The Will of Gwenllian Price Nantygweision

Gwenllian PRICE (nee Davies) (1749-1844) married Morgan PRICE 8 Nov 1777 at Llywel Parish Church. She survived her husband by 39 years living to the age of 95. She made her will in 1834 and died 10 years later on 21 Apr 1844. She is buried at Saron Independent Chapel, Cwmwysg (MI 1)

The Will.

The preamble quotes her late husband Morgan’s will dated 2 Jun 1804 (see previous post)which bequeathed £10 and suitable chambering to their daughter Margaret and £20 to and suitable chambering to their daughter Mary.

Morgan had bequeathed all that was left after funeral expenses and other bequests to Gwenllian and after her to his sons, John, David, Morgan, Joseph and Daniel in the proportions that Gwenllian should will or in default to be divided equally between them. He appointed Gwenllian and David his son joint executors of his will.

She states that Margaret and Mary have already been paid their “pecuniary and specific legacies” and that each of her sons John, David, Morgan and Daniel in “money and goods considerable sums more than their share of the residue of the said personal property of Morgan.” whereas my son Joseph has not received any part of his share of the residue of the said testator’s personal estate.”

The residue of that estate now amounts to £5. “To each of my sons, John Price, David Price, Joseph Price and Daniel Price I bequeath the sum of £1, part of that said sum of £5 and I bequeath to Anne, the widow of my said son Morgan Price the sum of £1.”

“To David, my son and executor £125 on trust so that it would be invested and the interest used to provide for the clothing, maintenance and support of my son Joseph Price in such a manner as David Price shall think suitable and if this interest is insufficient then the principal can be used so long as the interest and the sum from the principal does not exceed £11 in that year.” After Joseph’s decease whatever is left of the £125 to be paid to all and every one of my grandchildren living at the time of Joseph's death"

“To Eleanor, the widow of William Price of Trichwmmwl [sic.], to Margaret, wife of Rees Williams and Mary the wife of Thomas Thomas the sum of £1 each.” 

“All the rest and residue of personal effects and estate to my son David Price.” 

Gwenllian Price

Will dated 23 Aug 1834

Will proved 1 Jun 1844 at Llandovery in the diocese of St. David’s by David Price of Trawsllwynddu.

Gwenllian died 21 Apr 1844 (95) and buried at Saron, Cwmwysg (MI1)

Probate value of estate was under £200.

Notes

1. Anne widow of Morgan. Morgan is a bit of a mystery. He obviously died before 1834 (the date of Gwenllian's will) but no record of his death has been found. However, there is a baptism for Mary 1827 and Elizabeth 1829 at Saron Cwmwysg daughters of Morgan and Anne Price, Pwll Uchaf. There is also a marriage record for Morgan Price = Anne Jones at Llanfairarybryn on 31 Dec 1825 – tentative at best.

2. William Price Trichwmwl died in 1823, his widow Eleanor continued to live at Trichwmwl through 1851 and died in 1860.

3. Joseph Price was obviously physically or impaired in some way and remained with David his brother at Trawsllwynddu until his death on Christmas Day 1861. He was buried with his mother at Saron.

Stone Street The Plough

No. 32 Stone Street (The Plough Inn)

The Plough and its neighbours, Nos. 34 - 36, formed part of The Half Moon property in 1810 - 1811, but thereafter had a history of separate ownership...In 1810 - 1811, John Jones and John Davies were rated for "a house of Mr Price", which either stood on this site or, possibly, on that of No. 38. The Rate Book of 1836 has two entries of "House, Garden and Building" in respect of this site, by then already separated from the Half Moon and in the ownership of David Price. One house was The Plough, the other stood where Nos. 34 - 36 stand now. The tithe roll of 1841 names Mary Price as the owner of the two houses but the rate book of the same year names another David Price. In 1846, the rate book describes the property as a house and two part houses. By 1866 there were three houses on the site, the present 32 - 36. William Price then owned The Plough while David Price, the same or another owned Nos. 34 and 36. The " (A-C Vol. 2 p 224)

According to A-C there were two taverns at the Old Town Hall between 1810 and 1811, "The Plow" (sic) and "The Greyhound". These had closed before 1826 but the names were later revived for public houses in Stone St. "The Plough came into being in 1835 where Thomas Jones figures as a beer retailer in Pigot's Directory. The house is first mentioned by name in the rate book of 1836. Thomas Jones was still licensee in 1868, according to Slater's Directory. He was apparently the mayor in 1858."

"The house on the site of Nos. 34 - 36 was occupied in 1836 by William Davies, dealer in earthenware."

Now this is where things get complicated. The first thing to say is that William Price Tynllwyn must have either conveyed these properties to his son Morgan Price Nantygweision before his (William's) death in 1799 because in his final will William bequeathed all his Llandovery property to his son Rev. John Price and we know that at least this included The Half Moon (see previous post). The alternative is that Rev. John Price conveyed them to Morgan after his father's death in 1799 and Morgan's death in 1804. This is less likely for Morgan is described earlier in the parish records as a freeholder. At any rate these properties formed part of his estate at the time of his death in 1804.

In Morgan Price Nantygweision's will of 1804 he bequeaths these properties to his brothers David Price Glasallt and Rev. John Price in trust for the benefit of his wife Gwenllian until her death when they are to be shared between two of his sons John and David. Morgan identifies the properties clearly in his will as "situate in Stone Street within the town and borough of Llandovery in the parish of Llandingat in the said county of Carmarthen and now in the several tenures or occupations of John Jones, cobler [sic.], William Jones, blacksmith, John Davies, earthenware man and Joseph Jones, taylor [sic.]"

At the time of Morgan's death his sons John Price (Tircyd) and David Price (Trawsllwynddu) were 22 and 19 years old respectively. Gwenllian died in 1844 at which time the properties passed to her sons John and David as Morgan had willed.

The Plough is identified in the will of his son John Price Tircyd in 1855. "The Plough and The Star in Stone Street Llandovery now in the occupations of Thomas Jones and David Thomas to my sons John, Rees and David."

Rev. John Price died in 1819 so in 1836 David Price Glasallt would have held the properties in trust pending Gwellian Price's death. He died in 1837 and so presumably the property would have passed to one of his children continuing to be held in trust until Gwenllian's death in 1844. The David and Mary Price mentioned in the rate book of 1841are difficult to identify. David Price Glasallt did indeed have a son David Price of Tynewydd Myddfai who could have held the property in trust after his father's death but the Mary must remain a mystery.

By1866 at least part of the properties identified in the will of John Price Tircyd had passed to his sons John (also of Tircyd), Rees Price Cwmnantyboidy and David Price. William of 1866 is difficult to identify unless the property had been sold or conveyed to another branch of the family.

The mention of The Star in John Price Tircyd's will is also problematic. The 1861 census records Thomas Jones as the Innkeeper of the Plough but there is no Star in Stone Street. However there is a public house called The Star or The Old Star which is associated with the Price family and this will be looked at in another post.

No. 38 Stone Street The Drovers Arms

A-C states "The house cannot be identified in the rate books of 1810 - 1811 unless it was "a house of Mr Price" then jointly tenanted by John Jones and John Davies, but the site of this house in uncertain. At that period the land on which No. 38 stands must have formed part of another property, either that of Rev. John Price and William Price to the South (30 - 36) or that of Samuel Price, Postmaster to the North (40 - 52). The Drovers Arms was already in existence and in business as a tavern by 1826."

(Samuel Price was the grandson of Thomas Price, mercer who had inherited a ‘moiety’ (part) of Stone St. properties with William Price Tynllwyn.)