Document detailing the descent of John Bold of Beaumaris

This unsigned fragment begins by saying that Buckingham Bold lived at Tre'rddol in Llechgynfarwy, that at his death a servant named Rhys William Parry took the name of Bold, travelled as a pedlar, saved money, set up a shop between the almshouses and Cefn Coch, but settled his son in another shop near the Cross at Beaumaris. This son of his was the John Bold whose daughter married Hugh Owen of Penrhos. Parts of the story are frankly incredible; there is no such person as Buckingham Bold in the family tables (Pedigrees, 159) but it is a fact that the most prominent member of the family, the William Bold of the Civil War and Commonwealth period, spent a considerable time in London, and very curiously there is preserved in this Library a document in which he actually appears as witness to a transaction in which Katherine, Duchess of Buckingham, was the most important party (Cynhaiarn, 374). It is true W.B. died without issue, but what advantage could Rhys Wynn Parry secure by taking up the name Bold, for it is only too evident (according to this story) he lived a very hard life for years? Who was John Bold? The predigree-hunters do not know, not even Mr. J.E. Griffith, who admits (footnote, 159), he cannot make a satisfactory connection between him and the Bolds of Caernarvon and Tre'rddol, but adds he has no doubt that they are of the same family. That is not the message of the story told in this fragment, rather that John Bold had none of old Bold blood in him, and was the son of an industrious imposter. On the other hand, it is not too easy to explain the marriage of this kind of John Bold to a daughter of David Williamd of Glan Alaw, David W. being a son of Dr. Hugh Williams, the doughty Cavalier, rector of Llantrisant, and brother to Sir. William Williams the Speaker. Where does the truth lie? Who in reality was John Bold, great-grandfather of the first Lord Stanley of Alderley?

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Cynhaiarn 374.