VAUGHAN
family,
Pant Glas
(
Ysbyty Ifan
—
the mansion disappeared a long time ago but the ‘chapel of
Pant Glas
’ in the parish church retains its name). The family belongs to the same stock as those of
Plas Iolyn
,
Voelas
,
Cernioge
, and
Rhiwlas
; the genealogy is to be found in
J. E.
Griffith
,
Pedigrees
, 44, where, however, it is incomplete and incorrect.
THOMAS
VAUGHAN
(
I
)
was the grandson of
Rhys ap Meredydd
of
Ysbyty Ifan
, and was the younger son of
Robert ap Rhys
; in his will (
1534
),
Robert ap Rhys
left his
Dol-gynwal
lands to ‘
Thomas Vichan ap Robert ap Rice
.’ This
Thomas
Vaughan
was twice married, and the following line is descended from his second marriage, with
Catherine
Conway
of
Bryn Euryn
, whose will was proved in
1588
; as
William
Llyn
(q.v.)
(d.
1580
) wrote an elegy on him, he too must have d.
before 1580
. His heir was
THOMAS
VAUGHAN
(
II
)
, who is mentioned in
cywyddau
written by his friend
Thomas
Prys
(q.v.) of
Plas Iolyn
; he is said to have d. in
1654
, but this is very doubtful, for a will proved in
1640
suggests that he was already dead. He was succeeded by his eldest son,
JOHN
VAUGHAN
, who was alive in
1640
; he, too, is said to have d. in
1654
but, again, this is very doubtful, for he is referred to in a document dating from about
1636
as an ‘old man’ (additionally, it is stated that the estate is worth £400 a year), and according to the pedigree in ‘
Llyfr Silin
’ he was survived by his son
Henry
; his widow
Joan
(
Townshend
, of
Shropshire
) d. at
Pant Glas
at the
end of 1663 or beginning of 1664
, at the age of 74.
John
Vaughan
was succeeded by
HENRY
VAUGHAN
(
I
)
who is, almost unanimously,
stated to have been
killed
in the
Civil War
in the assault on
Hopton castle
,
Shropshire
, in the month of
Feb. 1644
; but the author of
The Garrisons of Shropshire
,
1642-8
, claims that the ‘
Captain
Vaughan
’ slain at
Hopton
was one of the unrelated
Vaughans
of
Shropshire
. At any rate,
Henry
Vaughan
was ‘deceased’
before Feb. 1654/5
, when his eldest son became a member of
Gray's Inn
; his widow,
Margaret
, daughter of
Bonham
Norton
of
Church Stretton
(some of that family are in the
D.N.B.
) d.
8 Dec. 1669
, at
Glyn
in
Llandrillo-yn-Rhos
, at the age of 91. They had four children — not five as stated by
Griffith
. (1)
THOMAS
VAUGHAN
(
III
)
; little is known about him. He became a member of
Gray's Inn
in
Feb. 1645/5
; m.
Lucy
, daughter of
chief justice
Sir
John
Vaughan
(q.v.)
, of
Trawsgoed, Cards.
, and there are several references to him in the
Gwydir papers
; but the dates of his birth and death are alike unknown — it should perhaps be explained that the
Ysbyty Ifan
parish registers before
1731
have disappeared. Neither his name nor those of his sons occur in a family will signed in
July 1699
and proved the following year, but he was certainly alive in
1681
. He had two sons:
JOHN
(who was living in
1692
) and
THOMAS
(
IV
)
;
Thomas
probably lived to inherit the estate, but by
1697 or 1698
he, too, was dead, for the head of the family in that year was (2)
HENRY
VAUGHAN
(
II
)
. There was a ‘
Henry
Vaughan
’ who was
churchwarden of the parish church
at
Llandrillo-yn-Rhos
in
1677
, and as the widow of
Henry
Vaughan
(
I
)
d. at
Glyn
in that parish, it is reasonable to suppose that he also was living there about
1697
— he was
sheriff
in
1698
, when he was referred to as ‘
Henry
Vaughan
of
Pant Glas
,’ and so he was called in the will (
1699
) referred to above, and in the
Parochialia
of
Edward
Lhuyd
. The date of his death is not known. (3)
KATHERINE
VAUGHAN
d. a spinster at
Pant Glas
shortly after
1700
,
leaving money for the building of alms-houses for women
at
Ysbyty Ifan
. (4)
ANNE
VAUGHAN
(who was possibly the elder daughter) who married into the family of the
Williamses
of
Marl
(qq.v.)
; as her brothers and her sister d. without heirs the
Pant Glas
lands were absorbed into the
Marl estate
, and the remainder of the story will be found under that heading.
Another member of the family is deserving of mention, namely
RICHARD
VAUGHAN
(
1621
-
1700
) — erroneously stated by
Griffith
to be a son of
Henry
Vaughan
(
I
)
, but it is by no means certain who he was. He fought in the
Civil War
, and was
blinded
. In
July 1663
he was elected one of the ‘
Poor Knights of Windsor
,’ and d.
5 June 1700
, ‘in his eightieth year,’ in
Windsor castle
, where he was buried. He
left money for the building of an alms-house for men
at
Ysbyty Ifan
.
Bibliography:
-
Caernarvonshire Historical Society
Transactions
,
1949
, 12-32, and
1950
, 104-5, together with the references given therein;
-
later information from
Prof. A. H. Dodd
and
Mr. Norman Tucker
.
Author:
Emeritus Professor Robert Thomas Jenkins, C.B.E., D.Litt., Ll.D.,
F.S.A., (1881-1969), Bangor
