Welsh Journals

Oct., 1885. BYE-GONES. 297 attending the wounded. She is remarkably fresh; her memory is good; she can read the smallest print without glasses, and can knit and sew. Her hearing is a little dull, and she is not able to walk far without assistance; but she is a bright, contented, Christian woman. She is able to give graphic accounts of the battle, and of the meeting of Blucher and Wellington. Doubtless many of your readers will wish her joy if spared till the 27th of this month, when she will have attained her one hundredth birthday." The Late Rev. Samuel Roberts.—The Rev. Samuel Roberts, well-known as "S. R.," died at Conway, on Thursday, at the age of eighty-five. The son of the Rev. J. Roberts, of Llanbrynmair, he was ordained a Congre¬ gational Minister in 1827; and he afterwards emigrated to Tennessee, to found a Welsh Colony there, but the enterprise was not successful, many of the Colonists, in¬ cluding Mr Roberts, losing heavily in the Civil War, soon after which he returned to Wales. His latter years were spent at Conway, and he continued to write for the press all his days. At one time he was editor of Y Dydd and Y Cronicl, and he claimed to have first suggested the Penny Post. His remains were interred yesterday, at Conway. A FACT FOR HISTORIANS. Mr Geo. D. Harrison, Welshpool, writing under date of Sept. 25, says :— "I have just met an old gentleman riding into this town with whom I have been acquainted for a considerable period. His hale appearance and erect bearing induced me in the course of conversation to enquire his age, and I was informed that the age of horse and rider together was 126 ! the rider being 94 and his steed 32, the latter having been purchased by his present owner as a three-year-old 29 years ago, and ridden regularly for that period. " The gentleman resides some half dozen miles from this town, and thinks nothing of riding in and out for the pur¬ pose of transacting his business, which he is in every way fully competent to conduct unaided. I may add that both horse and rider have every appearance of being able to continue their visits for some years to come." THE WILL OF SIR WATKTN WILLIAMS WYNN. The will (dated October 7th, 1884) of Sir Watkin Wil¬ liams Wynn, Bart., late of Wynnstay, Denbighshire, who died on May 9th last, was proved on the 12th September, by Dame Marie Emily Williams Wynn, the widow, Sir WiUiam Grenville Williams, Bart., the nephew, Charles Watkin Williams Wynn, the cousin, and Owen Slaney Wynne, the executors, the value of the personal estate amounting to upwards of £105,000. The testator devises the estates of Llangedwyn and Llanforda, and all his manors, lordships, advowsons, rights of presentation, mineral rights, lands and hereditaments in the counties of Denbigh and Salop, and all other his real estate whatso¬ ever and wheresoever, to trustees upon trust, to raise and pay to his wife a legacy of £6,000, and an annuity while unmarried of £2,000, in addition to the jointure provided for her by their marriage settlement; and a further sum not exceeding £500 per annum, to be applied at the dis¬ cretion of the executors among deserving persons in his service, and others who may have been in receipt of his bounty; and also to permit his wife to use and enjoy, while she remains his widow, his town house in St. James's-square, with the stables, and his mansion house at Llangedwyn, with pleasure-grounds adjoining, not ex¬ ceeding one hundred and fifty acres, and the sporting and fishing rights over the Llangedwyn and some other estates; subject thereto he settles all the said estates to the use of his daughter, Louise Alexandra, for life, and the remainder to her husband, his nephew Herbert Lloyd Watkin William3 Wynn, for life, with remainder to the first and other sons of his said daughter by her said husband, successively, and their heirs male according to seniority. He specially secures to his wife the cabinets, jewellery, and other things which be¬ longed to her at the time of her marriage, or have been purchased by or presented to her since ; and he bequeaths to her one hundred dozen of wine, four carriages, and eight carriage-horses as she may select. The testator also leaves to his wife, for life or widowhood, his Sevres china, such plate as she may select, to the extent of 4,000 ounces, jewellery, cabinets, and other articles, and the household furniture and effects at St. James's-square and Llanged- j wyn ; all his plate, plated articles, pictures, linen, china, I articles of vertu, jewellery, and household furniture, sub- I ject to the life interest given to his wife, are to be enjoyed | as heirlooms with the mansion at Wynnstay ; and he gives ! his consumable stores and the remainder of his liquors to the person who succeeds at his death to Wynnstay. To his daughter he bequeaths his live and dead farming stock, horses, cattle, sheep, and effects ; to the said Charles Watkin Williams Wynn and to Viscount Combermere, £200 each; and to his executors in addition, £300 each. The residue of his personalty is settled on his daughter, her husband, and sons, in a similar manner to the settle¬ ment of his real estate. OCTOBER 7, 1885. NOTES. SINGULAR SHREWSBURY CUSTOMS.-In the Domesday Book Survey, 1086, Shrewsbury is styled a city, and it is enacted that whenever the king chooseth to repose there, twelve of the best citizens shall sit up to guard him, and the like number shall attend him with horse and arms whenever he goeth hunting. Every woman marrying was to pay the king, if a widow, twenty shillings ; if a maid, ten shillings. Every burgess whose house should be burnt down forfeited to the king forty shillings, and to his next neighbours ten shillings each. The executors of every burgess dying were ordered to pay ten shillings to the king. Verax. Oswestry. MONTGOMERY GAOL FILES.—These papers, which are among the other public documents at the Record Office, contain a mass of useful information connected with the County, some of it of a curious character. Searching in company with a friend the other day for some evidence of a genealogical nature relating to his family, we examined several of these Gaol Files. The contents of them may be described as an account of the criminal business of the county, lists of Grand and Petit Jurors, sworn depositions of witnesses in criminal cases, names of prisoners, crimes of same, depositions taken at Coroners' inquisitions, examinations of deserters, {pressed for the Irish Wars), and much other miscellaneous matter. I copied as a curiosity the following from the File of 41st Elizabeth :— The Verdict of the Burrows Quest. Item, wee doe present David ap David Bobyth tor turninge the Watter out of his comonn curse (course ?) Beinge the Ryver of Lledinge within the corporation of the towne of poole. Item, wee doe present Humffrey Hughes for useing. and occupyinge his trad and Crafte Beinge a Glover within the towne a-for*said. Item, wee doe present the saide Humffrey for usiugo 40