| AdminHistory | Genealogists appear to have passed by Pentre Mawr, and therefore these documents have been used to reconstruct the history of the estate and of its various tenants from the 16th century down to the middle of the 19th.
It is the Gethins, a junior branch of the Cerniogau family, who can be first associated with Pentre Mawr in Llandyrnog and Eglwys-bach, Denbighshire. An Edward Gethin described as from Aberchwilar, begins in 1619 to take an interest in properties in the township of Corfedwen. By 1646 he appears to have laid the foundations of a small landed estate. This was consolidated by his son John Gethin, a clerk in holy orders and a Master of Arts of Queen's College, Cambridge, who at the commencement of the Civil Wars was Rector of Llangybi in Eifionydd, and later in Aberdaron in Lleyn. By the end of the 17th century, however the Gethins have vanished from the scene. The last reference to them is in a deed of March 17, 1684/5 (ms 37), whereby Edward Gethin of Llandyrnog, gent, John Gethin's son, signs a one-year lease to a Peter Evans of London, merchant, of lands in Corfedwen, Llandyrnog and Lleweni. There is little means of identifying this Peter Evans however a few facts are known. It is known that he was a "citizen and fishmonger of London," that he acquired in 1680 the lease of the Ship Tavern in the Old Bailey (no.32), that inm addition to the Gethin lands he had also secured control of other messuages in Corvedwen and its neighbourhood, including the "capital messuage called Pentre" (mss 34, 47). He died in 1701 leaving a wife, Elizabeth, and a son and heir, John.
John Evans is described as of Llandyrnog in 1719 (ms 47) and later as of Whistones in the county of Worcester. He also appears to have connections with Pennsylvania and there is proof enough in the documents that he possessed property in that state (ms 58) and that he was an associate of William Penn the younger (ms 45). After his death in 1745, Pentre Mawr passed to his elder daughter Rebecca Parry and then to her daughter Mary Anne, who married a man called Ignatius Purcell of Crumlin in co. Dublin. Under the Purcells, judging by the number of mortgage transactions that are to be found in the collection between the years 1773 and 1792, the history of the estate was far from stable. And, by the end of the latter year a Richard Edmunds has emerged as mortgagee of Pentre Mawr.
He was the son of Richard Edmunds of Llandyrnog and grandson of John Edmunds of Bangor Iscoed in Maelor Saesneg, Flintshire, who by his marriage with the daughter of one Richard Williams of Llandyrnog, had acquired a footing in the township of Tre'r Llan. Then in October 1805, Richard Edmunds assigns his mortgage of Pentre Mawr to Robert Williams, merchant (grocer) of St. Brides, Chester, father of the Rev. Edmund Williams, and great-grandfather of the present owner of Pentre Mawr.
Further biographical details were received courtesy of Elizabeth Prior in 2021 :
John Evans, was commissioned by William Penn as Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania in 1703. In 1709 he married Rebecca Moore daughter of John Moore and Rebecca nee Axtell, whose paternal grandfather was Daniel Axtell one of the regicides – www.quod.lib.umich.edu is the link to a brief biographical sketch of John Evans (who seems to have been a bit of a loose cannon). Pentre Mawr 58 is John Evans’s will.
John Evan’s daughter Rebecca was born 30 May 1711 and baptised 1 June 1711 at St Martin in the Fields. Some time after 1731 she married Dr Peter Barry MD who was reputed to be the illegitimate son of James, Earl of Barrymore. They had two surviving children – Mary Anne and Jane. Mary Anne married first Francis Barry of Cork and second Ignatius Purcell of Crumlin, County Dublin. Jane married Francis Heny. In 1773 the Henys issued proceedings in Chancery regarding the inheritance of Pentre Mawr. The pleadings are held at TNA reference C 12/549/17. Pentre Mawr 69 relates.
Dr Barry was arrested in 1746 following the failure of the Jacobite rebellion and was held in Newgate and then the Tower before being released on bail on health grounds. There are various papers about him in State Papers 36. I have been unable to establish what happened to him subsequently but surmise he may have gone to Ireland given that his two daughters married there.
From newspaper notices Ignatius Purcell seems to have been involved in unrelated inheritance disputes in Ireland which may explain the need for funds raised by mortgaging Pentre Mawr. |