Sir JAMES BOWEN (est b.1470 - ?) |
|
According to Jones ("Bowen of Pentre Ifan and Llwyngwair", p.33), JOHN READ
was ELSBETH’S first husband (Dwnn, I, 61,169). Bartrum gives the pedigree as
Gwynfardd 4C2.
86.HARRY ap JOHN of Rhydarwen, Llanarthney (est b.1470 - aft 1520) |
|
According to Gruffudd Hiraethog (Peniarth 133), this father of MARGRED who
married JAMES READ lived at Rhydarwen in the Tywi valley near Dryslwyn castle,
where doorways in the early 16th century house still bear carved
shields, one of which supports the arms of HARRY’s father-in-law Sir RHYS ap
THOMAS as a knight of the Garter (he may have built the house). HARRY was one of
the captains in the retinue of Sir RHYS in the invasion of France by Henry VIII
in 1513, during which the city of Tournai was captured. He was mayor of
Carmarthen in 1502 and constable of Dryslwyn castle in 1514-1520 (Griffiths,
Sir Rhys, pp.56, 64).
87.MARGRED f. Sir RHYS (est b.1470 - ?) |
|
According to Gruffudd Hiraethog (Einion ap Llywarch 7A3), MARGRED was an
illegitimate daughter of Sir RHYS ap THOMAS by GWENLLIAN, his long-time mistress
and the sister of the abbot of Talley abbey. Sir RHYS was a cousin of 94.MORRIS
BOWEN (see the HISTORICAL NARRATIVE), and his wife Efa was the sister of
173.ELEN.
11.ELIZABETH Line
88. JOHN ap DAFYDD (est b.1450 - ?) |
|
This JOHN owned Penddeulwyn (Jones, Historic Carms Homes, p.147).
As explained above with 44.RHYS, JOHN allowed his second son RHYS to inherit his
land instead of his elder son Dafydd (Gruffudd Hiraethog, Peniarth134, p. 201).
89.GWENLLIAN Line
|
89.GWENLLIAN f. JOHN (est b.1450 - ?) |
|
This wife, whose marriage was recorded with her husband’s family in Peniarth
134 p. 201, claimed a long descent from Elystan Glodrydd, though her line does
not include GRONO ap ELIDIR GOCH as do our other lines to this patriarch.
GWENLLIAN’s line intersected then merged with the line of 81.DYDDGU f. JOHN DDU,
wife of 80.LEWIS ap RHYDDERCH, so we give both lines here. However, we found no
substantive connection between the two lines.
45.MEDDEFUS Line
90.EINION ap DAFYDD (est b. 1450 - ?) |
|
Little is known about this father of 45.MEDDEFUS other than his claimed
descent from Cydifor Fawr (Bartrum’s pedigree Cyd. Fawr 7).
91.ELEN f. IEUAN LLWYD (grey) (est b.1460 - ?) |
|
Like her husband she also claimed descent from Cydifor Fawr, through her
father Ieuan Llwyd, his father Philip and his grandfather Ieuan (CF3), but the
claim is unreliable because Bartrum has shown that Madog, who is claimed to be
the father of that grandfather Ieuan, appears from other pedigrees to be four
generations earlier than his claimed son Ieuan. So we did not continue this
wife’s line.
47.JANE BOWEN Line
94.MORRIS BOWEN (MORUS ab OWAIN) (est b.1450 - ?) |
|
This is one of our most distinguished and best documented lines in the
ancestry of 11.ELIZABETH, including the stewards of Dinefwr castle and the DWNN
family of Kidwelly, as shown in Bartrum’s pedigrees titled Einion ap Llywarch 6,
7, 7 (B1), which are cited to the Peniarth records of Gruffudd Hiraethog and
include MORRIS’s marriage to JANE LEWIS. For the historical significance of this
family, see the HISTORICAL NARRATIVE. MORRIS’s sons and grandsons became the
Bowens of Llechdwni, the Bowens of Upton Castle, and of Fishweir in Glamorgan,
as well as of Cwrt Bryn-y-beirdd (court of the hill of the bards), opposite
Carreg Cennen castle near Llandeilo, where MORRIS lived (see Einion Llywarch
7(B) and Francis Jones, Historic Carms Homes, p.17).
| 95.JANE f. THOMAS ap LEWIS (est b.1450 - ?) |
|
See her multi-branched line in the HISTORICAL NARRATIVE and
Branch Chart
1-2.
8th Generation back from ?Margaretta Prichard
10.JOHN Line
160.RHYDDERCH ap THOMAS FYCHAN of Cryngae (est b. 1410-?) |
|
Bartrum gives the pedigree by Gruffudd Hiraethog in Peniarth 132, which he
numbers as Elystan Glodrydd 52and 52(E). Ralph Griffiths found no surviving
record of offices RHYDDERCH may have held. RHYDDERCH’s second wife Efa f.
Llewelyn ap Rees was the heiress of Cryngae in the north of Carmarthenshire, and
he moved to that estate with her. His son LEWYS did not move with him, and
likely began to live in Aranell in Abergwili parish.
161.MARGRED f. RHYDDERCH ap RHYS (est b.1430 - ?) |
|
RHYDDERCH’s first wife is given as this daughter of 322.RHYDDERCH ap RHYS ap GRUFFUDD ap LLEWELYN FOETHUS in the pedigree by Gruffudd Hiraethog (Peniarth
132, p.222). However, MARGRED’s name was added to the pedigree by William Llyn
on pp.222 and 328, where apparently Gruffudd Hiraethog left a space for her name
since he clearly wrote that the firstborn son, our LEWYS, was not from the
second wife. Unfortunately, William Llyn is not considered equally reliable
(Bartrum, "Further Notes," Trans. Cymm. p.112), so MARGRED’s status is
somewhat uncertain. We found no document referring to the marriage, but there is
much circumstantial evidence that members of the two families worked closely
together. Thus, GRUFFUDD ap LLYWELYN and DAFYDD ap THOMAS were joint bailiffs of
the north of the county (Griffiths pp. 297, 386) and RHYDDERCH ap RHYS and
THOMAS ap THOMAS FYCHAN jointly took the profits of Dryslwyn (Griffiths p.265).
We also found MARGRED’S second cousin 709.GWLADUS in a documented marriage and
her uncle William ap Rhys in an undocumented marriage to siblings (708.GWILYM
and Gwenllian) of MARGRED’S attributed husband (Elystan Glodrydd 52 and 55).
This continuing relation over three generations is significant enough
that we decided it outweighs the reputed or speculative deficiency of William
Llyn. It also would seem to lengthen the usual period of valid memory from three
generations to possibly four or five. So we conclude that MARGRED’s marriage is
reasonably likely, since the evidence against the marriage record is
speculative, and the circumstantial evidence of closeness between the two
families is ample and continuing.
81.DYDDGU Line
162.JOHN DDU (est b. 1440 - ?) |
|
This father of 81.DYDDGU may perhaps be the John Du who was reeve of a
commote in Cardiganshire in 1487-88 (Griffiths, Principality, p.478), but
we know of no other connection of his family with that county. Bartrum gives his
pedigree as Elystan Glodrydd 58.
21.NN READ Line
168.LEWIS READ of Roche Castle (est b.1440 - ?) |
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LEWIS READ was recorded in a pedigree in The Book of Edward ap Roger
before 1582, and by Gruffudd Hiraethog in Peniarth 132 and 133. We have no
details of his life, though his brother Gruffudd was well known, being rewarded
by Henry VII for his support in 1485 with an appointment in Kidwelly, and later as steward of Pembroke (Griffiths, Sir Rhys, p.52). Gruffudd was also Constable of
Carmarthen from 1498. His death in 1509 was infamous, as Griffiths went on to
describe: "When Henry VIII appointed him his steward, receiver, approver and
chancellor of the lordships of Pembroke and Haverford and of the barony of
Cemais on 18 May 1509, Sir Rhys [ap Thomas] may have felt affronted.
Within a few weeks – certainly by 9 July when his will was being administered –
Gruffydd Rede had been murdered. Sir Rhys was not among those named in May 1511
as having been present at the constable’s slaying, but the poet and herald,
Gruffydd Hiraethog (died 1564), later recorded his belief that Sir Rhys was
ultimately responsible."
170.Sir JAMES BOWEN of Pentre Ifan (est b.1450 - aft 1518) |
|
According to Jones ("Bowen of Pentre Ifan and Llwyngwair", p.33), there is
documentary evidence of SIR JAMES ab OWEN of Pentre Ifan in Pembrokeshire over
the period 1485-1518, and he died between that date and a deed of 1532. He
supported Henry Tudor at the battle of Bosworth, and was knighted in 1506 and
appointed auditor and attorney of the barony of Cemais in 1514. He had two wives
and 22 children. Bartrum gives his pedigree for 13 generations in Gwynfardd 4C2,
4, 3, 1, and cites documentary evidence for much of the family activity back to
1195 AD, but because the READ line is uncertain we do not cite that activity
here.
172.JOHN ap HENRY (est b.1450 - ?) |
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This father of HENRY of Rhydarwen was stated by Gruffudd Hiraethog (Peniarth
133) to be the eldest son of 354.HENRYap GWILYM FYCHAN, but apart from the
pedigree reference to his wife (Einion ap Llywarch 8C) we know nothing of JOHN’s
life.
173.ELEN f. HENRY (est b.1450 - ?) |
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According to Bartrum’s pedigree (Elystan Godryddl 52B), ELEN was the daughter
of HENRY ap GWILYM of Court Henry in the line of 10.JOHN ap REES, and the sister
of Efa, the first wife of Sir RHYS ap THOMES.
174.Sir RHYS ap THOMAS, K.G. (born c.1449 - 1525) |
|
For his career see the HISTORICAL NARRATIVE. Since Sir RHYS appears in the
READ line, we are capitalizing his name for consistency with our other
ancestors, but we consider the READ line uncertain unless we find confirming
evidence of the marriage of NN f. READ to the father of 10.JOHN ap REES.
According to Griffiths, Sir RHYS’s mistress GWENLLIAN was the sister of the
abbot of Talley, named as Robert ap Gwilym of Myddynfych, though Griffiths could
not find him in the list of abbots in the 15th century (Griffiths,
Sir Rhys, pp.63,186). Bartrum’s Einion ap Llywarch 5 gives the family at
Myddynfych as distant relations of Sir RHYS (see 11,268.GRUFFUDD ab ELIDIR).
11.ELIZABETH Line
176.DAFYDD ap THOMAS (est b.1430 - ?) |
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This is another of the male ancestors of 11.ELIZABETH for whom we have only
the pedigree without historical identification (Bartrum, Einion ap Llywarch
12(A). The family must have lived quietly as landowners, and probably were not
employed as royal or state officials. DAFYDD’S wife came from a better known
family in the line of 10.JOHN ap REES, and their marriage was recorded by
Gruffudd Hiraethog (Peniarth 134, p.200 and Bartrum’s Einion ap Llywarch 12A).
177.ELEN f. THOMAS DDU (est b.1430 - ?) |
|
It is interesting that ELEN was the great-granddaughter of 320.THOMAS FYCHAN
in the line of 10.JOHN ap REES, so her marriage to DAFYDD in the line of
11.ELIZABETH (Einion ap Llywarch 12(A), shows an intersection of the two lines.
ELEN’S father 354.THOMAS DDU (dark-haired or -complexioned) was said by
Gruffudd Hiraethog to live at Penddeulwyn (Bartrum, Elystan Glodrydd 52), This
property was later identified as DAFYDD’S, so we supposed ELEN inherited the
property from her father and brought it to her husband. Recognizing the value of
property transfer as a way to document historical figures, particularly women in
their dowries, we looked for earlier references to ownership of Penddeulwyn,
expecting to learn how it came to THOMAS DDU’s line. Surprisingly we found it
already belonged to DAFYDD through his mother 353.MARGRED, and probably THOMAS
DDU was said to be "of Penddeulwyn" in error because he did not own it
but must have lived there with his daughter after his wife died. See 353.MARGRED
for the line we labelled as PENDDEULWYN Line.
89.GWENLLIAN Line
178.JOHN ap MAREDUDD (est b.1430 - ?) |
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Little is known about this father of 89.GWENLLIAN, except that his pedigree
(Bartrum’s Elystan Gloddryd 58 A) shows a brother Ieuan who had descendents in
Abergwili. We have found no documentary evidence for him, and he was not
recorded within the three-generation limit, so his identification as an ancestor
is uncertain.
45.MEDDEFUS Line
180.DAFYDD ap HYWEL (est b.1420-?)
Little is known about this grandfather of 45.MEDDEFUS, other than that he
claimed descent from Cydifor Fawr and had a sister named Nest (Bartrum, Cydifor
Fawr 7). His wife ELEN came from one of our well-known families, and their
pedigree was recorded by Gruffudd Hiraethog in Peniarth 134, p.202 (numbered by
Bartrum as Elystan Glodrydd 55B). This pedigree record of the marriage, however,
was not made within the time limit of three generations, so we cannot consider
the couple as historically documented.
181.ELEN f. RHYDDERCH ap RHYS (est b.1420 - ?) |
|
ELEN is given as the sister of 161.MARGRED, and both were daughters of
322./362.RHYDDERCH ap RHYS (Peniarth 132 for MARGRED and Peniarth 134 for ELEN).
For further interrelations in the pedigree, see their great-grandfather
1288.GRUFFUDD ap LLYWELYN FOETHUS (in ELEN’S line he is numbered 1444).
47.JANE BOWEN Line
188.OWAIN ap GRUFFUDD ap NICHOLAS (est 1420 - aft 1461) |
|
OWAIN was well documented in his important family for his many activities
with his father. For detail and illustrations, see the HISTORICAL NARRATIVE. His
pedigree (Einion ap Llywarch 7 (B1) shows eight daughters and one legitimate
son, MORRIS BOWEN, who inherited Bryn y beirdd, according to Gruffudd Hiraethog
(Peniarth 133).
189.ALSWN MALEPHANT of Upton (est b.1420 - ?) |
|
ALSWN lived at Upton Castle in Pembrokeshire, which later belonged to her
grandson Thomas (Einion ap Llywarch 7, 7(B). This transfer of property is
considered evidence of her identity and their marriage, so she is included in
the HISTORICAL NARRATIVE. Her sister Jonet is listed as the second wife of
OWAIN’S brother Thomas (Einion ap Llywarch 7). The MALEPHANT family was given in
the Golden Grove pedigrees as of Norman origin (Advenae Demetianae B335
7, Film no.104352), and it is known that many Norman families settled in the
south of the county. Such families will prove interesting if it becomes possible
to trace them back to England and Normandy.
9th Generation back from ?Margaretta Prichard
10.JOHN Line
320.THOMAS FYCHAN (junior) ap THOMAS (abt 1370 - aft 1419) |
|
He was one of the most active of the medieval "policemen" in this family, as
shown in the documentation of his career by Griffiths cited in our HISTORICAL
NARRATIVE. He had at least two adult sons besides our 160.RHYDDERCH and
708.GWILYM, and the sons’ families seem to have been close as they worked
together in similar positions as bailiff or beadle. In addition to being a
direct ancestor in the male line of 10.JOHN ap REES, THOMAS was an ancestor of
JOHN’s wife ELIZABETH through his great-granddaughter 177.ELEN f. THOMAS DDU ap
GWILYM (in Bartrum’s pedigree Elystan Glodrydd 52), who married 176.DAFYDD ap
THOMAS (in Bartrum’s pedigree Einion ap Llywarch 12 (A). Different generations
are involved, and in ELIZABETH’S line THOMAS FYCHAN has number 1416, not 320,
and his ancestors’ numbers change accordingly. As noted in the
Introduction, such numerical differences occur because of the variability of parental age and siblings’ birth order as well as whether the intersection
occurs early or late in a long line.
321.CRISLI f. GWILYM OR GWLADUS f. PHILIP |
|
THOMAS FYCHAN was given two wives in the pedigree, CRISLI ferch GWILYM ap
PHILIP ap ELIDIR, who claimed descent from Einion ap Llywarch (Bartrum’s Ein ap
Ll 8), and GWLADUS ferch PHILIP whose patriarch was Cydifor Fawr (Cyd F
2). Bartrum could not tell which was the mother of our 160.RHYDDERCH or our
708.GWILYM. The question remains open, so we are giving both women for this
number 321 but not giving their ancestral lines.
322,RHYDDERCH ap RHYS ap GRIFFUDD (est 1390 - aft 1470)
He had several official positions documented by Griffiths, but he is most interesting for the documentation about his beautiful gardens. See the HISTORICAL NARRATIVE for a description of the Aberglasney Gardens. As said
already, we have at least two of RHYDDERCH’s daughters in our lines. See
161.MARGRED and 181.ELEN.
323.LLEUCU f. GWALLTER (est b.1400 - ?) |
|
Her descendants claimed her descent from Rhys ap Tewdwr, but through a
grandson Owain ap Gruffudd whom we did not find in published trees of that
princely family. In addition, the pedigree as given by Bartrum (Rs ap T.2) shows
no siblings in her father’s line, thus further reducing confidence in its
reliability. We consider her unsupported and did not continue her line.
81.DYDDGU Line
324.THOMAS ap NICHOLAS (est b.1420 - ?) |
|
Apart from his inclusion in Bartrum’s Elystan Glodrudd 58, we know nothing of
this father of JOHN DDU.
21.NN READ Line
336.THOMAS READ of Roche (est b.1400 - aft 1452) |
|
THOMAS married ELEN, the daughter of 376.GRUFFUDD ap NICHOLAS, and in 1449 he
and his father-in-law and Lewys ap Rhys Gethin, the mayor of Carmarthen, were
allowed to farm the revenue of the town for twenty years, and they were also
granted the profits from all forfeitures in the county during that time
(Griffiths, Sir Rhys, pp.13-14 and Principality, p.403). Griffiths
also referred to Richard Rede, probably THOMAS’S brother of that name, as one of
a number who held the office of escheator of Carmarthenshire in the 1430s and
1440s, who "in reality were [Gruffydd ap Nicholas]’s agents" (p.14).
THOMAS’S second wife was Margred, the daughter of GRUFFUDD’s brother-in-law
Gruffudd DWNN (Bartrum’s pedigree Read 2).
337.ELEN f. GRUFFUDD (est b.1420 - ?) |
|
THOMAS’s first wife ELEN was recorded in the pedigrees (Einion ap Llywarch 7)
as the mother of 168.LEWIS READ. She was the sister of 188.OWAIN ap GRUFFUDD
(father of 94.MORRIS BOWEN in the line of 11.ELIZABETH), and their father
376.GRUFFUDD is numbered 674 as ELEN’S father.
344.HENRY ap GWILYM FYCHAN (est b.1420 - ?) |
|
According to Gruffudd Hiraethog (Peniarth 176), HENRY lived in Llanddarog
parish and married Maud, the daughter and heiress of Jenkin Owen of Ynyswen in
Llangadog parish, east of Llandeilo, but we have not researched her family
pedigree (Eidio 3).
346.HENRY ap GWILYM (est b.1420 - aft 1493) |
|
HENRY, the father of 173.ELEN, was described by Lewys Glyn Cothi as the
builder of Court Henry near Dryslwyn Castle in Llangathen parish. He was also
the father of Efa, who married Sir RHYS ap THOMAS (Elystan Glodrydd 52 B). The
pedigrees show him as the brother of 354.THOMAS DDU, and their father 708.GWILYM
is numbered 692 in that line. Note that this HENRY can be easily confused with
344.HENRY ap GWILYM FYCHAN.
347.MABLI f. GWILYM (est b.1420 - ?) |
|
MABLI’s patriarch is given as Selyf, but we have not researched her
ancestry.
11.ELIZABETH Line
352.THOMAS ap RHYS (est b.1400 - ?) |
|
The male line of this ancestor of 11.ELIZABETH is long but not very
memorable. As mentioned with THOMAS’S son 176.DAFYDD ap THOMAS, the men must
have lived quietly as landowners, or else all records of their official activity
were lost. THOMAS was apparently the first in 11.ELIZABETH’s line to receive the
Penddeulwyn property, which remained with his descendants for over three
centuries.
PENDDEULWYN Line
353.MARGRED f. GRUFFUDD ap RICHARD (est b.1410 - ?) |
|
Presumably this MARGRED brought Penddeulwyn to her husband. She was the only
child of 706.GRUFFUDD ap RICHARD and his wife 707.GWENHWYFAR, who was also an
only child. GWENHWYFAR’S grandfather 2828.RHYS LLWYD is the earliest owner of
the property that we could find. Since it was inherited by MARGRED from her
mother’s family, we gave that family the label "Penddeulwyn Line" and gave
MARGRED’S father’s short line her own name to distinguish it from the line we
expected might reveal more history of the Penddeulwyn property.
11.ELIZABETH Line
354.THOMAS DDU ap GWILYM (est b.1410 - ?) |
|
We have already said with his daughter 177.ELEN that although THOMAS was said
to be living at Penddeulwyn (Gruffudd Hiraethog in Peniarth 134, p.200), he was
apparently not the owner. We found no evidence that his ancestors ever owned the
property, and the poet Lewys Glyn Cothi wrote that his father 708.GWILYM lived
at Cefn Melgoed in Llangathen parish. THOMAS was the brother of 346.HENRY ap
GWILYM, and their grandfather, i.e.THOMAS FYCHAN, has number 320 as the ancestor
of 10.JOHN ap REES, but number 1416 in THOMAS’S line and number 1384 in HENRY’S
line. THOMAS’S marriage is included in Gruffudd Hiraethog’s pedigree in Peniarth
134, p.200, given by Bartrum as Elystan Glodrydd 52.
355.ELEN Line
355.ELEN f. TRAHAEARN ap GWILYM GWYN. (est b.1410 - ?) |
|
Bartrum’s pedigree (Llywelyn ap Gwrgan 11) shows that ELEN had two brothers
Gwilym and Ieuan, and her grandfather was GWILYM GWYN (white or blond)
of Llangunnor. This is the parish in which Penddeulwyn is situated, but ELEN’s
line has no mention of a connection to Penddeulwyn, so we believe that she could
not have brought the property to her husband THOMAS DDU.
89.GWENLLIAN Line
356.MAREDUDD ap GWILYM (est b.1400 - ?) |
|
Again little is known about this grandfather of 89.GWENLLIAN, who appears in
Bartrum’s pedigree Elystan Glodrudd 8.
357.LLEUCU f. CADWGAN (est b.1400 - ?) |
|
Bartrum gives the patriarch for this wife of MAREDUDD as Rhydderch ap
Tewdwr 5, but we have not researched her ancestry (Elystan Gloddryd 58).
45.MEDDEFUS Line
360.HYWEL ab IEUAN (est b.1380 - ?) |
|
According to Bartrum’s pedigree (Cydifor Fawr 7, 7 B), HYWEL had a brother Rhys whose great-grandson Lewys ap Thomas of Clyngwyn near Carmarthen was a Justice of the Peace in the early 16thcentury. HYWEL also was the
ancestor of Lewis ab Ieuen, who married the sister Jonet of JOHN ab REES’s
grandfather 40.THOMAS. These are the same relatives referred to earlier with
45.MEDDEFUS, and we could find no further information about any of them. HYWEL’s
wife is listed as doubtful, so we did not include her.
47.JANE BOWEN Line
376.GRUFFUDD ap NICHOLAS of Newton (abt 1390 - abt 1460) |
|
He was called the "most powerful of the Welsh gentry of his day" (J.
Davies pp. 208-9), and his life and activities are given in the HISTORICAL
NARRATIVE. His pedigree shows three wives (Einion ap Llywarch 7), and twelve
daughters and four sons who reached adulthood, and many have historical
confirmation.
DWNN Line
377.MABLI f. MAREDUDD ap HENRY DWNN (est b.1400 - ?) |
|
MABLI’s distinguished family of her grandfather, three brothers, and several
uncles are given in the HISTORICAL NARRATIVE. Her marriage was recorded by Ieuan
Brechfa c.1500 in Peniarth 131 and by Gruffudd Hiraethog in Peniarth 133 and
139, and according to her husband’s pedigree they had at least six children who
grew to adulthood (Einion ap Llywarch 7).
47.JANE BOWEN Line
378.HENRY MALEPHANT of Upton (est b.1380 - ?) |
|
This father of ALSWN, wife of 188.OWAIN ap GRUFFUDD ap NICHOLAS, lived at
the family home Upton castle in Pembrokeshire. A branch of the MALEPHANT family
lived in Glamorgan, but the pedigrees differ on how they were related. Bartrum’s
pedigree (Malephant) shows Henry as the brother of Sir Thomas Malephant of
Wenvoe, Glamorgan (recorded c1610 by an unknown author in Harleian MS 5835) and
Griffiths agrees (Sir Rhys, p.17). The family bore the arms Gules,
fretty Argent on a chief Or, a lion passant Sable’, (On a red shield, a
black lion walking upright on the upper half gold and a silver pattern of hollow
diamonds interlaced by a St Andrew’s cross) (Siddons, II, p.361). Upton castle
descended to ALSWN and then to her son 94.MORRIS BOWEN, as described in the
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE.
379.ALICE f. STEPHEN PERROT (est b.1380 - ?) |
|
The Perrot family lived at Haroldston in Pembrokeshire from the 14th
to the 18th century and is amply documented (Jones, Historic
Houses of Pembs, p.80). They bore the arms ‘Gules, three pears Or;
on a chief Argent a demi-lion rampant issuant Sable’ (On a red shield, the
upper half of a rising black lion on a silver background, and three gold pears
(Siddons, Vol.II, p.441). In Tudor times the family were among the richest
squires in Wales, and "almost equal in their economic circumstances to some
of the aristocratic families" (J.Davies, p.264). The family obviously merits
study, though we have no historical proof of the marriage, and Bartrum’s
pedigree (Perrot 1) gives no details of the lives of ALICE’s ancestors who are
named in it.
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