Morgan Price Nantgwared

The first major clue is in a memorial found at Llywel Parish Church. Gareth Jones, Brewood, in his survey, “The Memorial Inscriptions at St. David’s Church, Llywel Parish, Breconshire” published in 1966 provides the following details. “Found in the shrubbery by the vestry, “Near this place lie interred Morgan Price of Nantgwared Gent. And Blanche his wife, ye youngest daughter to Charles Hughes of Trostre in the county of Monmouth, Esq. He had issue by her, viz. Jane, Walter, Sarah, Charles, William, Richard, Rice, James, Thomas and John of whom 5 survived (later?), viz. Sarah, wife of John Crewe of Green Hall in Cheshire esq., Charles of Nantgwared Esq. William and Jane(t), Rice of Brecon. He died April 12th 1695 aged 4(1). She died September 17th 1735 aged 77. There is a crest on the stone.”

This provides a number of interesting facts and clues. It was almost certainly erected by Charles Price who inherited Nantgwared when he came of age.  It confirms Morgan’s death in 1695 at a comparatively young age and also provides a list of all their children and in particular those who survived the death of their mother Blanche in 1735. It also confirms what we have learned already of Sarah Price and John Crewe. Finally it also confirms Blanche’s family connection to the Hughes of Trostre in Monmouthshire – an old family with links to aristocracy in the past and also to Brecon and Breconshire through siblings of Blanche who settled in the town.

Some clues to the story of Morgan and Blanche Price are to be found firstly in Morgan’s will and also in estate papers which are lodged in the Powys County Archive. Jeffreys and Powell are a long established firm of solicitors in the county town of Brecon and in the archive of deeds and other papers there are a number of documents which have reference to both Morgan Price and his son Charles.

But the earliest reference is to be found in the Penpont estate papers lodged at the NLW. Here there is a copy of a settlement which was made by Morgan and Blanche Price following their marriage and possibly following the death of Morgan’s father and hence his coming into his inheritance. The NLW catalogue summary has:

#1512

1683, March 30

1.            Morgan Price of the parish of Penrose, co. Monmouth, gent., and Blanch, his wife;

2.            Charles Hughes of Trostrey, esq., and Rowland Hughes of the town of Uske.

RELEASE in consideration of the marriage of the said Morgan Price and Blanch, his wife, of messuages and lands in the parish of Llywell, Llandiloervane, Llanvihangell Nant brane, and Llanvaes, co. Brecknock. Copy.

 

It was obviously important to obtain a copy of this settlement[1] and it established a number of facts.

·        The settlement was drawn up in 1683 and as it mentions Walter, the first son and heir of Morgan and Blanche, it was drawn up some time after their marriage. Blanche was born in 1658 and so they were likely to have married between late 1670’s and 1683. According to a later document Walter died young and so ultimately Morgan’s heir was in fact his second son Charles.

·        The settlement was in consideration that the couple would receive the sum of £500 pounds as full and final settlement of Blanche’s dowry from the Hughes estate.

·        Morgan Price would then place his lands and possessions in trust in the hands of Charles and Rowland Hughes (Blanche’s brothers) but continue to benefit from the income of all rents etc. due on the properties during the term of his natural life. In the event of his pre-deceasing Blanche his estate and its benefits would pass to her and thence to their heir(s).

·        The settlement provides a detailed list of properties and lands which had come into Morgan’s hands by inheritance. These include properties in the parishes of Llywel, Llandeilo’r Fan and Llanfihangel Nant Bran as well as house in Llanfaes in the town of Brecon.

·        The settlement also allowed Morgan Price to raise a further £500 on the properties through his will or other legal transaction so as to provide for his younger children.

·        At the time of the settlement Morgan Price is said to be “of Penrose” (a.k.a. Penros and properly Penrhos) - a small village between Abergavenny and Monmouth and only around 5 – 10 miles north of Trostre (or Trostrey as it is presently known), the seat of the Hughes family.

·        The settlement also names Morgan’s mother as Ann Jeffreys, widow, in connection with certain property. This bit of information is important in helping to trace Morgan Price’s ancestry and is confirmed by Morgan’s will.

The question of why a copy of this settlement was found among the Penpont papers seems a bit of a mystery – but there might be a clue in Morgan’s ancestry.

So, summarising thus far, Morgan Price (1654 – 1695) married Blanche Hughes of Trostre Monmouth and in ca. 1683, after the birth of their first child Walter, a marriage settlement was drawn up. They had 10 children between ca. 1680 and Morgan’s death in 1695, a period of some 10 - 15 years.

Morgan died tragically young. It could well be that he did not enjoy good health from the time of his marriage and so deemed it prudent to draw up a settlement which ensured that Blanch would benefit from his death. This possibility is reinforced by the provision made in the settlement for raising a sum of £500 on the property to provide for his young children in the event of his early death. Both his will and also a settlement among the estate papers confirm that he did exercise his right to will the further £500 for his younger children, that will being carried out by his son and heir Charles.

 

Following this settlement it seems that Morgan and Blanche moved to Nantgwared in Llywel – a property that Morgan had inherited from his father.

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[1] A transcript of the full settlement will appear in a further post.

Background

When I wrote up what I had learned of the history of the Prices of Pantyffordd[1], from who my mother is descended, I could see no way of discovering any more of the story beyond the patriarchal figure of William Price Tynllwyn, Myddfai who was born early in the 18^th century and died in 1799. I counted it very fortunate that there were so many sources which testified to his memory, not only through his will and one or two other legal documents and letters, but also in Mr Theodore Arber-Cooke’s “Pages from the History of Llandovery”. When I read Vol. 2 of his history I could not help but be intrigued by the fact that he tantalisingly hinted at a relationship between William Price and Thomas Price, a mercer of Llandovery. According to A-C’s sources the two had inherited a moiety (share) of property in Heol Cerrig (Stone Street) Llandovery but no further detail was given. Did A-C have access to some document, will or deed that suggested this – he does not say. However, he obviously concluded that there was a family tie between them when he included their pedigrees together in the Appendix of Volume 2 of his history.

The only other possible clue to William’s origins was the testimony of the late Mr D.R. Powell in the preface to a book of local poetry of the area[2]. “My mother was one of six children of David and Mary Price Gorllwynfach[3], they were from the family of Price Tynewydd who were descended before that from Glasallt and Llwynifanfeddyg.' He goes on to say that his mother always told them that her roots lay with the drovers from Shrewsbury who had settled in the area". This proved to be impossible to establish. I was unable to find any clue about William Price’s origins or any link between him and Thomas Price. It seemed to me that some deed or document – maybe in the deeds of the Stone St. properties – may establish a common ancestor but for the moment it seemed like a brick wall had been reached. However, it had always seemed to me to be remarkable that both William and Thomas should appear in Myddfai Parish at approximately the same time and baptised children in St. Michael’s, the Parish Church. But they do seem to appear almost from nowhere!

But then, as a result of some diligent searching and a discovery made by a distant cousin, Fiona Price[4] of Llandovery, a further hare was set running. William Price’s eldest son John was first appointed curate then later vicar of Myddfai parish. Fiona discovered online a book written by Nicholas Carlisle published in 1811 entitled “A Topographical Dictionary of the Dominion of Wales” which describes Wales parish by parish. In addition to his own descriptions Carlisle had invited the incumbents of the various parishes to contribute to their description. William’s eldest son John was the vicar of Myddfai at the time and Nicholas Carlisle specifically says in the entry for Myddfai, “The present worthy Vicar, The Rev. JOHN PRICE, most kindly adds ….” and then in the middle of his description of the parish John Price writes, “… in the Church yard is interred Mr William Price, Gentleman, who left legacies to 40 Children and Grand-children; he was related to Lord Crewe, and Admiral Curtis.”

The description of William Price, gentleman and the detail of the number of legacies leave little doubt that this is John Price’s father, William Price Tynllwyn - but what to make of the references to Lord Crewe and Admiral Curtis? Was this (as my friend Gareth Jones very reasonably suggested) just a case of “Lloyd George knew my father” or was there a real connection?

A link to Admiral Curtis has proved intractable thus far, but Fiona very quickly found a possible link to Lord Crewe. There is plenty of information online regarding the Crewe family of Crewe Hall, Cheshire. The original Crewe family go way back (to William the Conqueror) and have a history connected to parliament. However, it seemed that the male line might have run out with Ann Crew the only daughter and heir of John Crewe (1626 - 1684) and his wife Carew Gorges (d/o Sir Arthur Gorges). Ann Crew married John Offley of Madely Manor in Staffordshire (he died 1749) and they had a son John Offley born 20 Sep 1681 (died 25 Aug 1749) who changed his name from Offley to Crewe by Act of Parliament in 1708 having inherited Crewe Hall from his mother Ann. And this is where a possible connection with Wm. Price appears to be – John Offley (shortly to become Crewe) married Sarah Price the daughter of Morgan Price Nantgwared, Llywel in 1707. They married at the May Fair Chapel in London which apparently vied with the Fleet Prison as the place for clandestine marriages at this time. This John Crewe became MP for Cheshire. They had 3 sons - John Crewe (1709 - 1752), Joseph Crewe and Rev. Ranulph Crewe  - the latter becoming the rector of Bartholmey in Cheshire. Their eldest son John Crewe married Anne Shuttleworth and they had a number of daughters and two sons John and Richard. The elder son, John Crewe (1742 - 1829) became 1st Baron Crew so would have been the Lord Crewe living in 1811 that Rev. John Price was referring to.

And so Sarah Price, daughter of Morgan Price Nantgwared, Llywel appears as a possible link to William Price. What could be discovered about her and her family? This is the point at which things got really difficult because research in the 17^th and 18^th centuries is not so easy. Many hours of poring over sources and piecing together bits of information has resulted in what seems a possible link, but having said that, the final piece of the jigsaw remains elusive.

So I present the following as the culmination of a great deal of digging but in also recognising that in the end it may well be time wasted in so far as extending my own family history is concerned. However, the research was interesting as an end in itself (never previously having taken much interest in centuries earlier than the 18^th) and it may well provide the basis for further research and might eventually lead to the discovery of a common ancestor of Thomas and William Price. Ultimately I still believe that the answer to this lies in the deeds of the older properties of Heol Cerrig (Stone Street) in Llandovery and possibly a will.

Having said all of that, the results of the research fill in a gap in knowledge concerning an old Breconshire family which Theophilus Jones, the Breconshire historian, knew about but in a limited way.

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[1] This is available as a series of blog posts on the internet. “The Prices of Pantyffordd.”

[2] Hanner Canrif o'r Digri a'r Difri o fro Meddygon Myddfai' David Rees Powell 2000

[3] Gorllwynfach and Tynewydd are farms in the parish of  Myddfai

[4] Fiona is a descendant of William Price the brother of my maternal great grandfather David Price.