Welsh Journals

and it figures as late as 1788 (No. 134) in articles of agreement between the Gwynnes and the family of James of Pantsaeson, parish of Monington, for the payment of a sum of money charged upon it. The family of Lewis William of Bwlchclawdd is not frequently represented in the present collec- tion, and may for the purpose of this report be regarded merely as a link between the families of Bedo and Vaughan, although mention may be made of one document (No. 188), unfortunately mutilated but known to have been dated before 1681, in which Lewis William appears as farmer of the tithes of Maenclochog in a libel in the Consistory Court of St. Davids against Thomas Vaughan, gent., concerning the alleged subtraction of the tithes. The Vaughans of Vorlan, who are encountered time and again during the second half of the seven- teenth century, were a branch of the parent family of Gelligati in the parish of Cenarth, co. Car- marthen, and became allied to the Bedoes by virtue of the marriage of Thomas Vaughan, second son of James Vaughan of Gelligati and of Cilrhedyn, and Margaret, daughter of Arthur Lewis. Two grants, the one (No. 405) made on 5 January 1685/6, in accordance with a pre-nuptial agreement, and the other (No. 82) three days later in preferment of the wife, refer to llwyn Bedw otherwise llwyn y bedw in Cenarth and to Tythin Canoll otherwise Postey in Bletherston. The earliest reference to the Vaughans in the present collection occurs in 1668 (Nos. 78, 401), when James Vaughan the elder receives assignments of mortgage of Tythyn Llwyn bedw and Tir yr hendy in Cenarth from Mary and Jane James of the same parish, to realise a legacy of £ 100 bequeathed by the will of James Howell, deceased, the assignors' father, but the Vaughan title-deeds are considerably earlier, for an assignment (No. 4) to James Vaughan in 1670 of land in Tir-Kil-y-garne in Llanllwni refers to a mortgage (No. 396) in 1623 from David David ap Ievan, gent., and Leyky verch levan, widow, and the property is probably to be identified with lands in Llanllwni and Llanybyther specified in a grant (No. 244) to Owen David ap Jenkyn of Ystrad (Istrayed), co. Cardigan, yeoman, in 1573. Later acquisitions by Thomas Vaughan of Vorlan included Dyffrin Achddy and other properties in Cilrhedyn in 1683 (No. 184), by way of mortgage from his father, and Cotty Wall in Henry's Moat in 1699 (No. 84), the proprietorship of the latter in 1827 (No. 65) enabling Thomas Gwynne of Kilkiffeth to receive an award of a piece of waste and uncultivated land in the parish of Llangolman lately enclosed as part of an allotment of common. But more interesting than either of these was Gilvach y Rhewe in the parish of Llanycefn, which serves to introduce the family of Gibbin then resident primarily in the parish of Mynachlogddu. The name is first encountered in 1658, in the marriage settlement of Arthur Lewis of Bwlchclawdd which has already been noted, but it was Richard Gibbin who acquired Gilvach in 1683 (No. 106) from Richard Jones of Haverfordwest. A mortgage of the property and two assignments (Nos. 73-4, 85-6) followed between 1702 and 1710, and the equity of redemption was granted by William Gibbin to Margaret Vaughan of Vorlan, widow, executrix, and devisee of Thomas Vaughan, in 1713 (No. 87). The property was granted in trust by John Thomas, Kilkiffeth to Thomas Lewes of Tredeved, parish of Llanychllwydog, in 1743 (Nos. 94-5), and Vaughan Thomas of Posty in 1750 (No. 153) received from his sister Margaret one third share of a bequest of Z204 1os. charged thereon. Subsequently it appears in 1776 (No. 24) in a bargain and sale to Vaughan Thomas of tithes of numerous properties in Llanycefn, and in 1784 (No. 31), with Trellwyn Vazor, parish of Llanllawer, in the post-nuptial settlement of Thomas Gwynn, described as of Plasymeibion (Place y Meibon), parish of Llangolman, and Ann, daughter of John Nicholas of Penyralltddu, parish of Nevern. Reverting to the Gibbins, mention may be made of a lease (No. 147) by Richard Gibbin to Thomas Vaughan in 1695 of another property in Llanycefn by the name of Llandre Vcha, and a release (No. 148) of claim to a tenement and lands in Llanycefn made in 1702 by Lewis Gibbin of the parish of Llanboydy,? in which reference is made to the relessor's father Richard Gibbin and to his brothers John, Richard, Thomas, and William. The family name of Vaughan disappears from the Trenewydd muniments with the death, pre- sumably in 1712, of Thomas Vaughan, and in 1720 of his wife Margaret, for there was no male issue of their union, and part of their estate became merged with that of the Thomases of Kilkiffeth by virtue of the marriage of their youngest daughter Lettice to John Thomas. But before finally dis- missing Thomas and Margaret Vaughan from our narrative, it would be well to draw attention to their respective probate records. No copy of either will has survived in the present collection, but the originals are preserved among the probate records of the archdeaconry of St. Davids now deposited