Documents relating to Richard Parry of Treddolphin and Clegir Mawr and his wife Grace

They had become possessed of the moiety of Towyn, Neuadd, and Maes y Wrach. There is never a word of his daughter Grace in the will of Lewis Hughes in 1742 (DIN/217), and the above premises are undividedly mortgaged in 1752 by Grace's elder brother William. Perhaps the will of the latter, if discovered, would throw light on the matter. In any case, R.P. and Grace, on 25 May 1759, mortgage the Towyn moiety to Lettice Ellis of Taicroesion, spinster, for £200; L.E. was grand-daughter of John Ellis, the antiquary and genealogist, and as John Ellis and Lewis Hughes, father of Grace Parry, had married two sisters, the demise was not unnatural (it was Catherine, sister of Lettice, who supplied one £100, and that explains why her husband John Owen of Penmon, figures so prominently as a witness). Lettice eventually married William Browne, a tobacconist of Llannerch-y-medd; soon after this, the mortgage was assigned from the Brownes to Margaret Jones of Tal-y-llyn, widow, (2 October 1760). Possibly this mortgage was redeemed; however, on 2 February 1780, there was another mortgage on the Towyn moiety to Morris or Maurice Williams of Criw in Llangristiolus which was redeemed in 1784 by William Hughes of Neuadd and the Middle Temple (of whom more anon), nephew and heir-at-law of Gtace Parry who had died some time between 1780 and 1784. This redemption was not without incident: W.H. accused M.W. of fraud and imposition in securing the mortgage of 1780 when Grace Parry was ill in bed and in a state of incapacity; this accusation was driven home with such pertinacity that M.W. was glad to surrender the Towyn moiety for £105. In the earlier documents of this group (DIN/225 - DIN/230), the name of John Prichard of Dinam often appears as witness.

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DIN/217.