Welsh Journals

Nov., 1872. BYE-GONES. 99 The mother of Mathew Herbert, the present deceased, was the daughter and heir of Lewis Owen, of Peniarth, who was the eldest son of Griffith Owen, who was the 4th sonne of Lewis ap Owen (called ye baron), of Plasyndre, in DoleeJly:" So Mathew Herbert's mother was great grand-daughter to Baron Owen. In the MS. by Robert Vanghan above referred to (Peniarth MS., No. 6), occurs the following statement as to certain of the Baron's direct ancestors : " Llewelyn ap Griffith Ddu sould his lands and tene¬ ments in Keven y rhos called Llawegros, Tyddyn Enion Grue, and divers "other lands in Estimanner, to Tudur ap Ieuan ap Tudur ap Griffith, of Oaethle, as by the records and evidence of that house is manifest; he had a son called Howel ap Llewelyn ap Griffith Ddu. who removed from Estimanner and came to dwell to Talybont: he lived in the dayes of King Hen. VI., and was of the grandiury for the said countie iu a Session kept at Caernarvon, be¬ fore Thomas Stanley, Justice of North Wales, in the 23 yeare of the said king, Americ Vaughan, of Nanney being foreman, Rees ap Griffith ap Aron of Peniarth, Howel ap Griffith Derwas of Dolgelley, Howel ap Llewelyn ap Griffith ddu, &c.,as appears of record in the Exchequer of Caernarvon. I find him alsoe in divers other grand inquests Ano 31, 32, 33, & 34 of H. 6, and alwayes ranked and placed with the best of the gentrie : he had a sonne called Owen, father of Lewis Owen, Esq., commonly called the Baron." From this time till the ilays of the Baron I find nothing relating to his family in the county records. This may be thought to give some countenance to the assertion of their enemies the Nanneys of Nanney, of the family having become so depressed that, when Lewis Owen was a child, his mother led him about the streets of Dolgelley, begging. It has been often stated that the antiquary, Robert Vaughan, inherited Hengwrt through his mother. She certainly wasJMargaret, second daughter of Edward Owen, of that place, third son of the Baron, but she was no heiress. Hengwrt was purchased by the Vau'ghans, at the time of their purchase of it of Gwengraig, in the parish of Dolgelley, from the Owens, and the conveyance of it is now at Hengwrt. In Hengwrt MS. No. 321, is an account between Sir John Salusbury, Knt., Chamberlain of N. Wales, and Lewis Owen, his Deputy Chamberlain, dated at Lleweny, 2 Oct., 1555. This was less than a fortnight before his murder. In Peniarth MS. No. 36, is an account between one of the Nanneys of Nanney (now Nannau) and Baron Owen, supposed to be entirely in his autograph, and there are documents at Peniarth bearing his signature. The bed at Brynygwin, which I mentioned in my last communication as brought from Plasyndre, has been restored and set up. It is the most interesting and hand¬ somest old bed that I ever saw, and I do not doubt is as old as the days of Baron Owen. Hereafter I may send you a copy of the inscripions upon it. W. Oswestry Advertizer, Nov. 6,1872. NOTES. GAS FROM OIL.—The startling results of some experiments with oil gas, referred to in the Oswestry Advertizer and other papers recently, will give additional interest to the following ' Bye-gone :'—In May, 1820, "The magnificent pier at Holyhead was completed, together with the lighthouse, and illuminated with a peculiarly fine gas, extracted from oil."—(See papers of the period).—N.W.S. "WHAT'S IN A NAME?"—In the year 1664, on the 5th of December, a boat on the Menai, crossing that Strait with eighty-one passengers, was upset, and only one passenger, named Hugh Williams, was saved. On the same day, in the year 1785, was upset another boat con¬ taining about sixty persons, and everyone perished, with the exception of one, whose name also was Hugh Williams. And on the 5th of August, 1820, a third boat met the same disaster; but the passengers jf this were no more than twenty-five, and, singular to relate, the whole perished with the exception of one, whose name was Hugh Wil¬ liams.—See Cabinet of Curiosities, No. 2, p. 32. 1824.— Eliola. QUERIES. THE TWELVE APOSTLES.—A. Y.Z.,in Eddowess Journal, says:—" It may interest you to know that I have just seen in the centre of an old brooch the following, printed on satin, and evidently bearing traces of age and authenti¬ city :— ' Church, King, and Constitution.' Twelve Conservatives Returned to Parliament for Shropshire, January, 1835. Hill, Gore, Clive, Darlington, Hannier, Pelham, Forester, Gaskill, Clive, Charlton, Pigot, Whitmore." Was this the period at which the Salopian members got the name of k The Twelve Apostles' ?—Salopian. SHROPSHIRE GLOSSARY (O. A., May 15, 29, June 12, 26, Aug. 7, Sep. 11, 1872).— Plump (a shrubbery, or clump of trees). Can anyone tell if the above word, with the signification given, be still used in any part of Shrop¬ shire ? It was so used formerly, as is evident from an old MS. connected with Shrewsbury School.—G.F.J., 13, White Friars, Chester. DR. WILLIAM MORGAN.—In the interesting sketch entitled " Llanrhaiadr-yn-Mochnant, its Parochial History and Antiquities," by Thomas W. Hancock, in the number just published for October, of Mont: Coll: a difficulty is raised (p. 332) as to "the dates given in the correspondence printed in Yorke's Royal Tribes, p. 149, in reference to both Dr William Morgan and Dr Richard Parry calling themselves Bishops of St. Asaph in the same year and at the same time. "The former, writing to Sir John Wynne, dates . . . 'at St. Asaph, the 24th of July, 1604,' and the latter '29th Feb., 1604,' upon which Mr Hancock remarks, " The only suggestion we can make for reconciling the discrepancy is that the date of Dr Parry's letter has been misprinted 1604 for 1605." In this, however, Mr Hancock would seem to have raised a difficulty where in reality there is none. According to the Old Style the new vear did not begin till March ; hence the 24th Feb., 1604, O.S., would correspond to the 8th March, 1605, N.S. Mr Hancock also refers to a tradition at Welshpool, which, however, he deems to rest on no very solid foundation, that Dr Morgan, while engaged in translating the Scriptures at Tymawr, in Penmachno parish, where he was born, was " obliged to fly to the hills from the hands of some persecutors who interrupted