PHELIP
(PHILIP) PICTON, born ca 1250. He
married Maud or Amy Dyer of Newport,
Pembrokeshire [Golden Grove MS, p. 141].
Two Ancient Deeds, E 210/5604 and E 210/5607 record the quitclaim from
Margaret daughter
of William Peche of Newport, to WILLIAM PICTON,
Burgess of Newport, of a house and land, etc., at Holmes in Newport,
5
Edward I [1277]. These may be the
same transaction, or two separate transactions. The name of Philip Picton appears in the
Golden Grove MS p. 88 at the Carmarthen
Record Office at the head of the Picton tree. Some people give him as a younger
brother to Sir William de Picton, who had possession of the Picton Castle
estate, and whose name also appears on the same page, but the Golden Grove MS
shows no definite connection to this Philip Picton. Sir William Picton of Picton Castle is
supposed to have had a daughter and heiress,
Joan
Picton, who married Sir John
Wogan, Kt.
In
1294/95 John
Wogan was made Lord Justice of Ireland [Justicar] by King Edward I, and helped
make peace between the Earl of Ulster and John
FitzThomas and the Geraldines. In
the same year he was ordered to have 20,000 men ready – 10,000 of which should
be mounted and ready to cross the sea to Scotland in the service of the
King. The Irish played a major role
in the defeat of the Scots, as their Irish horses [hobbledars as they were aptly named] matched the light
horses that William Wallace used for his hit-and-run tactics against the English
troops. Sir
John
Wogan’s rule as JUsticar was
reputed to be very strict. In 1317
King Edward II granted the lands and the Manor of Rathcoffey and later the Castle, manor and
territory
of Kildare
to the Wogans. In 1299 George de la
Roche in Ireland
granted the rights to Castle Maurice [Castlemorris] in
Pembrokeshire to Sir John
Wogan of Picton, which resulted in the founding of the Wogan chantry at St.
David’s Cathedral.
In
1281 David
ap Yevan ap Luke de Menethmelyn
pledged
to William Piketune, indented, of land at Menethmelyn [in Kemes] [E 210/4624]. In 1298 William Pyketon demised to Richard the Dyer, with an indenture for
10 years, of a burgage in Haverfordwest [E
210/11233].
A
WILLIAM PICTON, born possibly ca 1280 at
Newport, was living at
Newport in Kemes between
1312 and 1334. He was from
Newport, and was a juror
at the inquisition post mortem of William Martin, Lord of Kemes [Cemais], held
on 14 May
1317 [E. M.
Pritchard, The History of St. Dogmaels Abbey,
London, 1907, p.
216].
He
also took part in several land transactions. In 1312
John
Blac(k)man, son and heir of Mabel Springhan, late (the wife of) -------- of
Newport
(Novus Burgus) quitclaimed
to William Picton, burgess of Newport,
half a carucate of land in Nevern in the Barony of
Kemeys [E 210/8015]. William, son of
John Thomas, of
Newport (Novo Burgo) demised to William Piccethon an acre by St. David’s Chapel and land by St.
Mary’s Bridge in Newport in 1317 [E 210/1956]. Also in 1317
Ieuan
ap Gruffith ap Ieuan ap Deau and Guerys, daughter of Ieuan
ap Meylir his wife, conveyed to William Piccethon, burgess of
Newport
(Novo Burgo) land in 'Menythmelyn' [E 210/1630]. In the same year (1317)
Rees
ap Howel ap Lewelyn ap Oweyn
to demised to William Piketun, burgess of Newport in
Kemeys, by an indenture for 10 years of his messuages,
etc., in Fishguard (Fiscarde) in Pembrokeshire [E
210/8955].
On
the Saturday before the feast of St. Vincent, 1318, at Newport in Kemes, Gruffydd ap Ieuan granted to William Piketune [Picton] land in the holding of Llanaran and :Melyndrene at Penkayr [Pencaer] for 8 years, in consideration of payment to Gruffydd of 8 marks; William Piketune was to deliver back the land to the grantor upon
repayment of the said 8 marks at any time following expiry of 8 years [E
210/556]. Also in 1318 William
Vechan [Vaughan]
ab Meist demised to William
Piketune, by indenture of 6 acres in 'Lanlawern', dated at
Newport
in Kemes [E 210/8028]. Then in 1319
there were two dated transactions between William Sener and William Piketon relating to rents in Ambleston (Villa Amelot) and Reynerston (villa Reyn) [E
210/8937]; a carucate of land and rents of the mills
of Spittal and Reynereston
in the Barony of Wiston [E 210/8023] and a third
(undated) grant of a messuage in Ambleston from William Sener to
William Piketon [E 210/7588].
In
1319 William Piketon granted a lease to William Cornepig with an indenture of a burgage in Haverfordwest [E
210/6868]. There were also three
undated transactions, possibly around this date, of a lease from Rhys
.------- to William Piccethon of Newport (Novo Burgo)
of land and wood in 'Talleronock' [E 210/2265]; a
grant from Philip Hervi [Harvey] to William Piketon of
half a burgage, etc., in Haverfordwest [E 210/7390] and an assignment by Griffin
son of John
Veyr to William Pictun,
burgess of Newport (Novo Burgo) of land at Lanwaran and Mellytref in Penker [Pencaer] in the fee (tenemento) of Pebid[iauk] [E 210/2967].
In 1324 Gruffut ap Ieuan, man (vir) of Penkayr released to
William Pyketun, burgess of Newport in Kemeys, messuages, etc., in Llanvarran in the Barony of Penkayr and in Treffkendalan in
the Barony of Pebidiauk [E 210/6858]. This presumably relates to the same land
mentioned above in 1318.
William
Piketon was a juror at Newport
in 1326 [Henry Owen, Ed., The Description of
Pembrokeshire by George Owen, Part II, 1897, p. 463]. He was co-tenant of Trefmayck and Nynyth' Henry [Mynydd Henry], 1326 [The Black Book of St. Davids,
p.87]. In 1334 Amya [Amy] Piketun, late the wife
of William Pik[etun] late .......... in
Newport
(Novo Burgo) in Kemeys
demised to John
Gruffut [Griffith],
dyer, for his life, a burgage in Haverfordwest (Harford) [E 210/9065].
This implies that William Picton was dead by
1334.
William
Picton married Agnes, "daughter of Philip Horton" [as per Tucker MS, NLW 10871B
and the Golden Grove MS, p. 177]. Francis Green, relying on Lewys Dwnn [Heraldic Visitations
of Wales,
Llandovery, 1846, i. 167], calls her the daughter of
Philip Holton. Query if these
references do not concern a daughter of Philip Bolton who married a William
Picton of a later generation.
George Owen’s Pembrokeshire [Part II, p. 467] refers to Thomas and
Philippe [Philip], the sons and heirs of William Pikton [Picton] of Newport,
as alive in 1344. The Golden Grove
MS gives reference p. 177, presumably where there is a Horton
pedigree.
WILLIAM PICTON
and Agnes HORTON probably had the following
children:
i. THOMAS PICTON, living in
1344.
ii. PHILIP PICTON, living
in 1337, 1344. In 1337 Philip
de Pyketon gave a bond to William Cendell and
Joan
his wife, of Haverfordwest, for the conveyance of lands, etc. [E
210/1635].
THOMAS PICTON,
born ca 1310, was alive in 1337 and 1344.
A Thomas Picton is described by Lewys Dwnn as of Newport (i. 163) and as
of Haverfordwest (i. 71). The
Golden Grove MS give Thomas Picton of
Newport marrying Agnes,
daughter of John Blackman [p.
180]. A deed of 1332 records a
grant of a fourth part of a burgage in Haverfordwest, situated adjacent to
"the tenement of Thomas Pyketon on the west part" [grant by
John, son and heir
of Hugh the taylor, to William le Soper, Ellen his wife, and
John their son]
[Schedule of Haverfordwest Records, No. 10?6]. A Final Concord and Entail of lands in
Haverfordwest, in a fine levied between Thomas Sturmyn, plaintiff, and Thomas Pyketon of Novo Burgo [Newport] in
Kemes, defendant, concerned lands near Haverfordwest in 1332 [Glyn Picton, Birmingham Reference Library 405964, Collectanea Pembrochiana,
citing Fenton MS, Volume 19; an English translated copy of this latin document
is now in the Glyn Picton Collection at the NLW, Box
1].
On
the other hand
Llewellyn,
son of David ap Iuaf of Tref
Ruffut, quitclaimed to Thomas Piketon, son of William
Piketon of Newport [de Novo Burgo in Kemmeys], and Margaret, daughter of Philip ap
Gwilim, his wife, of a
messuage and land in Tref
Ruffut in the fee of Moldegrave and Bachongle, both in
the Barony of Kemmeys [Cemais] in 1336 [E
210/9299]. About 1342 Adam Cole
gave a bond to Thomas Pyketon for the payment of
£13:13s:4d secured by right of distraint on Reymerston Mill [E 210/8184]. On Michaelmas
Day 1344, Thomas Picton, son and heir of William Picton of New Burgh [Newport],
granted lands lying within the precincts of the burgages of Fishguard called “Tyr
Roys†to William, son of Warin ap David Voil, for two years
[E 210/1233]. Note that this
William ap Warin ap David
Voil was ancestor of the Voyle family of Philbeach,
Haverfordwest, and St. Elvis. He
was a first cousin of Thomas Picton.
In 1349 Thomas Picton of Newport granted to
William, son of William Sendel, his tenements, etc. in
Haverfordwest [E 210/9309]. In 1351
Thomas Piketon demised to William Helier and Helen,
his wife, a messuage in
Gate
Street,
Haverfordwest, for their lives [E 210/8954]. In 1352 Thomas Picton demised to William Towker by an indenture a plot of ground at Haverfordwest [E
210/11235].
Further
transactions then took place on the land at Ambleston. In
1356 Thomas Piketon, son of William Piketon, demised to Richard Flemyng, by indenture, a messuage
and land at Ambleston [Hamalston] [E 210/8118]. In the same year Thomas Piketon leased
to Walter Seuer of Hamlaston
[Ambleston], by indenture, a plot with one-third of a
plough-land, dated at Newport [E
210/2345]. It might be worth
remembering that the Picton branch at Martletwy owned land at Ambleston in 1604.
Thomas Picton
conveyed to Stephen le Hock a burgage in Newport by deed poll, reciting a feoffment, in 1362 [E
210/1640]. In 1364 Thomas Pykton was a witness to a deed concerning lands at Newport
in Kemes [D.A. and M. G. Bassett, Eds., Baronia de Kemeys,
printed for the Cambrian Archaeological Association, Archaeologia Cambrensis,
Supplement, London, 1862] and in the same year he held lands at Mynydd Melyn of the Lord of Kemes
[ibid., p. 88].
In 1365 Thomas
Pictone demised by indenture to Philip Balyn and Agnes, his wife, a burgage in Haverfordwest [E
210/9318]. A deed of 1371 records
the grant of a third part of a burgage in Dark Street, Haverfordwest, adjacent
to the tenement of Thomas Pycton [grant by
John Hendy and
Isabel his wife to John Hendy their
son] [Schedule of Haverfordwest Records, No.1013]. There seems to be no further mention of
Thomas Picton of Newport after this date,
and he was apparently dead by 1379, when
John Picton was in
possession of the Haverfordwest property.
Thomas Picton was
married to Agnes Blackman, daughter of
John Blackman, by
whom they had the following children:
i. WILLIAM PICTON. Class E 135/15/22, Exchequer,
Miscellaneous Ecclesiastical Documents, relates to the marriage of William and Eleanor Picton
in 1379. This
marriage does relate to the Pembrokeshire family and helps confirm the Picton
pedigree in the Golden Grove MS p. 88.
He seems to be the ancestor of the elder Picton male family line, which
became extinct in the marriage of Alice Picton to Thomas Perrot [see
below].
ii. JOHN PICTON. He was the founder of the Picton lines
at Newport and Nevern and married Rose, daughter of
John Le Grace
[Golden Grove MS, p. 116; see also David Edwardes’s
Pembrokeshire Book, Protheroe MS V, College of Arms,
p. 159 and Tucker MS, NLW10871B, p. 35].
He must not be confused with John Picton, who
married Margaret, daughter of Thomas Fort, and probably owned land at
Haverfordwest and elsewhere in the south part of
Pembrokeshire.
iii. ROSE PICTON. She married Warin ap David Voel [Voyle; Golden Grove MSS p.
62; Francis Jones,
Warren of Trewern, Pembrokeshire Historian, Volume 5, pp.
112-133]. Other accounts make Rose
Picton the daughter of William and Elizabeth Meline of
the next generation. Waryn ap David Voel was the father of:
a. IEUAN ap
WARYN. He held land at Trewern in 1363/4 and was Mayor of
Newport in
1378.
b. WILLIAM ap
WARYN. A deed in the TNA dated 1344
describes him as William ap Warin ap David Voil, holding lands
at Fishguard. From him descends the
family of Voyle of Philbeach, Haverfordwest, and St.
Elvis.
c. HOWELL VOEL ap WARING (WARYN). He held a share in land at Trewern, 1363/4 and was married to Isabel Devonald in 1390/1
[Bronwydd MS No. 1089]. See also
Golden Grove MS, p. 62.
iv. MABEL PICTON. She was married to Sherman [Sturmin] [son of (?)] David Le Stokes of Haverfordwest
[Golden Grove MS, p. 88]. The Sturmin family of Haverfordwest appear in several ancient
deeds in Class E 210.
Picton of Newport and Carew
WILLIAM PICTON
was from Newport and he was married to Eleanor Meline,
daughter of John Meline [Melyne] [Golden Grove MS,
p. 103]. A deed of 1382 between
John son of
John Wydelock, to William Picton and Eleanor his wife concerned a
quitclaim of land in Chyrcheton, Landegonet, Heyes and Holton in
Pembrokeshire [E 210/7151].
In the deeds of
Foley of Ridgeway [No. 10, latin], is a Grant for life between Phillip David and
Alice Montaigne, dated on the Feast of the
Purification of the Blessed Mary 1385/6 at Lawadyen
[Llawhaden], of a messuage
called Thomlymyslond and 5½ acres of land lying
together in the field called Wymberislond, two of
which acres lie between the land of John Faweley and the land formerly of
John Mors and the remaining 3½ acres are situated in Reddewale [Redwalles], with
remainder to the heirs of the said Alice [Montaigne],
and failing such heirs, to the grantor and his heirs. Witnesses: William Picton, steward of
Lawadyen [Llawhaden],
John Faweley, constable there, David Hondy, reeve there, Henry Cottelond, catchpol there, Roger
---- .[4]
William and
Elizabeth/Eleanor PICTON had the following
children:
i. JOHN PICTON of Haverfordwest. A deed of 1369/70 records the grant of a
tenement in Market
Street,
Haverfordwest, adjacent to "the tenement of
John
Picton on the south part" [grant by
Richard Doustou [Dowstow]
the elder to William Drew and William Lettard,
chaplains] [Schedule of Haverfordwest Records, No. 1244]. This could be the
John Picton of
Newport, founder of the
Newport and Nevern
families. It is difficult to see
who else it could be, based on the Picton pedigree in the Golden Grove MS, p.
88.
John Picton was a
witness to grant of lands in Dark Street, Haverfordwest, 1371 [ibid., 1013; see Thomas Picton of
Newport, supra, for
details]. A witness to grant of
lands in Ship
Street,
Haverfordwest, 1376 [grant by John Doustou the elder to Walter Tailour and Amyse his wife] [ibid., 922].
A deed of 1379
records the grant of a fourth part of a burgage in Haverfordwest, "between the tenements of
John
Picton and John
Corston",
and adjacent to Dark
Street
[grant by John Hendy and
Isabel his wife to Thomas Philip and Alice his wife] [ibid., 970]. He
was a witness to the deed of 1379 mentioned above.
John Picton was a
witness to a deed of 1381, recording another transaction in same terms as that
of 1379 [grant by Isabel, widow of John Hendy, to
Thomas and Alice Phillip] [ibid., 871].
John Picton was a
witness to an agreement between Philip Bolten
[Bolton] the elder and
Thomas ap Thomas Sturmyn, dated
4
September 1385 [ibid., 1084].
Was this Philip Bolten related to Philip Horton
[see Agnes Holton or Bolton, wife of William
Picton above]?
On 8 February
1386 the Collectors of Customs in the port of Southampton were ordered, upon the
petition of John Picton of
Haverfordwest, Merchant, to view letters of cocket
which were in Picton’s possession and, if assured that 9 sacks 5 stone of wool
in five sarplers, weighed and cocketted, were the same for which customs and subsidies
were paid at the staple of Carmarthen, that they were the growth of Wales, and
that payment was made there, to permit Picton to open the sarplers, put and truss the wool in small packages, load it
on board ship and take it without a second payment to Genoa, Venice, or
elsewhere [Calendar of Close Rolls, 1386].
This document certainly shows that
John Picton was a
merchant at Haverfordwest, and had extensive trading
interests.
John Pikton was a witness to an agreement between Philip Penney
and Jane his wife, of one part, and Richard Kerd and
Joan his wife, of
the other part, dated 10 June
1390 [Schedule of
Haverfordwest Records, No. 954].
John Picton was
probably dead by 1396 [?] [see deeds of 1396 and 1396/7
referring to tenements "formerly of
John
Picton and David Jone" - ibid., 1001
and 799; which same tenements, on
St.
Thomas's Hill, were
held by John Picton and
David Jone’s widow in
1404/5]. The St, Thomas’ Hill
tenements could belong to either Picton branch.
It is clear that
John Picton married
Margaret, daughter of Thomas Fort [Golden Grove MS, p. 118]; Ralph A. Griffiths,
The Cartulary and Muniments of the Fort Family of Llanstephan,
Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies, 1971, Volume 24, pp. 311-384. Thomas Fort was of Robeston West and . John Picton,
Esquire, had a sole daughter and heiress, Alice
Picton.
In 1418 there was
a grant by William Smyth of Cheriton, and Margery his wife, to
John
Pycton, esquire, of the same, of three messuages and
land in Tenby, and one messuage and land in Polthhalok [E 210/399] This was followed in 1426 by
William Smyth of Cheriton and Margery his wife to
John
Pycton with the appointment of a attorney to give
seisin of three messuages and land in Tenby and one
messuage and land in Polthalok [E 210/4900]. On 4 March 1422 there is
a
record of a demise by
John Picton of
Carrewe [Carew], Esquire, to Jevan [John] ap David the
tailor (sissoren) of Haverford[west], and Margaret his
wife, of three parts of a burgage in Haverford adjoining a stream called 'Schitrichislake' [E
210/679]. There is an important
document, E 210/723, which records a grant in tail, by
John Picton,
Esquire, to Thomas Perrot, son of Stephen Perrot, Esquire, and Alice his wife,
daughter of the grantor, of all his messuages, lands, and rents &c. in Bikton in Ros [the Hundred of
Rhos], at a yearly rent of two greyhounds (leporarios), Monday after the
conversion of St. Paul, 9 Henry V [1422].
This shows that Alice Picton had married Thomas Perrot by 1422, and the
marriage may even have occurred in that year. Class E 210/10823 records the grant from
John Picton of
Carew to Philip L(l)oyd, Rector of Herbr(andston), of his lands in
the Barony of Carew and the Lordship of Kemes for life [4 Henry VI, 1426]. This transaction confirms that
John Picton owned
land both in the Barony of Carew and in the Barony of Kemes. E 210/5932 is a grant, indented, from
John Picton,
Esquire, to David Kemmeys of Trescandelan in the parish of St. Nicholas in Pen Caer, of a messuage and land in
Trescandelan, 17 Henry VI
[1439].
Class E 210/4687
records a grant for life to John Eliot and
John Don, chaplains
to John Picton,
Esquire, of the Manors of Robeston and Nolton in
Pembrokeshire, 20 Henry VI [1442].
It would appear that John Picton may
bought these Manors shortly before his death, for reasons that are not totally
clear at this time, although there may be more than one
John Picton
involved here. The Manor at Robeston may well have come into his hands via his wife,
Margaret Fort. One of these
gentlemen is often referred to in the transactions as Esquire. An important transaction in 1442 is the
grant by John
Pycton of Carew to Thomas Perrot of all his messuages,
etc., in Newport
in Kemes, Moldgrove [Moylgrove], Dyffryngwe..e, and elsewhere in Kemes [E
210/4698].
Certainly one
John Picton,
Esquire, died in 1442 [see below]; but both in 1438 and in 1447 Thomas Perrot, Knight, and
Joan late the wife
of Lewis Waryn gave an indented grant to
John Picton and
Agnes his wife of half a burgage in Bridge Street, Haverfordwest [E 210/10797
and E 210/5001, 25
Henry VI]. There is another grant
with the same amount of property and date, so it is unclear if this is the same
or a separate transaction [E 210/10797, 25 Henry VI, 1447]. Also in 1447
John
Pycton of Carew quitclaimed to
John
Ca. . .ell, Prior of Kidwelly, and his successors of Sherborne Abbey an acre called 'Wenwilhey' in Carmarthenshire [E 210/5190]. Class E 326/3078,
Exchequer: Augmentation Office, Ancient Deeds, Series B records a release by
John Hogekyn, brother and heir of Robert Hogekyn, late Rector of the church of St. Bridget, to
John Don and
John Eliot, of all
his right in the Manors of Robertiston and Nolton, the
reversion of which Thomas Perrot, Knight, and Alice his late wife had granted,
by a fine levied in the Court of Roland Leynthale,
Lord of Haverford, at Haverford[west] in the presence of Henry Wogan, Knight,
Steward of Haverford, on Wednesday the Feast of Perpetua and Felicitas, the
Martyrs, 20 Henry VI [1442], to Robert Hogekyn
aforesaid and the said John Don, Rector of
the church of Landegon, and
John Eliot, vicar
of St. ----- 20 October 32 Henry VI
[1454].
There are two
final Picton references which cannot yet be incorporated. In 1456 Thomas Perrot, esquire, of Eastington (in Rhoscrowther)
granted to Joan Picton,
indented, a messuage in 'le Gotestret," Haverfordwest [E 210/10925]; and in 1463
Thomas
Perrot, esquire, gave a letter of attorney to Rees Vachan [Vaughan] and Thomas Picton to deliver seisin of his lands, etc., in the Barony of Llanstephan to
John
Perrot his brother [E 210/1570].
ii. AGNES PICTON. She was a was a widow in 1418/19 [E
210/1290] when Agnes Picton, late the wife of Walter Neste, granted to Philip Lloyd, chaplain, a messuage in ‘le Marketstret’,
Haverford[west], on Thursday after the Feast of St. Ambrose, 6 Henry V
[1419]. Was she the widow of
John Picton of
Haverfordwest, probably dead by 1396, or his daughter (see
above)?
iii ROSE PICTON, married to William Howell
Voyle [Golden Grove MS, p. 62]. He could be a son of Waryn ap David Voel.
More
work needs to be done, if possible, to distinguish between the different
John Pictons named
in the above account and also to clarify the Perrot family pedigree.
John PICTON died in
1442 and was from Newport. He is probably the
John Picton, who
was Mayor of Newport in 1434
[Dillwyn
Miles, The Ancient Borough of Newport in
Pembrokeshire, 1998, p. 41].
John PICTON had the
following children:
i. ALICE PICTON. Alice Picton died on
31
March 1441 at Robeston. E
210/723 is a grant in tail by
John Picton,
Esquire, to Thomas Perrot, son of Stephen Perrot, Esquire, and Alice his wife,
daughter of the grantor, of all his messuages, lands, and rents &c. in Bikton in R[h]os, at a yearly rent
of two greyhounds (leporarios),
Monday after the
conversion of St. Paul, 9 Henry V [1422].
Perhaps this was a grant in consequence of his daughter’s marriage to
Thomas Perrot. On
8
September 1432 Thomas Fort
granted to Thomas Perrot and his wife Alice all his lands in
Carmarthen and the Lordship
of Llanstephan [E 210/4382 and E 210/4466]. Perhaps also, as a consequence of his
daughter’s death in 1441, John Picton of
Carew granted to Thomas Perrot “all his
messuages in Newport in Kemes, Molygrove, Dyffryngwynne and elsewhere in Kemes†[E
210/4968, 20 Henry VI, 1442]. Alice
Picton was married to Sir Thomas Perrot/Parrot [son of Stephen Perrot and Ellen
Howell] and would appear to be John Picton’s only
surviving daughter and heiress at her death. Sir Thomas Perrot/Parrot from Haroldston
died on 10 April
1460 in
Bristol. See also Perrot notes, or some account of the various branches
of the Perrott family, Edward Lowry
Barnwell, London, J. Russell Smith, 1867.
Alice Picton and Sir Thomas Perrot/Parrot had the following
children:
a. William Perrot/Parrot. He was married to Jane Wogan. William Perrot and Jane Wogan had the
following children:
i. Owen Perrot/Parrot. He was later knighted and had an Inqusition Post Mortem into his death, 14 Hen. VIII [1523].
Class E 210/1570
records Thomas Perrot, Esquire to
John Perrot his
brother, giving a Letter of Attorney to Rees Vachan
[Vaughan] and Thomas Picton to deliver seisin of his
lands, etc., in the Barony of Llanstephan, 2 Edward IV
[1463]. At present it is not
possible to identify this Thomas Picton nor Thomas and
John Perrot. This presumably relates to the former
Fort lands at Llanstephan.
PICTON of NEWPORT and NEVERN
JOHN
PICTON of Newport, was probably a younger son of Thomas Picton of Newport, who
had married Agnes, daughter of John Blackman.
John Picton married
Rose, daughter of John Le Grace, and
they had the following children:
i. JENKIN PICTON. A Rental of the Borough of
Newport, compiled in
1434, lists 256 burgages either within or on the
periphery of the Borough. Of these,
no less than 50 were held by Jenkin Picton [two of them jointly with
others], seven and half held by William Picton, two
held by John Picton and one
held by Wolcock Picton. Thus the Pictons were then tenants of
almost one quarter of the whole Borough and its purlieus [Bronwydd MS I, No.
301]. A full listing, along with a
proposed map of the town, appears in the NLW
Journal for 1951
[B. G. Charles, The Records of the Borough
of Newport in Pembrokeshire, NLW
Journal, Vol. VII,
No. 2, 1951, pp. 120-137]. Charles
said that the layout of the town has not been affected much by the passage of
time. Long Street, St. Mary’s
Street, West
Street,
Goat
Street and
Bridge
Street are
still the main thoroughfares of the town, as they were in 1434, and probably
long before that. The burgages lay along the street – dwelling houses with strips
behind them, running at right angles to the street. But these strips were little more than
gardens, so that if George Owen’s statement that each burgage consisted of four
and a half acres is correct, the burgages must have
possessed some land in the vicinity of the town apart from their dwelling houses
and gardens. In 1434 there were
some 233 burgages within the town, and another 23 or
so outside. In 1594, out of 211
burgages within the town, only 50 were in repair, the
rest being in decay [Bronwydd MS I, No. 303]. B. G. Charles published a side-by-side
comparison of these two Rentals.
Most of these
holdings passed from the family’s tenure over the next 150 years, although it
seems likely that some of the burgages in Newport and
other lands in the parish of Nevern [e.g. Voelgoch and
Castell-y-garn], held by Owen Picton in 1600, were
among those which Jenkin Picton possessed in
1434.
The descent from
Jenkin Picton of Newport to Owen Picton
of Trellifen [Trellyfaint] is not defined by any
pre-20th century genealogist, as far as research to date has uncovered. The Golden Grove Book does not continue
the male line after the generation of John Picton [ob. ca
1441]. Lewis Dwnn credits Jenkin with three (or four) sons but does not
trace their posterity, otherwise than in the person of a grand-daughter of
Jenkin, whom he says married William Lloyd of Morvil. The
Picton pedigree among the Tucker MS makes Jane Picton, wife of William Lloyd, a
sister of Jenkin Picton and seems to show Elizabeth Picton, wife of Lewis David
Gwillim, as the only grandchild of Jenkin Picton. Peter C. Bartrum, editor of Welsh Genealogies, has suggested that Jane
Lloyd and Elisabeth Gwillim were sisters. The Tucker MS pedigree does recognise
Howell Picton of Nevern, ancestor of the Picton family at Trellyfaint, and
implies that he was of the same stock as the Newport burgage-holders of 1434,
but it does not give his paternity.
However, it is known that in 1505 lands in Trefiorwerth-voel, [Trefoel in the
parish of Bayvil], which had been granted to
John Picton thirty
years earlier, were granted to Howell Picton in succession to
John Picton. This is significant evidence for
supposing Howell Picton to be the son of
John Picton, and
John Picton is
presumably to be identified with Jenkin Picton’s eldest son of that name, who
appears in the Dwnn and Tucker MS
genealogies.
ii. JANE PICTON, she married William Lloyd of
Cilciffith [Golden Grove MS, p. 63; see also Francis
Jones, Lloyd of Cilciffeth, Pembrokeshire Historian, Volume 4,
1972, pp. 30-62]. William and Jane
Lloyd were the parents of:
a. OWEN LLOYD, he
succeeded to Cilciffith.
b. JOHN
LLOYD
c. PHILIP LLOYD. He married a daughter of Howell ap Jenkin, and had a son, Lewis
Lloyd.
d. DAVID LLOYD and
WILLIAM LLOYD, both died without issue.
e. JAMES LLOYD of Castlebythe, who married Elen,
daughter of William Llewellyn.
f.
LLEUCU LLOYD, she
married Morris Philip Howell.
JENKIN PICTON had
the following children, according to the Golden Grove MS (p.
88):
i. JOHN PICTON. See
below.
ii. THOMAS PICTON. Class E 210/490, Exchequer, King’s Remembrancer, Ancient Deeds, Series D, records a Grant by David ap Howell, tanner, and
Richard Taillour, of Haverford[west], to
John Vachan [Vaughan], weyver [weaver],
Richard Willy, carpynder [carpenter], Roger Wilkyn, 'coriour' [corvisor (?)] of Haverford, Thomas Picton and Philip Dduy of Drechemerhill within the
Lordship of Haverford, husbandmen, of a burgage, and
20s. 8d. and two
pounds of wax, yearly rent, in Haverford; the burgage lying in ‘le Hilstrete’, without the west gate of the town, adjoining a
lane called ‘Sekemanyslane’, and the said rent of wax
arising from a burgage in ‘le prioris Rew’, adjoining a tenement of Thomas Whith, Prior of the Priory of St Thomas the Martyr, 12
January, 20 Henry VII [1505]. Class
E 210/10963 is an indented grant from Thomas Vougler, merchant, to
John ap Thomas ap
Ph[ilip], gentleman, Thomas Picton, William Smyth, and
Jenkin Smyth of a tenement in Haverfordwest,
8 Henry VIII
[1517].
iii.
WILLIAM
PICTON. A William Picton was alive
in 1529 and from Newport. A grant of a burgage with a garden on
the west side of St. Mary's Street, Newport, dated 4 May 1529, between Lewis
Robert of Newport, clerk, and William ap David Robert, also of Newport, mentions
that the same was bounded on the south side by the burgage of William Picton and
on the north side by the burgage of Alson verch Nycolas ab Guilim [Bronwydd MS I, No.
1166]. Was he the same person as
Llewelyn ap Ieuan Picton [in English: William ap
John Picton], who
was a tenant at will of a tenement in the parish of Maenclochog at a yearly rental of 2s:6d on
9
July 1534 [Emily M.
Prichard, History of St. Dogmaels Abbey, 1907, p.
110].
On 6 June 1449
Howel ap Jankyn ap Robyn
Peverell had granted to Davyd Lloit [Lloyd] ap Guillim ap Atkyn 7½ acres of
arable land at [?voel] goch within the Borough (burgagerie) of Newport, lying
between the land formerly of William Picton, senior, and the land formerly of
Howel ap Oweyn ap Res [Rees]
within the Barony of Kemmeys [Bronwydd MS I, No. 820,
latin with seal].
iv.
JENKIN
PICTON, the younger, is not mentioned in the Golden Grove MS but he was alive
between 1477 and 1493, and was from Bayvil. Bronwydd MS II [No. 813] of 6 April 1483
has a Grant between Owen ap Jankyn ap Llewelyn ap
Oweyn and Jankyn Picton, the younger, of a messuage and lands at the Vill
[Town] of Bayvyll [Bayvil] in the Barony of Kemmeys [Kemes] for the term of ten years [Latin with
seal].
JOHN PICTON, the
(eldest) son of Jenkin Picton, died before 18 March
1504/5. He owned land at Trefoel in the parish of Bayvil. On 19 January 1476/7, Llewelyn ap
Llewelyn ap Gwillym Young and Agnes, his wife,
daughter of Llewelyn ap John, executed a
grant of a messuage and lands at Trefiorwerth Voel [i.e. Trefoel] to John Picton
[Bronwydd MS I, No. 804]. On 9
August 1475 John Picton had
been a party to a grant of lands in the fee of Bayvil, formerly held by Oweyn ap
Eynon ap Kynvrig [Bronwydd
MS I, No. 1053].
John Picton was
dead by 18 March 1504/5, when his son, Howell, Picton, obtained a grant of the
lands at Trefoel [Bronwydd MS I, No. 1088].[5]
JOHN PICTON had
the following children:
i. HOWEL(L)
PICTON, see below.
ii. ELIZABETH PICTON. She was married to Lewis Gwillym, son of David Gwillym
[Lewis ap David Gwillym [see
Lewis Dwnn, Golden Grove MS (p. 50) and Tucker
MS].
iii. JANE PICTON. She was shown as married William ap
Jenkin Lloyd of Morvil [Dwnn
and Protheroe V MS; not shown as such in the Tucker
MS, which show Jane Picton as wife of William Lloyd, and as a sister of Jenkin
Picton and aunt of John Picton of
Trefoel].
HOWELL
PICTON appears in the Golden Grove MS, p. 88 where he is described as “of
Newport
(and whose son he was) married Joan,
daughter of Ieuan [John]
Robin of Vron goch ar Lan
Nevernâ€.
In
1505 Agnes, widow of Llewelyn ap Llewelyn ap Gwillym
Young and daughter of Llewelyn ap John,
granted to Howell Picton the messuage and lands in
Trefiorwerth Voel [Trefoel] which John
Picton lately had of the gift of her husband [Bronwydd MS I, No. 1088; 18 March
1504/5]. This presumably refers to
John
Picton, father of Howell Picton, and thus provides some confirmatory evidence
that he was the son of Jenkin Picton of
Newport
in 1434. Howell Picton was an
arbitrator in a dispute concerning a boundary near Henllys, Nevern, in 1508
[Bronwydd MS I, No. 1953], in which case has must have been ‘of age’ presumably
at least 18. He married
Joan,
a daughter of Ieuan ap Robin of Frongoch [or Vrongoch] a'r Llan Nevern
[John
ap Robin of Frongoch (or Vrongoch), on the bank of the Nevern [according to Lewis
Dwnn i. 167; Tucker MS pedigree of the Pictons [NLW
10871B; Protheroe MS V, p. 160, College of Arms and
Golden Grove MS, p.88].
Howell
Picton was dead by 5 February 1513/4 when his son, Owen Picton, was a Ward of
the Barony of Kemes. Howell Picton
was the father of:
1. OWEN PICTON of Newport, see
below.
2. MARGARET PICTON, who married Thomas Young
of Tregaman.
He was the youngest son of Hywel ap Jenkin Young
of Tredrysi [Tredressi].
George Owen states that “He married
Margaret the daughter of Hywel Picton, by whom he had issue Philip, who was the
father to Rowland Young of Tredrysi,
John
Philip Young of Crugiau and Thomas Philip Young of
Tregaman and divers
others
[see Pembrokeshire Record Series, Volume 2, 1973, p. 90-91]. This
Thomas Young bought Tredrissi, being his father’s seat
and inheritance, for after the birth of these five sons the said Howell ap
Jenkin Young married the said Margaret Matthew, a woman of Anglesey, and had
further issue one only daughter, named Ellen [Young], wife to David ap Ieuan
David, whose son, named Rydderch, sold Tredrysi to this Thomas Young, the youngest of the five
brothers, whose issue now enjoyeth
itâ€. For an early (17th
century) pedigree of the Youngs [alias Mathias] see
the pedigree of the Young family in Protheroe MS V
[copy available, ex-College of Arms] and Golden Grove MS, p. 124. Margaret Picton and Thomas Young had the
following children:
a. PHILIP YOUNG [see above for his children,
and Protheroe MS V]. He was father to Rowland Young of Tredrysi, John
Philip Young of Crugiau and Thomas Philip Young of
Tregaman.
OWEN
PICTON of Newport
Owen
Picton was born about 1500 and was living up to at least 1582. He was in Wardship within the Barony of Kemes on
5
February 1513/4
[Baronia de Kemeys,
Arch. Camb., Supplement, 1862, p.
106].
Probably
further details of his early life can be gleaned from the records of the Barony
of Cemais. He is next found as a
witness to the will of James Lloyd of Nevern [Will, PCC, 1551], whose will was
dated 31
March 1551/2. James Lloyd was probably the son of Owen
Lloyd, and thence the grandson of Jane Picton, who married William Lloyd of
Morvil [see above]. Owen Picton is mentioned as one of the
burgesses of Newport in a Bill of Complaint by William Owen to His Majesty’s
Council in the Marches of Wales, touching upon the refusal of the Portreeve, Tenants and Burgesses of Newport to pay their
rents for the years 1554-1556, amounting to 42 marks and more [Bronwydd MS I,
No. 506]. He was described as a
Gentleman of Nevern in 1557, when sued by Rice Howell, senior, merchant of
Haverfordwest, to recover £12:9s:8d on a bond [Pembrokeshire Plea Rolls, No.
17]. The Golden Grove MS, p. 88 and
p. 69, give him as marrying Jenet, the daughter of
Rees David ap Howell of Penybenglog.
Owen
Pycton, gent., and Elizabeth his wife, of
Haverfordwest, and Rice Howell, mercer, of the same place, were parties to a
suit against Eleanor Sutton, widow and executrix of
John
Sutton, to recover £3 in 1556 [Pembrokeshire Plea Rolls, No. 14]. Owen and Elizabeth Pycton were defendants to an action brought by Rees Morgan
and Thomasine, his wife, daughter of
John
Sutton, to recover a messuage and garden in
Haverfordwest [Pembrokeshire Plea Rolls, No. 15]. This action was still proceeding in 1560
[Pembrokeshire Plea Rolls, No. 20].
He was a Juror at the Inquisition Post Mortem of Sir
John
Wogan of Wiston held on 15
January 1557/8.
There
is a grant of burgage on the west side of St. Mary’s Street, Newport, dated 14
December 1562, which refers to the burgage of Owen Picton on the south side
[Bronwydd MS I, No. 865]. In 1566
he was tenant of a dwelling house in Dew Street, Haverfordwest, which he held
from Hugh Harries, Mayor of Haverfordwest in 1538 and 1553; and husband of
Margaret, daughter of John
Sutton (see above), at an annual rent of 12d [see Will of Hugh Harries, dated 8
July 1566]. He was a tenant in the
Barony of Kemes on 31 May 1568 [Baronia de Kemes, Arch. Camb., Supplement, 1862, p. 48] and a free tenant of the
Lordship of Kemes in 1567/8 [Pembrokeshire Plea Rolls, No.
30].
He
was a Merchant of Newport
in 1566-1567, and was the owner of the only ship recorded as trading out of
Newport
in the Welsh
Port
Books. On 18 July 1566 the vessel
'Le Saviour' of Newport sailed to
Bristol under Captain John
Roberts, with a crew of three, and with cargo comprising 1 pack of fardel [bundle] of frieses [coarse
woollen cloth with a nap on one side] and 11,000 slate stones for Owen
Picton. On 16 August the same
vessel sailed from Bristol to Newport, under Captain Henry Roberts, with iron,
tar, pitch, alum, white salt, soap, linen etc. On 12 September 1567 it sailed (under
Henry Roberts) with a similar cargo; and on 31 July 1567 it sailed (again under
Captain Henry Roberts) with six tons of coal - the merchant in each case being
Owen Picton of Newport, who “useth comonly to trade to Ireland,
North Wales and up Severne afishinge†[E. A. Lewis, Welsh Port Books, 1550-1603, Transactions
of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, 1926].
Owen
Picton acted as an arbitrator in a dispute between David Llewellyn of Bayvil and
Ieuan ap Rees of Moylgrove,
and gave his award on 15
June 1575
[Bronwydd MS I, No. 665]. On 14
October 1577 an examplification was made, at the
request of George Owen, of the enrolment of a Charter which Owen Pycton, Morgan ap Owen, Thomas George Bowen, Rees ap Owen
and other tenants of the Lordship of Kemmys had petitioned to have enrolled in
the Court of the Great Sessions, held at Pembroke on 31 May 1568 [Bronwydd MS I,
No. 928].[6]
He was a Juror at the Inquisition
Post Mortem on Richard Morgan Bowen of Haverfordwest, held on
24
February 1577/8. The heir of Richard Bowen was Elizabeth
Bowen, aged 3 weeks. Owen Picton
was apparently still living in 1582, when on 14 August 1582 Owen Pycton witnessed a covenant between George Owen of Henllys
and William Thomas ap Howell ap Rees of Nevern, yeoman, concerning the quiet
enjoyment by William Thomas of the tenement and lands in which he was living in
Nevern, called Panty llech for the term of his life,
and on his death George Owen was to enjoy the same on the payment of £8
[Bronwydd MS I, No. 1312]. The
other witnesses to the covernant were H. Lewys [probably Hugh Lewis], James Bowen,
John
Lloyd, William Griffith, John
Beynon, Thomas Peter and John
Browne. On 10 January 1588/9 there
was a grant of a
burgage and garden from William ap David Robert to Rydderch (Rodericus) ap David Gwynn lying on the west part of the street of the Blessed
Mary the Virgin, between the moiety of the burgage of Alson verch Nicholas ap Guillim on the north part and the burgage of Owen Pycton on the south part in the town of Newport (povus burgus) in
Kemeys.
Witnesses: Phillip Adams, clerk, Rees Devenolld
[Devonald], gent., Llewelyn Ada, Owen Lloyd, Bailiff of Kemeys, John Owen, Burgess
of Newport, David Gentell, Burgess of Newport
[Bronwydd MS I, No. 1274, latin with seal].
Owen
Picton married, as his first wife, Jenet [Rees],
daughter of Rees ap David ap Howell of Penybenglog in the parish of Meline [Golden Grove MS, p. 69]. She must have died before 1556, as by
that date he was married, as his second wife, to
Elizabeth
------- .
His mother-in-law by his first marriage, Dyddgu, was the daughter and sole heiress of David ap Gwilym of Penybenglog [see Article
on the descent of the Penybenglog property by Francis
Jones,
Griffith of Penybenglog, in Transactions of the Honourable Society of
Cymmrodorion, 1939, pp. 125-153]. She died in 1538. Her husband was a great-grandson of
Howell ap Jankyn [Picton (?)] of Nevern, and it may be
that Jenet, wife of Owen Picton, brought with her in
marriage the Trellifen [Trellyfaint] property, which
afterwards served as the principal residence of this branch of the Picton
family. George Owen of Henllys
wrote that “Trellyffant is the Mansion House of Owain Picton (i.e. the grandson of Owen Picton of whom we
treat), as it hath been to three or four of his ancestors before, but in ancient
time (these were) the lands of Hywel ap Jenkin of
Nevernâ€. It is probable
that Howell ap Jenkin was not of the Picton family,
from George Owen’s description, but a separate individual from a different
family. But it could just be
possible Owen is referring to Howell ap Jenkin
Picton. A check should be made to
see if there are references to a Howell ap Jenkin
living in Nevern around 1500. Owen
Picton was married to Elizabeth
----- by 1556 [Elizabeth Bowen, daughter of William Bowen of Ponteinon (Pontgynon (?)], when
described as of Haverfordwest [Pembrokeshire Plea Rolls, No.
14].
In
the Tithe Apportionment of Nevern, made on 10 September 1840, and the
accompanying 1843 Tithe Map, surveyed by H. P. Goode and Philpot, Surveyors of
Haverfordwest at a scale of 10 inches to 1 mile (8 chains) Trellyfain farm [spelt thus] extends right out to the coast
and had an area of 370 acres 1 rood and 16 perches [Piece Nos. 110-145]. It was owned by Owen Owen and farmed by William Morris. The farm of Castell y Garn was immediately to the west, likewise
extending to the coast and the farm of Tredrissi was
adjoining to the southwest. Both
these farms occur in the account of the Picton
family.
The
children of OWEN PICTON were:
1. JOHN Picton of Trellifen [Trellyfaint], see
below.
2.
LUCY
PICTON (LLEUCU/LLYKY Picton), who
married William Bowen of Pontgynon, in the parish of
Meline, son of Mathias Bowen [died 1559], and grandson
of Sir James Bowen of Pentre Evan. His mother was Mary Phillips, sister of
Thomas Phillips of Rushmoor, Martletwy, High Sheriff
of Pembrokeshire in 1549, and grand-daughter of Sir Thomas Phillipps of Picton by his wife, Jane Dwnn. His elder
brother was James Bowen of Llwyngwair, High Sheriff of Pembrokeshire in 1624
[see Lewis Dwnn i, 166, 171;
West
Wales
Historical Records, Volume II, p. 37; Golden Grove MS, p. 55; Protheroe MS V].
The
wife of Mathias Bowen was Jane Philipps, daughter of
John
Philipps of Picton. After his death
she remarried to Hugh Lewis of Nevern (see below), and died in 1606. William Bowen of Pontgynon was born ca 1547, and was aged 60 in 1607. He built the house at Pontgynon around 1575.
After the death of Lucy Picton/Bowen he remarried to Katherine ap Owen.
Katherine Bowen of Haverfordwest left a will in 1625 [SD 1625/115]. William and Lucy Bowen were the parents
of a large family:
i.
JAMES
BOWEN, of Pontgynon, living in 1637. He married Agnes, daughter of William
Lloyd ap Ieuan Lloyd ychan of
Pennywern.
They were the parents of:
a. WILLIAM
BOWEN of Pontgynon, living in 1635, 1637, 1638 and
1652.
b. JAMES
BOWEN
c. ALICE
BOWEN
ii. THOMAS
BOWEN
iii. EINON BOWEN
iv. WILLIAM BOWEN,
jun.
v. MATHIAS
BOWEN
vi. HARRY BOWEN
vii. ROBERT
BOWEN
viii. ELEN
BOWEN
3. MAUD PICTON, wife of
John
Lloyd of Pennallt-y-Llyn, Clydey [son of Gruffydd ap Ieuan Lloyd ap Ieuan ap
Howel ap Ieuan].
See Dale MS 128 and Golden Grove MS, p.
42.
4. JANE PICTON, wife of Thomas Lloyd of Fagwyr
goch in the parish of Llantood, according to Caroline
Charles-Jones,
Historic Pembrokeshire Homes and Their Families, 2001, p. 74. They may have had a son, Owen Lloyd of
Fagwyr goch, who in 1586 had sued David ap Rees of Trefiffeth for trespass
and depasturing in the Manorial Court of Moylgrove. The
home remained in the possession of the Lloyd family down to the late
18th century.
JOHN
PICTON of Trellifen
[Trellyfaint]
He
was the son of Owen Picton of Newport,
was born after 1556, and died around 1586/7. He was a witness to the grant of two
closes of land in the parish of Bayvil, called Parkeyr
barrach, on 18
November 1580
[Bronwydd MS I, No. 691]. As
John
Picton of Trefllyffain, gent., of Nevern parish, he was party to a grant of
properties on 26
February 1583/4
[Bronwydd MS I, No. 850]. As
John
ap Bowen Pictoun of Nevern, gent., he was party to a release of land at Nevern, on
1
August 1584
[Bronwydd MS I, No. 844].
John
Picton of Trellyffain, gent., released to George Owen
of Henllys two tenements with lands, etc., in Bayvil and Trefvoell on 8 March 1583/4, along with a close called Park
dol Robin in the parish of Nevern, a parcel of wood
near the said close on the hills below Lloynygores,
another parcel of wood on the hills of Henllys ucha in
the same parish, and four pieces of land at Caereglysmor and Pant y llech in
the parishes of Nevern and Bayvil.
The witnesses were Myles Thomas, clerk; George Owen, clerk; William
Bowen; John
Lloyd; Ieuan Bowen; Mathias Thomas of Glastir;
John
Beynon; John
Browne; Thomas Lewes of Pantygroes; David Mathias and
Lewis Jenkin [Bronwydd MS I, No. 1185].
George
Owen granted to John
ap Owen Picton 30 acres of land, 3 acres of meadow, 30 acres of pasture and 2
acres of furze and heath in Nevern for £40, with an annual value of 40s
[Pembrokeshire Fine Rolls, 9 August 1585].
On the same day there was a grant by
John
Picton and his wife Jennet to George Owen Esq. of 2 messuages, 2 tofts, 6
gardens, 40 acres of land, 6 acres of meadow, 20 acres of pasture, 2 acres of
wood and 6 acres of furze and heath in Dolrobyn, Trevoell, Caereglismore, Pantyllech, Bayvil and Nevern for £26:13s:4d, with an annual
rental value of 26s:8d. Together
with his wife Jenet, he
acknowledged
that certain lands in various parishes were the property of George Owen, on
20
August 1586
[Bronwydd MS I, No. 1092]. He was
said, in 1611, to have owned a carcucate of land
(about 100 acres) in Nevern, held by Knight's service from Hugh
Lewis.
John
Picton married Jenet, daughter of James Philipps of
Pentypark and Jane Griffith [daughter of Edmund
Griffith], son of William Philipps of Pentypark, who
was a younger son of Sir Thomas Phillipps of Kilsant [Golden Grove MS, Volume 2, fol. 6 of the
descendants of Kadivor Vawr
(p. 96 of this volume), and p. 18, Carmarthen Record Office]. Francis Green said that Jenet afterwards married Philip Griffith [citing
Pembrokeshire Plea Rolls, No. 50].
In 1595, Philip Griffith, and Jenet his wife,
by Thomas Evans their attorney, sued Owen Picton, son of
John
Picton, for one-third part of ten messuages, 50 acres of land, 60 acres of
meadow, 50 acres of pasture and 20 acres of woodland with appurtenances in
Nevern, Molygrove and Newport, as the marriage portion
of the said Jenet, from the dower of her former
husband, John
Picton [Court of the Great Sessions, Pembrokeshire Plea Rolls, No. 68]. Owen Picton, by Henry Stephens, his
attorney, came to the Court and asked leave for consultation until the Monday of
the next Great Session, whenever it would be. This seems to have been agreed and the
verdict given to Philip Griffith and Jenet, his
wife.[7] It would be interesting to know if
anything further can be discovered about the fates of Philip and Jenet Griffith.
If a will for either survives, it would be a useful document to see. Alternatively the surviving Manorial
Records of the Barony of Cemais might provide some confirmatory dates, and seem
to have been little explored.
Through
this marriage, John
Picton was brother-in-law to Jane Philipps who married Griffith Gwillym of Pembroke, taylor;
John
Philipps; Elizabeth Philipps, who married Phillip James of Llangan;
John
Philipps, junior; Richard Philipps of Woodstock, who married Elen Lloyd, daughter of Thomas Lloyd and Griffith
Philipps.
John
Picton was dead by 21 August 1587 [Pembrokeshire Plea Rolls, No. 50]. On that day William Morgan of
Haverfordwest, yeoman, sued Phillip Griffith and Jenett his wife, administratrix of
John
Bowen Picton, during the minority of their children: Owen
John
[Picton], Grace verch
John
[Picton] and Margaret verch
John
[Picton]; and Johan
[Joan]
Phillips and Roland Young, gent., co-administrators with the said Jenett [Griffith], to recover £9:13s:4d on a bond dated 20
September 1585.
JOHN
PICTON had the following children:
1. OWEN PICTON of Trellifen [Trellyfaint], see
below.
2. JOHN PICTON, who is mentioned as a son of
John
ap Owen Picton in Pembrokeshire Plea Rolls No. 50; and who is probably the same
John
Picton, gent., who in 1636, together with Owen Picton and Owen’s wife, Elizabeth
Picton, levied to Thomas Picton a fine of two messuages and 196 acres of land in
Nevern [Francis Green, The
Pictons of Poyston, West Wales
Historical Records, 1924, Volume X, p. 45]. It has been suggested that this
John
Picton could have been the ancestor of the Whitechurch branch of the family; an
incorrect suggestion, as discussed by Francis Green in his article on the family
[West Wales Historical Records, Volume X, 1924]. He would be very young to be a witness
on a fine of 1636, even if he was the eldest son of Owen Picton of Trellyfaint
by his second marriage to Elizabeth Bowen, which probably took place around
1625.
It
would, nevertheless, be interesting to know what became of this
John
Picton. Could he be the ancestor of
all the Picton families of humble status, living in Southern Pembrokeshire from
1750 onwards? Can the Estate and
Manor Rolls of the Lordship of Kemes throw any further light on him? One explanation might be that he is the
John
Picton of Whitechurch in Cemais, whose administration was granted in 1653. The impression from his administration
is that he may have left no children, as only his wife is mentioned (see below
for more details).
3. GRACE PICTON, mentioned in Pembrokeshire
Plea Rolls, No. 50. She is probably
the daughter of John
ap Owen Picton, who is shown in the Tucker MS pedigree
as having married to John
Thomas [NLW MS 10871B; Golden Grove MS, p.
103].
4. MARGARET PICTON, mentioned in
Pembrokeshire Plea Rolls, No. 50; married to Thomas Young, son of Rowland Young
of Tredrissi in the parish of Nevern, as his first
wife and had issue by him [who was third in descent from Margaret Picton’s
great-aunt]). See the Tucker MS and
pedigree of the Young/Mathias families [NLW 10871B, Protheroe MS V and the Golden Grove MS, p.
124].
5. LUCY (LLEUCU) PICTON, said by Francis
Green [WWHR, Volume X, 1924] to have married William Bowen of Pontcynon [Pontgynon], in the
parish of Meline. This is almost certainly a confusion with Lucy, daughter of Owen Picton, and sister of
John
Picton [d. ca 1587].
OWEN
PICTON of Trellyfaint
Owen
Picton, son and heir of John
Picton of Trellyfen [Trellyfaint], was under age on
the death of his father in 1586/7.
It is unclear from Pembrokeshire Plea Rolls, No. 96 whether he was aged 7
at his father’s death; or was 7 years old when his custody was granted to Hugh
Lewis on 16 October 1595. If the
latter interpretation was correct, then he must have been a posthumous son. This appears unlikely, since there is
evidence that his father had at least one other son,
John
Picton; and also it is difficult to comprehend some of the early 17th century
references to Owen Picton and his family unless he attained his majority around
the year 1600.
There
can be little doubt that the fortunes of this branch of the Picton family were
on the wane from the late 16th century.
It is almost certain that this decline was associated with the revival of
feudalism in Kemes under the Lordship of George Owen of Henllys [B. G.
Charles, George Owen, A Welsh Elizabethan, National Library of Wales,
1973]. George Owen’s father had
purchased the Lordship of Kemes from the Audley family in 1543, and his son succeeded to the Lordship in 1574. The regime of the Audleys, who had been absentees, had been a relaxed one,
with little enforcement of manorial rights or collection of feudal dues. However William and
George Owen were typical creatures of Tudor and early Elizabethan
England. They were
avaricious parvenus, with a hunger for land and an ability to deploy their legal
training and skills to the end of self-enrichment. Henllys formed part of the Knight’s fee
of Bayvil, which took in the parish of Bayvil and a small part of the parish of
Nevern. The fee was divided into a
number of ploughlands, a ploughland was sometimes reckoned to be about 100
acres.
Under
George Owen of Henllys rights and franchises which had been in abeyance for more
than a century were revived, and the jurisdiction of the local Manorial Courts
enforced. “He made full use of his legal training and his
researches into the early manorial sources . . . to discover evidence which
could justify the extraction of a wide range of dues which had been enjoyed by
earlier Lords†[B. E. and K. A. Howells, The Extent of Cemais, 1594, Pembrokeshire
Record Series, 3, 1977, p. 3]. His
attitude is reflected in the preamble to a Rental of the Manor of Newport:
“The rents that follow are found in diverse
auncient rentrolls, were not
leveyed for diverse yeares
past by reason of necligent officers, and therefore
yt must be inquired who are now owners of those landes, and where the landes lyeth, and who doth occupy the same. For the same was not
vuyed by the jurors that made the rent rowleâ€.
The
attempt to revive the incidents of old tenures provoked much hostility from the
freeholders of Kemes, and, to enforce obedience, Owen prosecuted many of them
both in the local and in the Crown Courts.
“Between 1603 and 1614 George Owen
sued William Warren, William Williams, George Lewis, Richard Wilkin, William Bowen and
John
Norris Jones
in the Court of the Star Chamber, charging them with false arrest of his
steward, who was attempting to impound strays within the Lordship, and for
non-payment of legal costs, corruptly appointing constables and favouring their
obstructive designs, falsely entering recognizances,
and forcible entry and damages on Owen’s lands at
Nevernâ€
[Francis Jones,
Warren of Trewern, The Pembrokeshire Historian, Volume 5,
1974, p. 121]. He took advantage of
the rising national prosperity, and the resultant competition for agricultural
holdings, to increase the rents of his leaseholders, and to exact heavy fines
whenever his tenants wished to alienate their
lands.
The
twin assaults upon freeholders and leaseholders established a familiar
pattern. Freeholds were sold or
surrendered to George Owen, in order that feudal dues might be settled, and in
exchange for a lease-back of strictly limited duration. Lease renewals were granted on terms
which ruined the tenants, resulting in forfeitures, and enabled Owen to exact
divestment of further freeholds lingering in the hands of his leaseholders. This strategy undoubtedly enhanced the
standards of husbandry in Kemes, and brought into earnest cultivation many areas
which had been fallow for decades; but it reduced some of the proud families of
the Lordship, ultimately, to the status of landless
peasants.
This
new feudalism in Kemes probably took its first toll on the Picton family in the
time of John
ap Owen Picton [d. 1586/7]. The Vairdre
Book [Bronwydd MS I, No. 3] contains a Rental of the Lordship compiled in 1594,
which discloses that John
ap Owen Picton had sold lands in Bayvil to George Owen, and had disposed of an
acre of wood at Allt Lloyn-y-Gorres in the same fashion [probably these
properties formed part of the messuage and lands in
Bayvil and Trefvoel granted to George Owen by
John
Picton on 4 September 1584; Bronwydd MS I, Nos. 844 and 1185]. A deed, dated 20 August 1586, contains
an acknowledgement
by John
Picton and Jennet, his wife, that they were wrongly in occupation of lands
belonging to George Owen in various parishes [Bronwydd MS I, No.
1092].
When
John
Picton died, his widow purchased the wardship of their
son, Owen Picton, from George Owen [see Roll
of Wards of the Lords Marcher of Kemes for William and George Owen,
Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies, Volume 10, pp. 83ff, item 85], which
wardship the Lord claimed in respect of
John
Picton’s tenure of Trellifen, Castell-y-garn, Blaen-coomcyney,
Penygraig, Voelgoch, and lands in Nevern. But when Jennet Picton remarried in
1595, Hugh Lewis, then Mayor of Newport, obtained from the Crown a grant of the
wardship of Owen Picton, in the right of
John
Picton’s tenure by knight’s service, of a carucate of
land [about 100 acres] in Nevern from the said Hugh Lewis. Part of Nevern enjoyed a degree of
autonomy within the Kemes Lordship, and had feudal incidents of its own. At the same time the young Owen Picton
was sued by his mother and new step-father, Phillip Griffith, for one third part
of ten messuages, fifty acres of land, sixty acres of meadow, fifty acres of
pasture and twenty acres of woodland in Nevern, Moylgrove and Newport, as the marriage portion of Jennet
from the dower of her late husband, John
Picton [Pembrokeshire Plea Rolls, No. 68].
It is this suit which suggests Jennet Philipps may have brought
Trellyfaint into the Picton family, although George Owen’s evidence suggests it
was in the hands of the Picton family before this. Phillip Griffith of Manorowen left a will in 1624 [SD 1624/103] and Philip
Griffith of Kilgerran left a will in 1632 [SD
1632/17]. Jenette Griffith of Eglwyswrw left a will in 1619 [SD
1619/36].
The
1594 Rental from the Vairdre Book, mentioned above,
shows that Owen Picton paid rent of assize of 12 pence per annum to the Lord of
Kemes in respect of his tenement of Castell-y-garn,
then in the occupation of Thomas Lewis Rees. In respect of each of his Mansion House
and land called Trellifen, and “his lands from the two headlands of the long
meadow†at Trellifen, all in Kemes
supra. That he paid 4 shillings per
annum rent of assize, as a bond tenant, in respect of his tenement of Penallt y Carthei Ycha, then in the occupation of Mor(r)is Harry, in Coedywinog and
Bayvil. That 4 pence per annum was
due from him by way of rent as a free tenant in respect of each of his parcels
of land at Tregriffith and Diffryn Kibwr in Moylgrove, the former being occupied by Thomas David and the
latter, called Tir y Picton, by Howell ap David. The Rental also notes that George Owen
was the owner of land at Trefvoel in Bayvil which he
had recently acquired from Owen Picton “through an exchange of landsâ€. It will be interesting to see if these
lands can be identified on the Tithe Maps, made some 250 years
later.
George
Owen in his “Description of
Pembrokeshireâ€, published as Volume 2 of the Pembrokeshire Record
Series in 1973, records “Trellyfant is the Mansion House of Owain [Owen] Picton, as it hath been to three or four of his
ancestors before, but in ancient time the lands of Hywel ap Jenkin of
Nevern†[p. 91]. The
coat of the Pictons is gules, three pikes nayant
argent.
A
Rental of the town of Newport for the same year, 1594 [Bronwydd MS I, No. 303]
shows that Owen Picton held half a burgage in St. Mary’s Street, five and a half
burgages on the main Fishguard road through Newport,
two burgages in a lane running west from St. Mary’s
Street and another to the west of Bridge Street, and land at Comdewi in Brithdir outside the
town limits. Of his total of nine
burgages, six and a half are described in the rental
as in decay; and it is noted, somewhat menacingly, that “the custome is that the
Lordes Officers maye demise
and sell the decaied burgages to whom he listethe to
make the most profytt thereof to the Lordeâ€.
Owen Picton appears in the Subsidy Roll of 1604 for Pembrokeshire [E
179/204/507] to a value of one pound.
On
3 May 1604 James Perrot, knight, Walter Rees, knight, Cicil [Cecil], daughter of James Perrott, Owen Picton, gent.,
John
Kiblewhite and Rowland Thomas Young, the younger,
freehold tenants of the town of Newport, because they did not appear at the
Court of View of Frankpledge,
but defaulted, were amerced 7s each. A grant of a burgage in St. Mary’s
Street, made on 3 September 1609, refers to the burgage of Owen Picton on the
south side [Bronwydd MS I, No. 910].
This entry seems to be the last evidence of any Picton property in
Newport, although further research amongst the Bronwydd MS may confirm this
fact. In 1609 Owen Picton
contributed to the subsidy for “making Prince Henry a Knightâ€, as a resident of
Nevern. He appears in the Nevern
section of the Pembrokeshire Militia Muster Roll for
1613.
In
1611 Hugh Lewis brought a suit against Owen Picton for £200 damages in respect
of loss of benefit of wardship and marriage. As noted above, Lewis had obtained a
grant of his wardship from the Crown on 16 October
1595. It appears that Hugh Lewis
subsequently arranged a marriage between Owen Picton and Elizabeth Symyns; but that Owen Picton refused to contract to this
marriage, and entered upon his property.
He contested the claim brought by Lewis on the ground that the proposed
bride was not an acceptable match, since her mother had been illegitimately and
incestuously begotten. Picton
pleaded that the girl’s mother, Matilda Symyns, wife
of John
Symyns, was the daughter of Hugh Lewis by Matilda
Bowen, who was the daughter of Hugh Lewis’s late wife, Mary.
John
Symyns, the girl’s father, is possibly to be
identified with John
Symins of Martell, who died in 1589 at an advanced
age. This
latter John
Symins married
Anne
(or Agnes), daughter and co-heiress
of William Pryse of Martell; is known by her to
have had a son, Thomas Symins, who married Margaret
Gwillim of Pembroke, and a daughter, Jane Symins, wife of William Melchior. No
alliance is shown in Lewis Dwnn’s pedigree of the Symins family, but in the Peniarth
MS [No. 156] it is stated that Thomas Symins, son of
John
Symins of Martell, married Maud [often the alternative
form of Matilda in the 16th century], the daughter of Hugh Lewis David
Mathias.
John
Symins of Llanfair left a will in 1613 [SD 1613/130]
and John
Symyns of Martell left a will in 1612 [SD
1612/66].
Nothing
useful can really be deduced from all this at present. Agnes Symins,
wife of John
Symins, was living in 1594, so there can be little
question of John
Symins having married Matilda Lewis late in life. Thomas Symins
married Margaret Gwillim in 1580, and she died as a widow in 1644. Possibly
John
Symins of Martell had a younger son named
John,
who married the Lewis girl, and who is confused with his elder brother, Thomas,
in the Peniarth MS. This construction is supported by an
indenture, dated 15 February 1606/7, to which Thomas Symins of Martell and Margaret his wife were both parties,
and was witnessed by John
Symins the elder and
John
Symins the younger, both of Martell, the younger
John
being the eldest son of Thomas and Margaret Symins,
born in 1591, and the elder John
Symins difficult to place if not his uncle [See
Calendar of Deeds and Documents, The Coleman
Deeds, National Library of Wales, Volume I,
DD372].
The
outcome of Hugh Lewis’s suit against Owen Picton is not recorded in the Plea
Rolls. This may well be because he
died, as Hugh Lewis of Nevern made a will, dated 11 October 1611, which shows
that Owen Picton had already married against his wishes. What is somewhat puzzling about the suit
is that it did not come before the courts until 1611, when Owen Picton would
have been about 30 years of age.
Also, by 1611, Owen Picton had been married for some time to his first
wife, Mary [Young], the daughter of Thomas Philip Young of Tregaman, his second cousin [see issue of Howell Picton;
Golden Grove MS, p. 124]. Several
of the Newport burgages, held by Owen Picton in 1594,
were in the occupation of Owen Philip Young, a substantial merchant and brother
[or son] of Thomas Philip Young.
In
1611 Owen Picton may have undertaken further alieniation of his lands. In that year he paid 6s:8d for a licence
to make an agreement with Owen Jevan [Owen
John]
and Mary his wife, and Henry Lloyd and Margaret his wife, concerning a messuage and lands in Trefyordan
Issa and Nevern [Pembrokeshire Plea Rolls, No.
96]. By 1616 there is clear
evidence that he was in a state of some financial embarrassment. He was sued for the recovery of
£10:7s:6d, being the outstanding balance on a bill of dry goods delivered to him
between 27 May 1611 and 20 July 1613 [Francis Green Collection, Haverfordwest
Library, Volume 9, p. 111]. This is probably a reference to the
action brought by Alderman William Thomas, an administrator of the estate of
Arnold Tanke [Pembrokeshire Plea Rolls, No. 107]. On 18 October 1616 he disposed of his
interest in two pieces of land, of which the one near Trellifen was called Longe Meadow
[Bronwydd MS I, No. 1328]. On the
same date, and doubtless part of the same transaction, he executed a bond for
£200 in favour of Alban Owen, son and heir of George Owen of Henllys, who had
died in 1614. Payment on this bond
was outstanding at the time of Owen Picton’s death around 1636; and in 1640
Alban Owen sued Picton’s widow for recovery of the bond [Pembrokeshire Plea
Rolls, No. 154]. It is noticeable
that the amount of the bond corresponds to the liquidated value of the claim
which Hugh Lewis had pursued against Owen Picton in 1611, and it may be that
Picton had eventually capitulated to Lewis’s demand and borrowed from the then
Lord of Kemes the sum necessary to discharge his
obligation.
On
1 October 1616 Owen Picton also witnessed a deed between Sir James Perrott of Haroldston and
John
Rowland of Monington, yeoman, being a quitclaim of
lands in Monington called Tythin y Perrott [Poyston Deeds,
National Library of Wales, No. 66].
Other witnesses included Eynon Young, James
Young and William Young. On 19
August 1618 he was one of the examiners of a case at Fishguard [History of St. Dogmaels
Abbey, 1907, p. 192]. He
was a witness to the will of Owen Lloyd of Nevern, dated 21 February
1619/20. From 1621 to 1623 Owen
Picton of Nevern was Mayor of Newport
[Dillwyn
Miles,
The Ancient Borough of Newport in
Pembrokeshire, 1998, p. 41].
He was a Juror at the Inquisition Post Mortem of Rowland Walter of Roch, held at Haverfordwest on 27 September 1622. Also in 1622 he and
John
Codd were parties to an action for the recovery of a
messuage in Shoemakers Street in Haverfordwest
[Pembrokeshire Plea Rolls, No. 119], and in 1625 he was a party to proceedings
concerning damage to crops at Trellifen [Pembrokeshire
Plea Rolls, No. 124]. The reference
to property in Haverfordwest is interesting.
It
may be that in 1625 Trellifen [Trellyfaint] was in the
hands of a tenant farmer, since in that year Owen Picton contributed to the Lay
Subsidy, as of the parish of St. Dogmaels, whilst
there was no Picton contributor in Nevern.
There is also a record that in 1698 Evan Lloyd, of the Hendre and Cwmgloyne family,
married Elinor, heiress of Owen Young of Trellyfant.
This suggests the property passed from the Picton family to the Young
family – perfectly logical as they had lived next door to each other in the
parish of Nevern for many years.
Perhaps this happened after the death of Thomas Picton in February
1655/6, as he seems to have been in difficult personal circumstances at the time
of his death.
By
3 April 1626 Owen Picton’s first wife had died, and he had remarried Elizabeth
Bowen, who is described as his spouse, in a fine between
John
ap Evan and Rowland Jenkin, and Owen and Elizabeth Picton, for payment of 10
shillings concerning two messuages and 111 acres of land in Moylgrove and Nevern.
The Tucker MS and the Golden Grove MSS describe Elizabeth as the daughter
of John
Bowen, and the latter gives a reference p. 56. He may have been a member of the Pentre Evan/Llwyngwair family, into which Owen Picton’s
aunt, Lucy Picton, had married.
Alternatively he may have sprung from the stock of the Bowen families of
Roblinston and Haverfordwest. In support for the Roblinston/Haverfordwest origins of Elizabeth Bowen/Picton
one may note that Thomas Picton, presumably her step-son, rented the tithes of
Llanhowell during the 1620s in succession to Morgan
Bowen of Roblinston, as the ancestor of William Bowen
of Haverfordwest. In addition there
was a grant by Owen Picton and Elizabeth, his wife, of 3 messuages and gardens,
10 acres of land, 2 acres of meadow, 2 acres of pasture and 3 acres of furze and
heath in Newport, to George Bowen, gent., in 1628 [Pembrokeshire Fine Rolls,
1628].
Another
claim is that Elizabeth Bowen was the daughter of
John
Bowen, who had married Joan,
the daughter of Philip Jenkin Llewellin and Margaret,
daughter of Thomas Peter of Nevern.
John
Bowen was the son of Thomas Owen Vaughan [Fychan] and
his wife Ellen, the daughter of Philip ap
John
[Ieuan] Owen of Bridell. As well as
John
Bowen they had at least two daughters: Gwenllian
Bowen, who married George Thomas, and another daughter who married Llewellin Howell.
Thomas Owen Vaughan was the son of Owen Mathias ap Owen of Trerickert in the parish
of Nevern and his wife, Dyddgu, daughter of David
Bowen Meredith. Owen Mathias ap Owen had a brother, Morgan ap Owen and they were both brothers to
Sir James ap Owen of Pentre Evan and to
Catherine Bowen, wife of John
Devonald.[8] Both Thomas ap
Owen Vaughan and Morgan ap Owen had other
issue.
Margaret,
daughter of Thomas Peter, who married John
Bowen, was the sister to Sage, wife of Thomas Philip Young. There is, therefore, the possibility
that through the mother-in-law of Owen Picton’s first wife, he may have been
introduced to his second bride, with her family framework. Thomas Peter also had
another daughter, Nest, who married James Devonald and was the mother of the
main Devonald heir, Thomas Devonald. Thomas Devonald married Mary Philipps of
the Picton castle family and they were the parents of
John
Devonald, who married Sage Picton.
Morgan
ap Owen married Isobel, daughter of William Llewellin John
and also Elizabeth, daughter of Philip ap Howell. He had a son, Rees Morgan, and a
daughter, Agnes Morgan, who married John
Owen Philipps. Their descendant,
Mary Philipps, married Thomas Devonald, and Thomas Devonald’s son and heir,
John
Devonald of Graig in the parish of Llanfyrnach[9],
married Sage Picton, daughter of Owen Picton and Elizabeth Bowen. This relationship would make Owen Picton
and Elizabeth Bowen second cousins.
It would be interesting to see if any wills survive in the St. Davids
Archdeaconary Court to help exemplify this
connection.
Also, Lucy Picton,
sister to Sage’s grandfather, married William Bowen of Pontgynon who was the second son of Mathias Bowen of
Llwyngwair, and this couple’s son (William Bowen Junior) married his first
cousin, Elliw, 16th. child of his father’s eldest brother
James.
p-father could possibly be Maud, daughter of Mathias Bowen of
Llwyngwair and his wife, Mary Philipps, as Maud is the alternate name for
Matilda. Maud married David Morris
of Llangynog, Carmarthenshire, and had three
daughters. Her father, Mathias Bowen of Llwyngwair, was the eldest son from
the second marriage of Sir James ap Owen, knight, of
Pentre Ifan to Mary Herle.
Mary Philipps was
a daughter of John Philipps the Younger, son of Sir Thomas Philipps of
Picton Castle. She had 13 children by Mathias ap Owen,
who died in 1557, after which time she married Hugh
Lewis.
References:
Heraldic Visitations of Wales 1586-1613 by Lewis Dwnn.
Golden Grove Ms. –
Gwynfardd Dyfed pages D.807, 808, 810, 813; Golden
Grove Ms. = Cadifor Vawr
page D.855
Bartrum – Cadifor Vawr & Gwynfardd Dyfed Pedigrees from "Welsh Genealogies 300 – 1400
AD"
Major Francis
Jones "Bowens of Pentre Ifan & Llwyngwair"
The
Picton family parted with more property in 1629, probably as part of a
comprehensive sale and lease-back, the details of which are difficult to
divine. On 12 March 1629 George
Owen of Henllys [son of Alban Owen, High Sheriff of Co. Pembroke in 1620 and
1643, and grandson of George Owen of Henllys (d. 1614)] granted to Owen and
Thomas Picton a yearly tenancy, at a rent of £4 per annum, of a messuage called Trellifen
[Trellyfaint], with two parcels of land, one at Pantyllydy and the other at Castell-y-garn in Nevern. On 3 April 1629 Owen Picton, gent., and Thomas Picton, gent. granted to George Owen, gent. a messuage and garden, 100 acres of land, 3 acres of meadow,
40 acres of pasture, 1 acre of wood and 40 acres of furze and heath at Nevern
[184 acres total]. It seems clear
that these transactions represented the end of the Picton family’s freehold
tenure of their Mansion House at Trellifen
[Trellyfaint].
A
conveyance earlier in the same year, dated 1 March 1628/9, indicated the scale
of other recent disposals. The
conveyance involved a settlement by James Bowen of Llwyngwair, upon trust, of
“lands called Rhosimaen, two parcels of land at Voelgoch, called Tir Scurlagg and Tir Sienkin Voell, one messuage called Rhos y Maen Ycha, one parcel of arable
land at Voelgoch called Knwckey Duon, four parcels of
arable land lying on the north side of the highway leading from Newport bridge
to Cardigan town, and two parcels of land containing 12 Welsh acres, which were
late the lands of Owen Picton, gent.†[Bronwydd MS
I, No. 725; 980]. One of the
trustees of the settlement was James Morgan of Nevern, possibly Owen Picton’s
son-in-law; the other was George William Griffith of Penybenglog in Meline, the
antiquary, and son-in-law of James Bowen.
The
lease of Trellifen [Trellyfaint] to Owen and Thomas
Picton seems to have produced little income for George Owen. In 1633 he sued the Pictons for arrears
of rent of £14 under the letting, which probably indicates that they had not
paid any rent since the grant of 1629 [Pembrokeshire Plea Rolls, No. 140]. Presumably the arrears were cleared, and
the Pictons allowed to remain in possession of Trellifen. Owen
Picton was still described as of Trellifen when
proceedings were brought against his estate in
1640.
The
next Picton property dealings which are recorded are also difficult to
understand. In 1636 Thomas Picton,
doubtless the son of Owen Picton, paid 6s:8d for a licence to make an agreement
with Owen Picton concerning two messuages and lands in Nevern [Pembrokeshire
Plea Rolls, No. 147]. This
agreement seems to have taken the form of a fine, whereby on 12 September 1636
there was a grant of 2 messuages and gardens, 50 acres of land, 3 acres of
meadow, 100 acres of pasture, 3 acres of wood and 40 acres of furze and heath in
Nevern by Owen Picton, gent., Elizabeth his wife and
John
Picton, gent. to Thomas Picton, gent., for £20 in
silver. The purpose of this
transaction is not apparent, but it may have been a legal device to avoid
attachment of Owen Picton’s property by his creditors, as Owen Picton died soon
afterwards.
In
the Spring of 1639, at the Court of the Great Sessions, his widow, Elizabeth
Picton, sought from Margaret Owen one third of the messuages and lands in
Nevern, as dower from her late husband [Margaret Owen was the widow of George
Owen, the son of Alban Owen]. She
was Margaret Lewis, the daughter of Sir
John
Lewis, and had married George Owen in 1615. Margaret Owen countered by contending
that Owen Picton was not seized so as to give dower [Pembrokeshire Plea Rolls,
No. 152]. As already noted,
Elizabeth Picton was sued, in her capacity as the administratrix of her late husband, by Alban Owen for £200
due on the bond which Owen Picton had given at Newport in 1616. The claim was heard in the Spring
Sessions of 1640, and Elizabeth Picton pleaded that she had fully administered
her husband’s estate, and was in possession of none of his goods whereby Alban
Owen’s proof of debt might be satisfied [Pembrokeshire Plea Rolls, No.
154].
In
1698 the great uncle of Thomas Lloyd, Evan Lloyd, had married Elinor Young, the heiress of Owen Young of Trellyffant.
This suggests that the Young family took over the lease on Trellyffant, but exactly when after 1640 is not yet
known.
According
to conventional construction [e.g. Francis Green, West Wales Historical Records, Volume X,
1924] Owen Picton was around 50 years of age at the time of his death [i.e. born
around 1586]. However, the evidence
presented here suggests he was born around 1580, and was thus around age 56/57
at his demise. One important item
of evidence to substantiate this construction is that Owen Picton, gent.,
brought proceedings against John
Lewis of Nevern, gent., in the Autumn Sessions of 1603, on a Bill accepted by
Picton from Lewis on 10 December 1598 [Pembrokeshire Plea Rolls, No. 81]. It must surely be that Owen Picton was
above ten years of age when he accepted Lewis’s bill. It is very unlikely that the proceedings
in 1603 were brought merely in the name of Owen Picton, and that the bill of
1598 had been accepted on his behalf by Hugh Lewis, as his ward. Undoubtedly Hugh Lewis would have dealt
with any such transactions under his own name. Owen Picton’s second wife was alive in
1645, as she is mentioned in the will of Grace Young of Argoed, dated 2 February 1645/6, and may well be the
Elizabeth Picton, buried at Nevern on 9 April 1665 [Nevern parish
register].
OWEN
PICTON was the father of the following
children:
1.
THOMAS
PICTON of Nevern, was the eldest and possibly only son of Owen Picton, by his
first wife, Mary Young [Golden Grove MS, pp. 88, 124]. Mary Young’s mother was Sage Peter,
daughter of Thomas Peter of Nevern, who held appreciate land in Nevern. She may
have named her son after her own father, Thomas Philip Young. The year of the birth of Thomas Picton
is uncertain, but it is suggested he reached his majority by the mid-1620s. One Thomas Picton held the tithes of
Llanhowell during the period 1621-1625, as mentioned
above, and may have obtained a lease of the tithes through the Bowen connection
of his step-mother. The tithes of
Llanhowell were later leased to the Prichard family,
from whom the southern branch of the Picton family acquired Poyston. However, there is no evidence of any
link between the northern and southern branches of the Picton
family.
However,
there is a reference in the will of the Rev. Dr. Thomas Pritchard, dated 25 May
1646, and proved on 10 February 1646/7 whose daughter, Elizabeth Prichard, had
the Llanhowell tithes in 1660, where he refers to his
“cozen Thomas Pictonâ€, who can
only be of the northern branch of the family [PCC, 1646/7, PROB 11/199]. This Thomas Pritchard, who was Rector of
Nevern in 1625, appears to have been one of the two sons of the Rev. Robert
Prichard, Rector of Ludchurch, by his wife, Jane Warren, daughter of Mathias
Warren [died 1561]. Jane Warren’s
nephew, Thomas Warren of Trewern, married Elizabeth,
daughter of Evan Lloyd of Cwmgloyne by Mary, a
daughter of George Owen of Henllys, and had by her a daughter, Elizabeth Warren,
who married Thomas Picton of Nevern.[10] Whether Dr. Prichard called Thomas
Picton his “cozen†on account of
this relationship, or of a more proximate connection, is not clear [see Golden
Grove MS, p. 62 and Francis Jones,
Warren of Trewern, Pembrokeshire Historian, Volume 5, 1974,
p. 124].
Thomas Warren
matriculated from Jesus College Oxford on 20 November 1607, aged 18 [born 1588/9] and was an alderman of Newport
and served as mayor in 1619-1621 and in 1624. He was High Sheriff of Pembrokeshire in
1638/9. Thomas Warren died in
1665. Besides his daughter,
Elizabeth Warren, who married Thomas Picton, he had two sons, George Warren and
Alban Warren. On 23 October 1665
the burgesses for the Court Leet of Newport returned
that his rightful heir was his grandson, William Warren. George Warren, his eldest son, had
married Anne Owen in August
1637. She was the eldest daughter
of John Owen of Trecwn in the parish of Llanfairnantygof by Lettice,
daughter of Sir John Philipps of
Picton Castle. However, four years
later, in 1641, George Warren died, still a young man. His widow,
Anne Warren,
remarried to Thomas Symmins of Martell on 12 February
1649/50. They had three children:
William Warren, the eldest son, Thomas Warren, who settled in Carmarthen and
Elizabeth Warren, who married Richard Harrington.
Alban
Warren was an Alderman of Newport, and Mayor there in 1653 and 1672-1675. He married his cousin, Elizabeth,
daughter of Thomas Lloyd of Trerees, brother of Evan
Lloyd of Cwmgloyne. He was buried at Nevern on 25 September
1687. Administration of his goods
was granted on 24 November 1687 but was a mere
£3:12s:6d.
As
noted above, Thomas Picton was involved in a series of transactions relative to
lands in Nevern in 1636. In 1638,
William Young, probably the same William Young who was a cousin of Thomas
Picton, and Thomas Lloyd, gave 20 shillings for a licence to grant 3 messuages
and lands in Nevern to Thomas Picton.
It may seem surprising that Thomas Picton was engaged in the acquisition
of property after what seems like a long history of disposals by his
family. It may well be that his
marriage to Elizabeth Warren enhanced his financial position. The date of this marriage is difficult
to plot exactly. Thomas Picton was
a witness to the will of Morgan John
of Nevern, dated 9 March 1654/5 and proved in the PCC on 20 November 1656, and
is also mentioned as a kinsman to receive 10 shillings [PCC, 1656, PROB
11/259/f. 384]. He was also a
witness to the will of George William Griffith of Penybenglog in the parish of Meline, the Welsh genealogist, whose will was proved in
1655.
According
to a number of sources [e.g. Francis Jones,
Warren of Trewern, Pembrokeshire Historian,
Volume 5, p. 124] Thomas Picton’s wife was the widow of a Mr. Griffith of
Cardigan, by whom she had at least two children, Abel Griffith and Grace
Griffith. These two step-children
were under age 16 when Thomas Picton made his will on 2 February 1655/6. This would mean that Thomas Picton would
not have married before about 1640.
The will of Thomas Picton contains a number of references which can be
interpreted as evidence contradicting this assertion, as opposed to supporting
it, and it is relevant to consider his testament in some
detail.
Thomas
Picton’s will was dated 2
February 1655/6
and was witnessed by James Morgan [probably the husband of his sister, Margaret
Picton]; James Walters; James Browne; William Young [doubtless Thomas Picton’s
cousin, already mentioned]; and Alban Warren, brother of Elizabeth Picton, his
wife. Thomas Picton’s circumstances
seem to have been somewhat straightened at the time of his death, as his estate
was valued only at £3:12s:6d by his appraisors [Owen
Picton (Thomas Picton’s younger brother, see later) and Bartholomew Young]. Was this tied in with the Civil War in
Pembrokeshire in some way? Under
its terms Thomas Picton left 6d to the poor of Nevern parish, and legacies of
3s:4d to Mawde
John
David; Elizabeth Picton [probably the testator’s step-mother]; Katherine Picton;
Duddy (i.e. Dyddgu) Picton;
Hugh Mathias and William Deyhid’s wife. Duddy Picton
is doubtless the ‘Duggy Picton’ who is listed as a
pauper of Nevern in the 1670 Hearth Tax return, and is perhaps the . . . . Picton [forename indecipherable], who was buried at Nevern on
5
March 1670/1. Katherine or Catherine Picton was
probably the widow of John
Picton of Whitechurch, who died in 1653.
Thomas
Picton also left 10 shillings each to his unmarried brothers and sisters; and
also to his niece, Mary Picton, daughter of his brother,
John
Picton, and to Owen Morgan, son of his brother-in-law, James Morgan. He left 50 shillings to “my wife’s children Abell
Griffith and Grace Griffith . . . when they are 16â€, and 10 shillings
each to “my brother Owen’s two
children†[these are Elizabeth Picton, born 1651, and
John
Picton, born 1653, the two eldest children of his brother, Owen Picton of
Cardigan]. He released Thomas
Hayward, clerk, from his bond for 50 shillings. The residue of his goods he bequeathed
to “my two daughters and executors,
Elizabeth and Grace [Picton]â€.
He provided for his cousin, William Young; his brother-in-law, Alban
Warren; his brother, Owen Picton; and his cousin, Bartholomew Young, to be
“guardians of my children during their
minorityâ€, and desired that his “friends and kinsmen Mr. Thomas Wogan of Llanstinan and Mr.
John
Morris of Castle Morrisâ€
should act as overseers.[11]
Thomas
Picton went on to say that “If my daughters
prove obstinate, and match without the consent, especially of my father
(-in-law), Warren; my cozen Young; my cozen Wogan and my cozen Matthias (or do
worse) which God forbidâ€, then he directed that his “best deserving
daughter†should receive all the profit from his land, when 21; and that his
“delinquent daughter†should have only £10 instead of her half-share in his
residual estate, and in the profits of the land. To his wife, Elin [Picton], he gave “for her widowhood an annuity of £3, yearly charged
on Croft Vach and Gwndwn
Dywatty and other pieces of land in . . . Castle Game
[Castell y garn] purchased of my cozen, William Young,
and Rowland Jenkin; the said annuity to be also levied on Llain Vawr, on the west side of
Voel Goch, in the tenure of
James Morgan, for which I have at present but a third sheafe (share)â€. He added sadly “my wife deserves better at my hands, yet her
mother’s non-performance with her and me of the bargains between them hath
utterly disabled me to give her any more, without gross injury to my poor
children, who are to pay about £100 of my debtâ€. The will was proved on
9
May 1656
by William Young, Alban Warren, Owen Picton and Bartholomew
Young.[12]
There
are a number of interesting points to make on this will. (1) Thomas Picton calls his wife Elin; (2) He has both a daughter and a step-daughter called
Grace; (3) While his father-in-law and brother-in-law Warren have his respect,
his dealings with his wife’s mother have been troubled; (4) He speaks of his
“poor children†and his wife as if their interests are mutually exclusive; (5)
His wife’s mother has entered into some bargain in her own
right.
These
factors point to the mother of Thomas Picton’s children not being the wife whom
he mentions in his will. Whilst it
may be possible that his wife was variously called Elizabeth and/or Elin; that she had two daughters named Grace, and that her
mother was on less congenial terms with Thomas Picton than were her father and
brother, together they provide a cumulative element of improbability. Moreover, while a potential conflict of
interest between a mother and her children can be recognised in the prospect of
the mother’s remarriage and subsequent claim for dower, to the potential
advantage of her new husband, Thomas Picton seems to have apprehended a need to
protect his daughters’ position, even during Elin
Picton’s widowhood. Most telling of
all, perhaps, is the fact that Elin Picton’s mother
had made some agreement with her daughter, presumably involving a disposition of
property, but had failed to perform it.
This suggests that Thomas Picton’s mother-in-law was able to deal with
property in her own right, without the intercession of a husband. Thus she was a widow, yet Thomas
Picton’s father-in-law, Warren, did not die until
1665.
The
pedigree of the Picton family in the Tucker MS, written down in the 17th
Century, simply states that Thomas Picton married Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas
Warren. It does not indicate that
she was the widow of one Griffith. Likewise, it does not mention a second
marriage by Thomas Picton, so this source is unhelpful on this point. On 27
August 1665
Elinor Picton and Thomas Pugh were married at
Nevern. This would seem to be
Thomas Picton’s widow remarrying, ten years after her first husband’s death, and
her name is clearly established as Elin(or), rather
than Elizabeth. Elinor Pugh was taxed on 5 hearths at Nevern in 1670, which
indicates a substantial property.
The
most plausible explanation for all this is that Thomas Picton was twice married;
firstly to Elizabeth Warren, by whom he had daughters Elizabeth and Grace
Picton, who were probably in their early teens at the time of their father’s
death; and secondly to Elin(or) Griffith, a widow with
two children by her previous marriage.
The will of Grace Young of Argoed, Nevern,
offers some evidence in support of this construction. Her will is dated
2
February 1645/6,
and was proved on 7
April 1646. It was witnessed by Alban Warren, Owen
Picton and Thomas Picton. In it she
mentions her niece, Ellen Griffiths, widow, to whom she left £50 in money, a
pair of steers, a silver beaker and salt cellar, a feather bed and a brass
cauldron, which I have in pawn of 3s:9d from William Bowen of Pontgynon [this William Bowen was married to Lucy Picton,
sister of John
Picton of Trellifen. His nephew, Thomas Bowen, later acquired
the property of Argoed]. Grace Young also mentions her “kinswoman and god-daughter, Grace
Pictonâ€.[13]
This Ellen Griffith(s), widow, looks very
much like Thomas Picton’s second wife; whilst the god-daughter, Grace Picton, is
certainly Thomas Picton’s daughter.
These
conjectures are reinforced by two further wills. Grace Young’s husband, Rees Young of
Argoed in the parish of Nevern, left a will, dated 14
July 1645, and proved on 22
January 1645/6
by Phillip Bowen and Henry Myles.
An inventory of his effects was apprised on
22
October 1645
by Alexander Webb, Thomas Picton and Phillip Young, which gave a value of
£144:14s:0d. His wife, Grace Young,
was appointed his executrix and the will was written down by Thomas Picton,
n(otary) p(ublic).[14]
The
Tucker MS pedigree suggests that Thomas Picton’s cousin, William Young,
discharged his function as guardian of Elizabeth and Grace Picton to very
satisfactory effect. They were
married to his own sons, William Young and Owen Young. Thus through one of Thomas Picton’s
daughters the Trellifen [Trellyfaint] property seems
to have passed into the hands of the Young family. In 1697 Elinor Young, presumably a daughter of one of the above, and
described as the heiress of Trellifen, married a
younger son of John
Lloyd of Cwmgloyne.
John
Lloyd’s father was a first cousin of Elizabeth Warren, first wife of Thomas
Picton, and of Elizabeth Lloyd, wife of Alban
Warren. A daughter of the Lloyd-Young marriage
subsequently took Trellifen [Trellyfaint] into the
Morris family in marriage.
A
preliminary attempt has been made to try and trace a will or administration for
either Elinor [Ellen] or Thomas Pugh, but with no
success to date. There are burials
of an Eleanor Pugh at Carmarthen
on 20
October 1686
and of a Thomas Pugh at Carmarthen
on 17
March 1702/3. Administration of the estate of Elinor Pugh of Carmarthen
was granted on 29
October 1686
to Richard James of Carmarthen,
carpenter, and Thomas Lloyd. The
will of Thomas Pugh of Carmarthen, clothier, dated 13 March 1702/3, mentions his
brother, John
Pugh, sister Mary Pugh, and his nephews Thomas Pugh;
John
Pugh; Daniel John,
son of John
Richard, and niece Mary John. The testator’s wife was Mary Pugh, was
living at his decease. An inventory
of his estate was taken on 19
March 1702/3. Clearly this cannot be the Thomas Pugh,
husband of Elin(or) Griffith.
The children Abel Griffith and Grace Griffith were living in 1656, and an
Abel Griffith of Cardigan made a will, dated 27 July 1674, and proved on 25
August 1674, which mentions his wife, Katherine Griffith, his sons James
Griffith and Matthew Griffith, who was appointed overseer of the will, his
grandson, Abel Griffith, Minister of the Gospel, his grand-daughter, Grace
Griffith, his daughter, Lettice Hughes, wife of
John
Hughes, and his other grandchildren, offspring of Lettice and John
Hughes [SD 1674/9; Witnesses: Arthur Bateman,
Anne
Lewis and James Davies]. The will
also mentions a house at St. Dogmells, and his three
servants, William Richard, Anne
Richard (?) and Jane Jenkin and a bond with Mr. James Phillips,
Esq.
The
pedigree account given by Francis Green [West Wales Historical Records, Volume
X, 1924], is very confusing regarding the children of Owen Picton by his two
wives, Mary Young and Elizabeth Bowen.
Perhaps the best relatively contemporary pedigree occurs in the Protheroe MS V, p. 160 at the
College
of Arms,
and is in the hand of David Edwardes, written around
1688. The same source also has a
good pedigree of the Young family.
For convenience in the discussion here, the daughters of Owen Picton are
dealt with first, followed by his further sons. As will be seen, Owen Picton left behind
him an extensive family.
2. SAGE PICTON, married
John
Devonald of Llanvirnach [Llanfyrnach] [Golden Grove
MS, p. 156]. He was possibly a son
of Thomas Devonald, who at the time of the 1594 survey, held lands in Trefgynfron in Bayvil and at Tregriffith, Trevaes Ycha, Llanawan and Diffryn Whiban in Moylgrove.
After the death of his father in 1613,
John
Devonald, a minor, was made a ward of his late father’s half-brother, whose own
mother may have been a Picton descendant.
He is probably the John
Devonald, who on 14 March 1626/7 at Nantgwyn, granted
to Thomas Picton a three year lease of a tenement, from which Picton was shortly
afterwards ejected by Philip ap Evan, resulting in Picton bringing a suit for
trespass in 1627. The will of
John
Devonald of Llanvirnach, dated
13
February 1664/5,
was proved on 12
May 1665
[SD 1665/86]. He mentions his wife,
Sage Devonald, alias Picton, and 11 living children. He owned land at Glandwr and Penyknwcke in the parish of Llanvirnach [Llanfyrnach], and also land at Moylgrove, Nevern, Eglwyswrw and Monington. On
4
January 1708/9
one Sage Picton was buried at St. Peter’s Carmarthen. Probably this was Sage Devonald,
reverting to her maiden name in the old Welsh fashion after the death of her
husband. If this hypothesis is
correct, she would have been very old, and possibly living with one of her
daughters, or perhaps her son, Rees Devonald.
John
and Sage Devonald were the parents of:
a. THOMAS DEVONALD, the eldest son. He was not a favourite with his
father. He appears to have had a
liaison with Mary Devonald of Llantood, who may have
been his cousin. Thomas Devonald of
Llanfyrnach left a will, dated 7 February 1671/2, and administered in April 1672
[SD 1672/66]. He mentions his aunt,
Catherine Myles in the parish of Whitechurch in Kemes, who had 4 sheep which he
willed to his son, Morris Thomas, als Devonald.
He gave to his cousin, Mary Picton, one horse, one cow and all the other
sheep with Catherine Myles, not formerly given and bequeathed. This Mary Picton is probably the
daughter of Owen Picton of Cardigan.
Thomas and Mary Devonald were the parents
of:
i. MATILDA DEVONALD,
ii. JOAN
DEVONALD,
iii. MORRIS
DEVONALD, alias Thomas
b. JOHN DEVONALD, he inherited his father’s
estate. He was to receive 1
shilling in the will of his brother, Owen Devonald, in
1697.
c. JAMES DEVONALD, of Blaenawen. He
married Mary Lloyd, daughter of George Lloyd of
Nevern.
d. OWEN DEVONALD, of Mynachlogddu.
He left a will, dated 7 October 1697 and made his brother, Rees Devonald,
his executor [SD 1697/7; will written in Welsh]. An inventory also survives. He left 10 shillings to William Picton
[his uncle]. William Sandbrook [Sambrook] of St. Dogmaels is mentioned in this will and may have been married
to one of Owen Devonald’s sisters, or one of Morris
Devonald’s sisters. Perhaps, even, one of his sisters could
have married their cousin, William Picton of
Whitechurch.
e. DAVID
DEVONALD, he inherited Trewenfron in the parish of
Nevern, in the tenure of John
Hugh. He received 5 shillings in
his brother’s will in 1697.
f. REES DEVONALD, he was living at
Carmarthen in 1708.
g. PHILLIP
DEVONALD, he received a pair of shoes and two coats in his brother’s will,
1697.
h. JOAN DEVONALD, she received £10 in her
father’s will, 1665.
i. ELIZABETH DEVONALD, she received
£10 in her father’s will, 1665.
j. JANE DEVONALD, she received £5 in
her father’s will, 1665. She was to
receive a small sum in her brother’s will of
1697.
k. AGNES DEVONALD, she received £5 in her
father’s will, 1665. She was living
in 1697.
3.
MARGARET
PICTON, married James Morgan of Tredrissy.
James and Margaret Morgan had a son, Owen Morgan, mentioned in the will
of Thomas Picton [1655]. James
Morgan had at least one other son, possibly by a previous marriage, who is
called James ap James Morgan, alias Browne, of Nevern,
yeoman, in a suit of 1659. James
Morgan senior, and James his son, were two of the
witnesses to the will of Thomas Picton in 1655. James Morgan senior is probably also to
be identified with the James Morgan, who was one of the trustees under a
settlement made by James Bowen of Llwyngwair in 1629 concerning lands formerly
owned by Owen Picton [Bronwydd MS I, No. 725]; and who witnessed, and was a
bondsman, for the due administration of the will of Eynon Young of Nevern in
1635.
James
Morgan was the son of Morgan Thomas, who married Jane, daughter of Mathias Bowen
of Llwyngwair. Morgan Thomas was
the son of Thomas Mathias, who lived at Frongoch in
the parish of Nevern. He was a
minor when he inherited the property from his father, Mathias Bowen, around
October 1598 [Golden Grove MS, p. 144].
James
Morgan was living on 20 March 1657/8, when he gave a bond for £214 to George
Bowen; but was dead by May 1659, and in August 1659 his widow, Margaret Morgan,
and son, James Morgan, as his executors, were sued on the bond [Pembrokeshire
Plea Rolls, No. 185]. A formal
grant of administration was not made until the restoration of Charles II, when
it was granted to his widow, Margaret Morgan, and Owen Picton of Cardigan, his
brother-in-law, on 7 December 1660.
Thomas Aubrey also appears in the administration. The estate had been apprised on 23 May 1659 by Owen
John
and George Picton, also his brother-in-law, so his death probably occurred in
that month. Of interest is the fact
that James Morgan, the younger, was one of the witnesses to the will of
Catherine Picton of Whitechurch, wife of
John
Picton, on 17 June 1679. Thus James
Morgan and Margaret, his wife, were the parents
of:
a. JAMES
MORGAN, of Nevern living in 1679.
He left an administration bond and inventory in 1700.
Anne
Sambrook, widow, was granted administration of his
estate.
4. JONETT [JENNETT] PICTON, buried at Nevern
on 23 May 1664. She is listed as a
daughter in the Golden Grove MS, p. 88.
5. OWEN PICTON, son of Owen Picton of Trellifen, Nevern.
He became a Puritan and was appointed to a teaching post under the
Commonwealth by Commissioners for the Propagation of God in
Wales. Owen Picton was appointed Usher, or
second master, of the Puritan school in Cardigan on 17
March 1652/3
at a salary of £20 per annum. He
seems to have continued in this post through the Interregnum and, bending with
the wind which returned Charles II to the throne, submitted to ordination as a
priest after the Restoration. He
was a witness to the will of his brother, Thomas Picton of Nevern, on 2 February
1655/6 and an appraiser of his estate.
He was an administrator of the estate of his brother-in-law, James Morgan
of Tredrissy, granted on 7 December 1660. He was granted a licence as a Minister on
26 July 1662 [SD/O/57-58]. He was
nominated as curate of Cardigan and Verwig on 8
November 1662; and appointed Rector of Llanchllwyddog
on 7 February 1662/3; but was dead by 14 September 1663, as he was succeeded at
Llanchllwyddog by Dr. Jenkin Lloyd of Llangoedmore, “the most
secular and shameless of all Welsh Puritan Nonconformists†[T.
Richards, Religious Developments in Wales,
1654-1662, National Eisteddfod Association, 1923, p. 486]. Owen Picton married
Joan
Vaughan of Redwall(e)s [Fagwyr-goch] in the parish of
Morvil, part of the Barony of Cemais [see: The Extent of Cemais, 1594, pp. 39-40],
the daughter of Griffith Vaughan of Redwall(e)s
[Tucker MS, NLW 10871B; Golden Grove MS, p. 47].[15]
Joan
Picton was buried at Cardigan on 12 October 1691. Owen and
Joan
Picton were the parents of:
a. ELIZABETH PICTON, born 11 January 1651
and bapt. 15 January 1651 at Cardigan. She died on 18 July and was buried on 20
July 1656 at Cardigan.
b. JOHN PICTON, born
27
September 1653
and bapt. 30
September 1653
at Cardigan. He is described in the Tucker MS as
“servant to Mr Hector Phillips of
Cardiganâ€. Hector Phillips, Esq., of Porth Eynon,
Cardiganshire, was Parliamentary Commissioner for the sale of the Royalist’s
sequestrated estates in the Counties of Cardigan, Carmarthen and
Pembroke. He is said to have
incurred great odium by the manner in which he carried out his instructions
[Cambrian Register, i, p. 167]. He
was a great-great-grandson of Sir Thomas Phillips of Picton Castle. Either he, or his son of the same name,
was lessee from the Crown of the ‘wear’ and fishing of Kilgerran; and of the fines, emoluments etc. from
proceedings before the King’s Stewards in eleven Lordships, and in the towns of
Cardigan and Aberystwyth, temp. Charles II. Further work needs to be done here on
the situation in North Pembrokeshire during the Civil War and
Interregnum.
John
Picton was a gentleman at Cardigan.
He married Elinor Davies, daughter of Henry
Davies of Cardigan, and his wife, Elizabeth Lloyd, only daughter of Robert
Lloyd, gent. They were married on
9
November 1704
at Cardigan.
Volume
28, Part II, p. 79 of Treasury Warrents [1708-1709] states that William Nixon
was appointed waiter and searcher at Cardigan in place of
John
Picton, who was dismissed for fraud [Out Letters, Customs, XV, pp 148,
150]. The post of waiter and
searcher, as the name suggests, was the principal person employed to survey the
incoming vessels for goods liable to taxation. The
port
of Cardigan
would have been significant at this time, and was the head port for all the Welsh coastline round to
Milford
Haven.
John
Picton died, probably around April 1730, as an inventory of his goods for
18
April 1730
survives to the value of £36-10s-0d. He was buried at Cardigan on
20
April 1730. Administration of his estate was granted
to his widow, Elinor Picton, on
13
November 1730.
His
wife and widow, Elinor Picton, was a defendant, along
with her son, Robert Picton, to a dispute in Chancery concerning the estate of
her brother, Thomas Davies of Cardigan, in 1747/8 [C5/]. Other parties involved in this case were
Hugh Parry of St. Margaret’s Westminster, and Jane his wife; Ann Tindall, widow of John
Tindall of Carmarthen; Martha Davies of Petersham, Surrey; Barbara Davies of St. Marylebone,
Middlesex; John
Herbert and Nicholas Gwynne. Jane
Parry, Ann Tindall, Martha Davies and Barbara Davies
were sisters of Elinor Picton. Elinor Picton
died at Cardigan on 14
October 1750. The litigation seems to have followed
the death of their brother, Thomas Davies of Cardigan, Esq.
John
and Elinor Picton were the parents
of:
i. OWEN PICTON, bapt.
17
September 1705
at Cardigan. He was a surety for the due
administration of his father’s estate in 1730. He was buried at Cardigan on
16
September 1732.
ii. ELIZABETH PICTON, bapt.
20
March 1706/7
at Cardigan and buried on 25
June 1731
at Cardigan.
iii. JOHN PICTON, bapt. 7
November 1709
at Cardigan. Nothing further is known of him, but he
was probably dead by 1752, as he is not mentioned in the will of his brother,
Robert Picton.
iv. ROBERT PICTON, bapt.
21
October 1711
at Cardigan. He was a perukemaker [wig maker] of Cardigan in 1735; and took as
apprentice one William Rice for £5. He was a churchwarden in 1746. He was a co-defendant with his mother in
Chancery Proceedings in 1747/8. He
was buried at Cardigan on 28
April 1754. He left a will, dated
30
May 1752,
and proved on 8
July 1754
[SD]. This refers to his property
in Cardiganshire and Pembrokeshire.
He left the bulk of his property to Mary Price, widow of the late Richard
Price, and her children. His will
also mentions his aunts, Barbara Davies and Jane Parry, sisters of his
mother. It also mentions his
kinsman, John
Picton of Whitechurch, thus establishing the link to the Whitechurch branch of
the Picton families.
v. WILLIAM PICTON, bapt. 5 May 1719 at
Cardigan. He was buried at Cardigan
on 1
May 1752,
and his death may have been the inspiration for his older brother, Robert
Picton, to make his own will.
c. BRIDGET
PICTON, born 18
September 1656
at Cardigan and bapt there “the following
Wednesdayâ€.
d.
MARY
PICTON,
born 28
January 1661/2
and bapt. 2
February 1661/2
at Cardigan. She may be mentioned in the will of her
cousin, Thomas Devonald, in 1671/2.
She married Hugh Thomas on 26
November 1698
at Cardigan [also listed in the Golden Grove MS, p.
89].
e. ELIZABETH PICTON, born
24
February 1658/9
and bapt. 2
March 1658/9
at Cardigan. She married David
Jones,
who became an Alderman of Cardigan, on 6
October 1695
at Cardigan. She died on
20
December 1703,
aged 45, and was buried at Cardigan.
There is a tombstone to her memory in Cardigan
church.
6. GEORGE PICTON, of
Nevern. He was possibly the eldest son of the
second marriage of Owen Picton of Trellifen. He was an appraisor of the estate of
John
Picton, his brother, on 28
October 1653;
and of James Morgan, his brother-in-law, on 23
May 1659. He is mentioned in the will of Morgan
John
in the PCC, dated 20
November 1656,
as being owed 6 shillings.
Administration of the goods of George Picton of Nevern, gent., was
granted to William Picton of Nevern, his brother, and Owen Bowen of Nevern,
gent. on 26
August 1662
[alias Owen ap Owen, died 1696].
The inventory attached to this administration, taken by Marcus Moore and
David Thomas, shows George Picton’s assets were valued at £8:11s:0d. There is no evidence that he married or
had any children.
7. JOHN PICTON, of
Whitechurch. He was an appraisor of the estate of William Myles of Eglwyswrw,
clerk, along with William Owen, gent. and George Lewis,
taken on 4
July 1646. The will of William Myles of Eglwyswrw
was dated 16
April 1646,
and mentions amongst others, Catherine Myles, his daughter. Several sheep and cattle, granted to his
daughter Elizabeth Myles, were in the custody of
John
Picton. Undoubtedly
John
Picton was married to Catherine Myles.
He was assessed for £3:5s:0d contribution to a ‘mulct’, a fine imposed
upon Whitechurch by Parliament in 1650 [Bronwydd MS I, No. 3359]. Administration of the goods of
John
Picton of Whitechurch was granted on 7 January 1661/2 to his widow, Catherine
Picton, Phillip Bowen of Eglwyswrw, clerk, and Thomas
Jones
of Nantgwyn, gent., for a sum of £100 to administer
his estate during the minority of their children, Owen Picton and Mary
Picton. However, it is clear from
the inventory of his goods, which was compiled on 28
October 1653
by George Picton, Henry James, and James Thomas, that he had died some years
previously. Catherine Picton is
described as the daughter of William James in the Golden Grove MS, p.
89.
Catherine
Picton, a widow, paid one shilling towards a present for Charles II on
26
November 1661;
and tax on two hearths at Whitechurch and Nantgwyn in
1670. She is mentioned in the will
of her nephew by marriage, Thomas Devonald of Llanfyrnach, in February 1671/2 as
living at Whitechurch in Kemes.
John
James of Whitechurch left a will in 1673 [SD 1673/91]. Thomas
ap Owen James of Whitechurch left a will in 1661 [SD
1661/26]. Catherine Picton,
alias Myles, made a will, dated 17 June 1679, together with an inventory taken
on 20 September 1679, which gave a value of her estate of £15:4s:7d. The will was witnessed by Philip Bowen,
George Thomas and William Picton, her brother-in-law. She mentions her children Owen and Mary
Picton, but also her children Elizabeth James, Jane James and Elinor James; presumably by another marriage, either before
or after her marriage to John
Picton. Probate of her will was
granted to her daughters Mary [Picton] and Elinor
[James], with power reserved for her son, Owen [Picton]. An account of her estate was made by her
daughter, Elinor James, and signed on
8
February 1682/3,
when she was dismissed from any further account of the estate. This shows the value of the inventory of
her estate at £16:0s:0d, with funeral expenses of £1:2s:0d and payments of her
debts due to several persons of £5:0s:0d.
There is a reasonable possibility that
John
and Catherine Picton may have lived at Ty’r bwlch Farm in the parish of Whitechurch, and indeed, perhaps
his father, Owen Picton, lived there and it was where
John
Picton was born. David James of Whitechurch
left a will proved in 1754 [SD 1754/32].
John
and Catherine Picton were the parents of:
i.
OWEN
PICTON, born between 1646 and 1653. He is mentioned in the administration of his
father, 1661/2, and in his mother’s will of 1679. He is probably to be identified with the
Owen Picton who was buried at Whitechurch on 6
June 1689
[Parish register transcripts, NLW].
ii.
MARY
PICTON,
born between 1646 and 1653 and mentioned in the will of her uncle, Thomas
Picton, on 2
February 1655/6. She received one horse, one cow and
sheep under the will of her cousin, Thomas Devonald of Llanfyrnach, dated
7
February 1671/2. She is probably the same Mary Picton who
was married at Whitechurch in 1685.
According to Francis Green’s manuscript notes, Mary Picton and
John
John
were married at Whitechurch on 11 October 1685; but in his article on the
Pictons of Poyston he says the parties to the marriage were Mary Picton and
James John,
citing the same venue and date. The
Bishops Transcripts for Whitechurch record the marriage of Mary Picton and
John
Phillips on 11
September 1685. It seems likely that Francis Green
confused this entry with another concerning the marriage of Mary Picton and
John
James at Whitechurch on 29
January 1701.
8. JAMES PICTON, of
Swansea. He was a younger son of Owen Picton of
Trellifen.
He was probably born around the year 1630. On 26
March 1652
he was appointed Master of the
Puritan
Free
School
at Tenby; with a salary of £40 per annum.
A few days earlier his brother, Owen Picton, had been appointed
Under-Master of the Puritan
School
at Cardigan. He was the first of
the Welsh schoolmasters to be confirmed in office under the Approbation
Ordinance of 1654; the approval being dated 9
October 1654. On 1
March 1655
he obtained a five year lease of property in Pembroke from William Robin of
Tenby, but he seems to have been ejected from its occupation by one Francis
Rossant, and he subsequently brought proceedings in
respect of the dispossession.
His
career became a series of tribulations soon afterwards. He was won over to the Quaker faith in
the crusade of 1657/8, and by the end of 1658 was described as “late
schoolmaster†of Tenby. He was
probably succeeded there by Edward Carver, who had previously been Usher to Picton there at a salary of £21 per annum, and who,
according to Calamy, was ejected in 1661/2. James Owen, an informant of Calamy, is
said to have been “educated first under James Picton†- but since Owen was not
born until 1654 he can scarcely have been Picton’s pupil in Tenby; and regular
loss of liberty after 1661 would have made it difficult for Picton to provide
sustained instruction for any scholar.
James
Picton brought an action against William Young, presumably his kinsman, in
1660/1 on a bond for £10, dated 8
April 1659. In 1661 he refused to take the Oath of
Allegiance and Supremacy; and his persistence in that refusal resulted in his
being sentenced to imprisonment at Haverfordwest Assizes in 1662. According to one source he was initially
imprisoned at Haverfordwest, and then transferred to Carmarthen Castle, where he
remained a close prisoner until 1667 (Quaker Records Collection, An Account of Welsh Sufferings, 1660-1666,
D/D SF313, Glamorgan Record Office, Cardiff). Another version has it that he was first
incarcerated at Carmarthen in the September of 1662, and removed to
Haverfordwest gaol four months later “where he remained a prisoner for many
years†(J. Besse, A Collection of the
Sufferings of the People Called Quakers, 1753, Volume I, pp.
748-749). According to yet another
source he was almost continuously an inmate of
Carmarthen
prison from 1663 until 1672 (Norman Penney, Ed., Extracts from State Papers relating to
Friends, pp. 345, 354).
James Picton was the author of a pamphlet entitled “A Just Plea Against Swearing
and against the National Worship of
Englandâ€,
which was published in London
in 1663.
He
was set free under Charles II’s Declaration of
Indulgence in 1672. “No sooner was he set free than he went on with his
old work of teaching publicly and without licenceâ€. Such contempt of the constitutional
powers, almost at the door of the Episcopal Palace at Abergwili, could not
possibly be tolerated. He was soon
put back in prison once more; with this sensational sequel as described by the
Bishop, William Lucy himself.
“A writ de homine replagiando
was brought, the prison doores broken open, and he, thus delivered by the rabble, keepes schoole again in despight of the statute, and hath 70 or 80
scholarsâ€. In a later
letter the Bishop devoutly hopes that such a case is not known anywhere else,
for he knows not how to have it amended.
“It tastes of too much violence to be
suffered in any commonwealth†[Tanner MS 146, ff. 113, 138-138v; also
Tanner MS 314, ff. 40]. By the
beginning of April 1673 James Picton had been restored to his prison lodging
again, only to teach from that vantage point scholars who came in crowds to hear
him under the windows of the gaol [T. Richards, Nonconformity and Methodism in Wales, p.
154; and Wales Under the Indulgence,
1672-1675, 1920, London, p. 171].
Some
historians of the Quaker movement have suggested that this glimpse of ‘the man
at the window’ is the last sight which posterity has of James Picton. This is clearly not so. Picton regained his liberty [he was
presumably a free man by 2
July 1673,
since on that date he witnessed the Quaker marriage at Tenby of William Jenkins
and Elizabeth Griffith; RG 6/683] and moved to
Swansea,
where the Quaker cause was strong.
In 1683 he visited Bristol,
where, according to Besse, he “went to visit
his Friends in prison, and being at prayer with them, the gaoler came up in a
rage, and took him up from his knees.
Next morning he was carried before the Mayor and other Officers, and for
not giving sureties for his good behaviour, was committed to
prisonâ€. What privations
he suffered during this further period of detention can probably be best gauged
from the account which the Bristol prisoners kept, and subsequently published
under the title of “A Narrative of the
Cruelties and Abuses acted by Isaac Dennis, Keeper, his Wife and Servants, in
the prison of Newgate in the City of Bristol, upon the People of the Land in
Scorn called Quakers etcâ€.
How
long James Picton’s enforced residence in
Bristol
continued is uncertain. He had been
a delegate from South Wales to the London Yearly Meeting in 1681; and was a
delegate from Swansea and Llandeilo at the 1682 Yearly Meeting of the Welsh
Quakers, held at Redstone, Pembrokeshire, on 17 February 1682/3. He appears to have been married in 1684
[National Library of Wales,
Margam MS 6029; published in Y
Cofiadur, Volume, p. 22].
He is listed in the Golden Grove MS p. 89 as being of
Swansea
in 1685. He next appears in the
Minutes of the Yearly Meeting held at Pontymoel on 17
February 1688/9,
when he attended as one of the representatives from Glamorgan. He was one of the Glamorgan
representatives at the Yearly Meeting held in Breconshire on 9 February 1689/90,
when he was charged with others to ensure that the burial ground purchased from
James Price in Carmarthenshire was “well and
sufficiently secured†to the use of the Friends. A long epistle written by James Picton
appears in the Minutes of the Yearly Meeting held at
Swansea
on 22
February 1690/1;
and again the following year he was one of the Glamorgan representatives when
the Yearly Meeting was held at Haverfordwest on 14
February 1691/2. He was asked to write an account of this
Meeting for transmission to the Quakers’ Yearly Meeting in
London. He expressed a willingness to attend the
next London
Yearly meeting in person. He again
represented the Glamorgan Friends at the Yearly Meeting of 1696, held at
Pontymoel on 14
February 1696/7,
and was charged with writing to the Yearly Meeting in
London.
James
Picton does not appear to have attended the Yearly Meetings of the Welsh Quakers
after 1696, although an epistle from him was read at the 1701 Meeting, held at
Llanidloes on 22
February 1701/2. Possibly his advancing years and the
effects of past imprisonments were beginning to undermine his constitution. He attended the Quarterly Meetings held
at Swansea
in each June between 1701 and 1709 inclusive. A letter to him is inserted in the
Meeting Minutes for 8
June 1704,
but he not present at any of the Quarterly Meetings held outside
Swansea
- from which it would appear that his fitness for travel was no longer
assured.
James
Picton left a will, dated 11
October 1709
and proved on 15
February 1710/11. He gave 20 shillings apiece to the son
and daughter of his brother, Owen Picton, deceased. A similar sum was given to the son and
daughter of his brother, William Picton, deceased. To his kinswoman,
Anne
Musgrave, he left 20 shillings; to his kinsman, James Lewis, 20 shillings; to
Richard and Matthew Phillips, sons of John
Phillips, 20 shillings each, and the residue of his estate he gave to his
kinswoman and executrix, Anne
James, spinster. These kinsfolk
were probably related to his wife’s family.
9. WILLIAM PICTON of
Whitechurch. His early life is at present unknown and
his name does not appear on the Golden Grove MS. He was one of the appraisors of the estate of Catherine Picton of Whitechurch
in 1679. He signed both the
testament and the inventory of her effects; and unless he took to writing later
in life, is different from the illiterate William Picton of Nevern, gent., who
obtained a grant of administration in respect of the goods of George Picton in
1662. He was an appraisor of the estate of Owen Bowen of Whitechurch on
3
April 1696. It would be interesting if this Owen
Bowen was an ancestor of the James Bowen, who was living in the Mansion House at
Whitechurch in 1786. He is
mentioned in the will of Owen Devonald of Mynachlogddu, who died around
1697.
Administration
of the goods of William Picton, deceased, was granted to his widow, Mary Picton,
on 11
February 1696/7,
on a bond given by his widow and Evan Lloyd of Whitechurch. His widow, Mary Picton, remarried in
1701 to John
James of Whitechurch. The son and
daughter of William Picton, deceased, received 20 shillings apiece in the will
of his brother, James Picton of Swansea,
dated 11
October 1709. William and Mary Picton were the parents
of:
i. OWEN PICTON, probably the Owen
Picton bapt. at Whitechurch on
19
September 1675
[Bishop’s Transcripts, NLW]. He was
almost certainly the ancestor of the many branches of the Picton families in
North
Pembrokeshire
and later Carmarthenshire and elsewhere [see PICTON of
Whitechurch and Trelech].
John
Picton of Tyrbwlch in Whitechurch, his eldest son, was eventually to inherit the
property in Cardigan of the Picton branch there, which stemmed from Owen Picton
of Cardigan (died 1663), via the eventual heir, Robert Picton, who died in
1752. Robert Picton of Cardigan and
John
Picton of Whitechurch were third cousins once
removed.
ii. A daughter, living in 1709, mentioned in
the will of James Picton of Swansea.
[1] For a discussion of the
origin and spellings of this name, see B. G. Charles, The Place-Names of Pembrokeshire, Cemais,
National Library of Wales, 1992, p. .
[2] Bartrum makes the point that there is a steady deterioration
in the accuracy of the early parts of genealogies after the time of Griffith
Hiraethog, that is about 1560. Errors tended to multiply because
copyists normally used the latest texts available. They were generally uncritical, and
seldom interested in going back to the earlier texts to review what actually had
been written down. Thus an error,
once introduced, tended to be promulgated indefinitely, and often became more or
less standard. It is easy to
understand how these events happened, if not to condone them. The difficulties of travel at the time
must be taken into account. Most of
the manuscripts were in private hands, and individuals were quite understandably
not over-anxious to lend manuscripts which they possessed. The line of least resistance was to copy
the nearest manuscript available, and it was easier to read and copy a recent
manuscript than one a hundred years old or
more.
[3] Again the survival of
so many early deeds is entirely a stroke of coincidence. They owe their existence to the career
and fate of Sir John Perrot
(1529-1592). Sir
John Perrot had a
distinguished career, which can be followed in the pages of the Dictionary of National Biography and
elsewhere. He died whilst
imprisoned in the Tower of
London in 1592, awaiting
execution, and his estates in
Wales were forfeited to
the Crown. Hence a collection of
early deeds and papers relating to the Perrot, Picton, and other families
connected with the Perrots, came ultimately into the
custody of The National Archives at Kew.
[4] Deposited by A. T.
Woods, esq., Gray’s Inn Square, London, per The British Records Association (BRA
1333), 1964. A Schedule compiled by
B. G. Charles in 1964, Records of the estate of the family of Foley of Ridgeway,
Co. Pembroke, mainly in that County, 1366-1869, 81 pp. This collection was formerly in the
possession of Messrs Richard Furber & Son, 2 Gray’s Inn Square, WC1, of which the depositor was the last
principal; but Foley of Ridgeway 10 and 11 were deposited by Mrs Sylvia R.
Woods, Tadworth, Surrey in February 1994. Photocopies only were available previous
to that date. This Grant is No. 10
in the Schedule.
[5] B. G. Charles in his
book, The Place-Names of
Pembrokeshire, National Library of Wales, 1992, p. 30 gives the
following variants for the spelling of Tre-Foel in the
parish of Bayvil: Tref Iorwerth Voel, 1444, 1476, 1505
[Bronwydd MS – as above]; Treyerwerth Voel, 1591, 1592 [Bronwydd MS]; Tref yerwerth voel, 1593, 1595 [Bronwydd MS]; Trevoell, 1547 [Bronwydd MS]; Trefvoell, 1584 [Bronwydd MS]; Trevoel, 1585, 1586 [Bronwydd MS], 1639 [Green vi 117];
Trefoell, 1584 [Bronwydd MS]; Y dre voel, 1572 [Bronwydd MS];
Trevowel, 1818 [FB]. Iorwerth Voel held lands in Bayvil in 1273 [BK
51-52].
He also says in a
footnote [p. 27] that “The parish [of
Bayvil], if it coincided with the bounds of the Manor of Bayvil, extended at one
time into parts of the present parishes of Nevern and Moylgrove, but the old boundary cannot now be plotted, and
some of the lost names dealt with under this heading [i.e. Bayvil] may be in
Nevernâ€.
[6] This was a grant from
Nicholas, son of Martin, Lord of Kemmys to the heirs
of Guwaret, son of Cuhelyn,
and the heirs of Llewelyn, son of Cuhelyn, of all his
lands in Presselewe (Prescelli). Nicholas Fitzmartin, Lord of Cemais, died in 1282. This Charter is set out in Baronia de Kemeys,
Arch. Camb. Supplement, 1862, p.
48.
[7] The actual phrase,
translated from the latin is And he has it; and the same day is given to the said
Philip and Jenet.
[8] Owen Mathias ap Owen married Margaret, the daughter of Richard Warren
[Rhyderch
Warin].
Owen Mathias ap Owen was the son of Mathias ap Owen, who had married
Dyddgu ----- , an
heiress. Mathias ap Owen was a brother to Sir James ap Owen of Pentre Ivan and his wife, Catherine, also wife of
John
Devonald.
[9]
John
Devonald’s ancestress, Catherine ap Owen, was a sister to Sir James ap Owen (Bowen) of Pentre Evan and also to Thomas Bowen of Trefloyne, Mathias ap Owen of Trericert, Elizabeth ap Owen, who married Henry Wogan and
Jane ap Owen, who married John
Mortimer.
[11] Thomas Wogan of Llanstinan was a son of Rees Wogan, son of Sir
John Wogan of Boulston by Jane, daughter of Richard Wogan of Wiston and his wife Jenet,
daughter and co-heiress of Llewellin Lloyd of Llanstinan.
Thomas Wogan married Elizabeth, daughter of
John Owen of Berllan. Their
children included Sir William Wogan, MP for Co. Pembroke in 1681 and for
Haverfordwest in 1679, 1685-1687 and 1689-1700, Kings Serjeant, 1698; and Chief Justice of the Carmarthen Circuit
1689-1701.
John Mathias of
Castle Morris is probably the John Mathias of
Llangwarren, who sat on the County Parliamentary
Committee during the Civil War. He was the son of Thomas Mathias of
Llangwarren by his second wife, Ursula Owen, daughter
of George Owen of Henllys. He
married a daughter of Thomas Lloyd, and died in
1681.
[12]
Bartholomew Young of Cardigan left a will in 1678 [SD 1678/154]. Jane Young of cardigan left a will in
1686 [SD 1686/55].
[13] Other people mentioned in the
will of Grace Young include her niece, Grace
Jones, who was to
receive £30; Evan Young of Pennywern; George Owen; her
brother-in-law; David Griffith; her sister-in-law, Margaret Griffith; her cozen,
Elizabeth Picton, widow, who was to receive half a bushel of corn and half a
bushel of rye the following May [presumably the widow of Owen Picton, who died
around 1639]; her nephew, Francis Jones; her sister
Elizabeth Jones, who was to
receive all the messuage and land called Argoed where she was living, late belonging to her husband,
Rees Young; and her nephew, William Gwynne.
[14] Other people mentioned in the will of Rees Young
include David ap Evan, tailor, his sister’s son; Elizabeth Evan, his sister;
Margaret Owen, another sister of David ap Evan; George Owen, his sister’s son;
Evan Young, his brother’s son; David Griffith, shoemaker, his half-brother;
Margaret Griffith, his half-sister and Nicholas Griffith, his half-brother. Also mentioned are his two reputed sons,
Thomas Young and Rees Young, who were to receive 3s:4d
apiece.
[15] The Manor of Redwalles received grant of a weekly market and a three day
annual fair in 1293 [Calendar of Charter Rolls 2, 1906], probably representing a
large-scale 13th century assart of relatively poor
land, which had already 'failed' by the 16th century, when only four tenements
of demesne were recorded. Its three
gale tenants held their land by mixed English and Welsh custom, and indeed the
name 'Redwalles' is probably a corruption of Rudvall, a term given in Pembrokeshire to a form of local
tenure by which strip fields were amassed and grazed in
common.