Price and Capt. William Middleton, brother of Sir Hugh, are ranked by the author of The Display of Heraldry (1616), among those fifteen gentlemen, natives of Denbighshire, who fostered the literature of Wales during the years of its depression which succeeded the insurrection of Owen Glyndwr. He was Sheriff in 1599. It appears, from one of his poems, that he was present at Tilbury, as an officer in the land service, when Queen Elizabeth reviewed her army there. He also states that he and Capt. Middleton and Capt. Thomas Koet (? Huet) were the first who smoked tobacco publicly in London. This he and his companions had found in a ship taken from the Spaniards, between the Canary Islands and Africa, albeit he mentions that some had before been brought into England by Sir Francis Drake and Sir W. Raleigh ; they used twisted leaves or " segars." Capt. Thomas Price's poems are preserved in a MS. written in his own hand containing about 1000 pages. They form a quarto volume. Captain Thomas Price's wife, Margaret Griffith, was daughter of William Griffith of Carnarvon, who in some pedigrees is stated to have been the son of Sir William Griffith ("Hael") of Penrhyn, but considerations as to her probable age at marriage render it more probable that she was the daughter of William Griffith, D.C.L., of Carnarvon, whose father was William Griffith of Carnarvon, and apparently the William Griffith first mentioned. The children of this Margaret were Dorothy, wife of Lieutenant Hugh Hookes, buried in Conway Church, June, 1632; and Thomas, who married Jane Salesbury, and who probably died in his father's lifetime, as he does not appear to have enjoyed the lordship of Yspytty, to which lordship his son Ellis succeeded. The elder branch of the Price family of Plas Iolyn ended in Elizabeth, heiress of this Ellis, and she (by her marriage with Robert Edwards, of Gallt y Celyn 1 John Davies, of Llansilin. (2) David, Fedw Deg Thos. Price,Anne Ed' David, 0. 8. p. of Robert Edwards of Gallt y Celyn and Hendref Brys. Sheriff, 1742, Elizabeth, d. of W. Powell, D.D., Dean ty. Peter. Bpt. April 1, Jo 1735; ob. s. p. Price Jones, Lord of Ysp lived at Cefn Coc Edward Edwards (iv, 100, 8. p., 1771, Galitycelyn, Sarah, d. of Jenkin Lloyd of Clochfaen and Crogen Idon. and Hendref Brys) conveyed the lordship of Yspytty to her son John Edwards, who in turn increased the family possessions by marrying Sarah, daughter of Edward Owen of Crogen Idon. The next lord of Yspytty, John Edwards (son of John and Sarah), became the son-in-law of Dean Powell of St. Asaph, and was the brother of a Sarah Edwards who married Thomas Price of Gwernhowel. The Edwards family of Gallt y Celyn (for arms see Fig. 7) are said1 to be descendants of Edwin, Lord of Englefield, who flourished about A.D. 1041, and bore-argent, Cross fleury engrailed sable inter four Cornish Choughs. This family ended in a John Edwards, who died, s. p., in 1771, the lordship of Yspytty then devolving upon Price Jones, grandson of the Sarah Edwards and Thomas Price above mentioned. This Price Jones was also a descendant of a junior branch of the Plas Iolyn Prices. Reverting now to Thomas Price, son of Captain Thomas Price, this gentleman is said to have married Jane second daughter of Hugh Wynne of Berth ddu. 1 Archd. John Evans' History of Pentrevoelas, MS. 2 History of Pentrevoelas, where uncertainty is expressed whether she was the second wife of Thomas Price, senior, and not of Thomas Price, junior. Her second son, Peter Price of Llaniwllun [? Llanuwchllyn], married Margaret, daughter of Rowland Vaughan of Cae'r gai, and her memorial tablet in Llanrwst Church records that her father-in-law ("Thomas Price of Plasiolun, Esq.") was interred near the Communion Table in Yspytty Church, and that she, upon being widowed after nearly 50 years of married life, survived her husband a further 16 years-" She having in her widowhood removed herself to this Towne for being near this church for several of her latter years was a Constant Attendant on the Service of it." She died October 8th, 1710, aged 89 years. This Peter Price's elder brother, William Price, married Margaret Price of Tyfol, and their family consisted of three sons 1 Extracts (July 4, 1805) by the Rev. David Price, J.P. Other authorities give William Price's wife as Margaret, daughter of Lloyd. |