Llangadog snippets

This is a selection of material relating to Llangadog parish contributed by Anna Brueton (2001/3)

• Llangadog Vestry Books
• The Gwynfe Missionaries
• Two Llangadog murders
• Manorial Rent Rolls

Llangadog Vestry Books

The Llangadog vestry books (1785 to 1818) give us a fascinating insight into parish life.  The vestry looked after a wide variety of parish affairs including the upkeep of the church, civil works such as bridges, and parish relief for paupers. Vestry meetings set the rates each year to fund these activities and took decisions about how the money should be used. The churchwarden and overseer for the poor was appointed yearly to have oversight of these duties and to ensure that the decisions of the vestry were carried out.  Llangadog was administered as three hamlets: Above Sawdde, Dyffryn Ceidrich and Gwynfe (including Quarter Bach to the south of the Black Mountain).

The Church Rate

From 1786, two separate rates were set, one for the upkeep of the church, and one for the civil needs of the parish.  The church rate was generally small (e.g 6 pence in the £), covering expenses such as bread and wine for communion, laundering and mending of surplices, ale for funerals.  However from time to time larger sums were raised for capital works; for instance in 1812 a rate of £1 was levied on the whole parish for the repair of the chapel of ease in Gwynfe. In 1787 and again in 1811 repairs and improvements to Llangadog Church were agreed, and a committee appointed to approve a plan for seating in the church.  The seating was made by Mr Rees Thomas, who was responsible for other building works in the parish.  However, work was not always done to the satisfaction of the churchwarden; the 1807-08 Gwynfe accounts include a reference to "John Matthews swindler with a pretended order for repairs in church and nothing done".  Music in church was clearly important to the parish; 60 guineas was paid to David Jones in 1802 to build an organ and keep it in repair for 3 years.  In the next year John Eckley was paid 10 guineas for playing the organ.  In 1811 the organist was Mr Tasker, who was paid 26 guineas for the year.

Civil works

Civil parish works mainly concerned the construction and repair of roads and of bridges, over the rivers Sawdde (Mr Rees Thomas again), Brane and Meilwch. In the latter case, the vestry agreed that "Rev. Mr Lewis Lewis of Gwinfe be desired to overlook the work and to get it done in the properest manner". The most significant work in this period was a stone bridge over the Towy at Llangadog, at a cost of £1,000, to be shared between the parishes of Llangadog, Llandeilo Fawr, Llansadwrn, Moddfey (Myddfai) and Llanddeusant.

The relief of the poor

Much of the overseers' work concerned the relief of paupers.  A list of pensioners appears in the vestry books for each year, together with the amounts paid.  In addition there were numerous one-off payments, and assistance in kind, for instance blankets, clothing and shoes.  Parishioners were paid for lodging the poor, including unmarried mothers during their confinements and bastard children.  There was the occasional industrial injury: in 1797 one shilling was allowed to David Morgan Lewis following "a mischance in the coalworks".  Sometimes the relief went beyond the bare necessities; in 1810 Thomas Matthew was awarded a guinea towards going to the seaside for the benefit of his health, and in 1811 a further guinea was given to the widow of Morgan Charles "to go to the Wells".

The overseers provided practical assistance to the poor to help them become self-sufficient.  In 1795 it was agreed that William, the blind son of William John the mason, should be settled with William the harper for 2 years "to learn his art and history of an harper as an apprentice at and for the price and sum of £20, payable quarterly.  The above William Williams agrees to teach and instruct him  ... and to find him harp strings at the end of the said term".  In return, the boy's father promised "to find sufficient clothing and washing for his said son during the said term of 2 years and also to pay 13 shillings quarterly to the overseer for the time being".  In the first decade of the nineteenth century there were periodic payments for "the Glandurfal blind boy" (James Morgan) to learn the organ. In addition a fiddle was purchased for him and lessons provided by William Richard the fiddler.

Music was not a very profitable occupation, however; both William Williams the harper and John Eckley the organist received parish relief in later life.

In 1811 the overseer of Duffryn Ceidrych was instructed to buy a young horse not exceeding £6 in value, for the use of William Hicks the weaver on account of his present poverty.  There were further payments to him in the following year. Other needy parishioners were provided with the tools of their trade, including an anvil and a spinning wheel.  The vestry books contain a list of pauper children, some as young as 8 years old, apprenticed for farm work or housewifery, until the age of 21 years.

Over the period covered by the vestry books, expenditure rose, due to an increase in the numbers on relief, and also because of rising prices.  The vestry found it difficult to agree a sufficient rate at the start of the year, and often had to vote one, or even two, supplementary rates during the year.  They took various measures to contain prices.  In 1790, it was agreed that Thomas Williams, surgeon and apothecary, be allowed 5 guineas for attendance on all paupers of the parish.  In 1792 the vestry proposed that "Rev Lewis Lewis shall procure a certain house called Penycrug in the Hamlett of Gwynfe for the accommodation of the paupers of the said hamlett, and that the overseer is to receive them in the said house".  In May 1794 the parish overseer and churchwardens contracted with Thomas Morgan & Sampson David to provide for the poor of parish, for the sum of £150.5.6  to be paid quarterly.  The parish seem to have been concerned that the contractors should carry out their duties fairly; in June of the same year they appointed Morgan Price Lloyd Esq, Revd Lewis Lewis, Charles Jones gent, Rees Williams attorney, Rev John Llewelin & Thomas Morgan Manse  "to superintend and look over the contractor of the poor to see if the poor shall be properly treated in the poor house & the contractors agree to remedy any defect that shall be pointed out by the supervisor".  

Travel

The overseers had from time to time to go in search of missing fathers of bastards.  A standardised rate of 18 pence was agreed in 1791 to reimburse the overseers for journeys to Llandilo and Llandovery, and 6s. was allowed "to my journey to Neath to apprehend Dd Bowen for a bastard" 6/-.  The overseers saw to the removal of paupers who were a charge on other parishes, and provided for their own folk who were returned to the parish to avoid them becoming a charge elsewhere.  In 1789 relief was given to Jane wife of John Jones & her 2 children, removed to Llangadog from the parish of Newboro' in Anglesey, and in 1816 2 guineas were paid to John Morgan for bringing the goods of Thomas Christmas from Nantyglo.

Education

From 1806, steps were taken to provide some education for the children of the poor.  Mr David Davies was paid £10 towards instructing 10 poor children for one year, the children to be chosen by ballot at a vestry appointed for that purpose.

Military Service

In 1795 a Vestry meeting noted the requirement to carry out an act  "... passed in the previous session of Parliament for raising men for the service of his Majesty's Navy".  The churchwarden & overseers were required to use their utmost endeavour to enlist the quota of the said parish and were authorised not to exceed £15 each man as bounty, and to make their return by the next Monday.  There seems to have been little enthusiasm among the parishioners; only Rees Thomas from Dyffryn Ceidrych and  David Morgan (who may originally have been from St Clears) signed up.  In 1804 an additional rate of 18d in the £ was raised  "to paying of two men wanted in army reserves".

Who was who?

The churchwardens and overseers of the poor were elected for each hamlet, drawn mainly from the tenant farmers of the parish, and also from those farmers who owned their land. The way in which the appointment is recorded, in the form  "John Jones Baily for Garn Llwyd", suggests some sort of rota linked to the tenancy of property.  When, as in 1810, the very elderly Griffith David was appointed churchwarden and overseer for Gwynfe, his son John Griffiths seems to have carried out many of his duties.  Occasionally a woman was appointed, being a widow who had taken over the tenancy of her late husband's farm.

The small number of owners of large estates did not act as churchwardens and it is difficult to tell how much control they had over vestry affairs.  They were sometimes asked to supervise and approve capital works, and no doubt as landlords they were able to influence the voting of their tenants in vestry meetings.

Anna Brueton 2003

The Gwynfe Missionaries

The hamlet of Gwynfe, birthplace of Sir John Williams, also produced a number of celebrated missionaries.

David Griffiths, born in 1792 to William Griffith David and his wife Elizabeth of Glanmeilwch, was one of the first missionaries to Madagascar, arriving in 1821. With his colleague David Jones, he founded schools and chapels, provided an alphabet for Malagasy and, with others, translated the Bible. He spent 15 years in Madagascar, but had to leave during the period of persecution. He was a stubborn and determined man, who repeatedly clashed with the London Missionary Society during his mission. A letter in the National Library Aberystwyth records their dispute over his use of the letter W to represent the vowel sound "oo" in the Malagasy alphabet. On his return to Britain in 1842 he settled in Hay, continuing his work for the Malagasy people through writing and translating books. He died in Machynlleth in 1863.

Margaret Jane Griffiths, the daughter of David Griffiths, was born in Madagascar in 1830, and married Griffith John, the distinguished missionary to China. They left Britain in 1855, arriving the same year and eventually establishing their mission in Hankow, Central China. Margaret John was a dedicated missionary in her own right, but her health suffered and the couple left China for a rare visit home to Wales in 1870. They set out to return to China in 1873, but she did not survive the journey, dying in Singapore.

William Griffiths, son of Jonathan and Elizabeth Griffiths, and nephew of David Griffiths, was born in Glanmeilwch in 1853. He began his mission in Urambo, near Lake Tanganyike, in 1879, though he seems to have left before David Williams arrived in 1880 (see below). He is reported to been active as a missionary in North Dakota (alive in 1897). I have been unable to trace what happened to him subsequently.

David Williams was born in 1856 to Griffith and Margaret Williams and brought up in Cwmllwyd, Gwynfe. He set out for Central Africa in April 1880, arriving in Urambo in September after a gruelling two month trek from the coast, suffering on the way from fever, lack of water, and attacks from robbers. His journal and letters give graphic details of the journey and of his time as a missionary. In September 1881, he was taken ill suddenly and died the same day of a frenzied fever.

Griffith Griffiths is not, so far as I know, related to the family of David Griffiths, though his birthplace, Deribach, lies close by Glanmeilwch. He was born in 1854, the son of John and Ann Griffiths. He was ordained in 1881 at Llandeilo and set out for Shanghai the same year. In 1882 he left Shanghai to minister to the Chinese community in San Francisco and continued his mission in California until his death in San Francisco in 1923.

These last three trained together in Western College Plymouth in 1879.

Sources: DNB, DWB, Hanes Bywgraffiadol o Genadon Gymreig i wledydd paganaidd (G Pennar Griffiths 1897).

Anna Brueton

Two Llangadog murders

In 1768, nine men were tried at Hereford for the murder of William Powell, of Glanareth, Llangadog. Evidence was given in Welsh. The following were found guilty, and were hanged on March 30 at Hereford: William Spiggott, William Morris, David Morgan (alias Lacey), William Walter Evan and Charles David Morgan, all of Llangadog, and David Llewellyn of Llandovery. Those acquitted were William Thomas (alias Blink) , John Spiggott and William Charles, though Thomas, and Walter Evan, who had turned king's evidence, were subsequently hung for other crimes.

The instigator of the crime, William Williams, wished to marry Powell's wife and therefore planned her husband's murder. (Mrs Williams claimed that her husband had twice tried to murder her, in one case through poisoning her tea.) Powell was set upon in his own parlour on 8 January 1768 by the accused and received 20 wounds, eight of which were said to be mortal. The footprints of Charles David Morgan and spots of blood were traced in the snow, and Morgan in turn accused several of his accomplices. Powell was buried in the chancel of Llangadog church.

Three years later, Williams' brother John and two others were tried on the charge of being accomplices in the murder, and were acquitted.

The main culprit, William Williams managed to escape legal retribution. He fled the country to France, keeping a school near St Omer's. However he also met a sudden death; a boat cruise ended in disaster and he drowned, along with some of his pupils.

In 1817, there was another hanging of a Llangadog man accused of murder. Rees Thomas Rees, a preacher of Gellibant, near Llangadog, was convicted of administering a poisonous drug to Elizabeth Jones, of Ynystoddeb, Gwynfe, Llangadog, which caused her death (May 26, 1816).

Rees and Elizabeth were lovers, but when she became pregnant, her father refused his permission for the marriage. At her request, Rees obtained a drug to end the pregnancy, which poisoned her. He fled to Liverpool intending to emigrate to America. There he changed his mind, and despite the entreaties of his friends, returned to Carmarthen and surrendered himself, trusting in his innocence of intention to murder. But the court was not sympathetic, and he was executed a few days later. A sympathetic crowd, claimed to be over 10,000 people, attended the occasion and were deeply moved by his last prayers.

His story is told in "A brief and authentic narrative of that unfortunate young man, Rees Thos. Rees, of Llangadock, in the County of Carmarthen, who was executed ... 19th April, 1817" . This exhorts parents to "Remember Rees Rees", and take care how and with whom their children go courting. According to the pamphlet ".. it is a very wicked habit for young men and women to be courting at untimely hours ... an hour or two, before bed time, would be sufficient". The story was also commemorated in a Welsh ballad by Thomas Dyer of Llanegwad.

Sources: Carmarthen and its Neighbourhood, William Spurrell (2nd edition, Carmarthen 1879), Carmarthen Journal 25 April 1817

Anna Brueton

(14 Jan 2001 & updated 19 July 2001)

Manorial Rent Rolls

Llangadog lies within the manors of Gwynfe and Fabon (which also includes parts of Llandeilo Fawr), Felindre Sawdde, and the Bishop of St David's manor of Llangadog. The majority of the surviving manorial records for Llangadog  can be found within the Cawdor and Lucas collections at Carmarthen Record Office and the DTM Jones collection at the National Library of Wales.

Among the most useful records for genealogists are rent rolls, which give lists of owners, properties and tenants.  There is one for Gwynfe and Fabon relating to 1742, a period for which there are few other records.  Court papers detailing customary dues such as those on the death of a tenant ("mortuary") or the marriage of a tenant's daughters ("leather witt") may also contain genealogical information.

Anna Brueton, January 2003

[There is a short definition of the term 'manor' on Wales - Genealogy Help Pages]

Rent roll for the Mannor of Gwynvey and Vabon

A Roll of the Chief Rent payable within the Mannor of
Gwynvey and Vabon part of the Lordships of Perveth
Examined and allowed of by the Grand jury of the Said
Lordships att an Adjournment of a Leet Court held for the
Said Lordships on Tuesday the Nine and Twentyeth Day of
June in the Year of our Lord One Thousand Seven hundred
And fourty two before James Price Gent Steward to his
Grace Charles Duke of Bolton Lord of the said Mannor and Lordships

 The entries are generally written out in the form:
  (Owner's name) for (property name) in the occupation of (occupier's name)  (rent in shillings and pence)
  or sometimes, less helpfully:
  (Owner's name) for his own lands (rent)
  but for ease of reference they have been arranged here in tabular form.

• Gwynvey
• Dyffrin Kydrech
• Vabon in Llangadock
• Vabon in Llandilo parish

Gwynvey

Dyffrin Kydrech