Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 4.djvu/185

 128. IV. JULY, 1918.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

179

is taken from his collections at the British Museum (Harl. MS. 2289, f. 51 b) :

Watkin of Scethrog m. Gwladys, dau. to Andrew ap David ap leuan Vychan, and when he died he was above 100 years of age. David Watkin died in the 88th year of his age, 1618. He was Watkin's fourth son. His son William David of Glyncollon, gent., m. Elinor, dau. to Richard Herbert of Penkelly, Esq. ; her mother was Jane, dau. to Edward Games, Esq., and sister to Sir John Games of Newton, Kt. Their son Walter William of Glyncollon, gent., m. Anne, dau. to Watkin Herbert of Crig- howell, Esq., sister to Sir John Herbert, Kt.

John Watters of Brecknock, Esq., son to Walter William, m. first Catherine, dau. to Howel Jones of Brecon, gent., and by her had a daughter Anne, who married Wm. Philips, Esq.

John Watters m. secondly Mary, dau. to Thomas Penry of Brecknock, gent, (from Athelstan Glodri), and d. Aug. 17, 1698. By his second marriage John had a son John Watters, Esq., who m. Jane, dau. and coheiress to Francis Lloyd of Llawrllan, Esq., one of the judges of North Wales. Her mother was Anne, dau. to Sir Francis Rewse of Headstone in Middlesex, Kt. This John d. Jan. 17 (buried Feb. 1), 1714-15, and left a dau. Mary, born Aug., 1709. He had two other children, Jane and John, who both died infants.

Scethrog is a house in the parish of Llansantffraed, near a village of the same name. Towards the end of the seven- teenth century this house became the prin- cipal residence of the Vaughans of Tretower. A younger branch of that family also owned Newton in the same parish, where Henry Vaughan, Silurist, was born and lived. Descended from the ancient princes of the country, Watkin bore the arms of Bleddyn ap Maenarch, Sa., a chevron arg. between three spears' heads of the second imbrued.* They had been settled from the fifteenth century in the parish of Llansantffraed in the valley of the Usk, about 4 miles S.W. of the town of Brecon. John Waters the elder, who appears to have been the first of the family to enter trade, was connected

the descendants of Bleddyn ap Maenarch occurs the following : " Howel Vychan ab Howel ab Inon Sais, Lord of Castle Inon Sals, had issue, Llewelyn and David ; from David is descended my worthy friend Jno. Waters, Esq., one of the wealthiest Gentlemen hi the County." Llewelyn's eldest son was Sir David Gam, Kt., the Brecon- shire hero who fell at Agincourt.
 * In another MS. pedigree by Hugh Thomas of

by descent and alliance with some of the most influential Breconshire families the Gameses of Newton, the Penry s of Llwyn- cyntefn, the Williamses of Penpont, the Herberts of Crickhowel, and many others. Large fortunes were made in trade in the town of Brecon in the seventeenth century, and the younger sons of the landed gentry went into business in the county town as a matter of course. When they died, after taking part in the government of the borough as Bailiffs, Aldermen, and Common Councillors, they were laid to rest in the Priory Church of St. John, under flat stones carved with floreated crosses of great beauty, which invariably bore their coats of arms of many quart erings in high relief. John Waters is described as " a rich clothier," though on his first wife's tomb he appears as " mercer " probably he was both.

In a MS. history of the town of Brecon, written by Hugh Thomas in 1698, occurs the following :

" All the Common Council of this town except four are esquires of as great fortunes, ranks, and qualities as any in Wales .... Besides these there are in the borough several gentlemen of quality that live upon their estates, of which number the chief of note at this present is my hond'. and worthy friend John Waters, Esq., who, except one, i.e., Jeff. Jeffreys, Esq. [ancestor of the Marquess Camden], abounds in wealth and fortune above all the gentlemen of this place ; his worthy father was once High Sheriff of this county and ]ustice of the peace ; once Mayor, and several times Bailiff, of this borough."

Of the father Hugh Thomas also wrote : " He was a very worthy deserving gentle- man ; for his great merits God blessed him with more than common fate." This refers not only to his prosperity in business, but also to the fact that he was left a most beautiful estate by a distant cousin, Maes- mawr in the Usk valley, seven miles S.W. of Brecon, which was sold by the Tyntes in 1767. The will was disputed by the next of kin, and a very interesting account of the signing of the will is still extant, written by Henry Vaughan, Silurist, who was the testator's cousin, neighbour, and medical attendant.

In a list of voters (given by Hugh Thomas) at a Parliamentary election which tools place in Brecon on July 25, 1698, John Waters, Esq., voted in St. Mary's Ward for Jeffrey Jeffreys of the Priory. The only house he is likely to have occupied in St. Mary's Ward is "the Mansion House, until recently the residence of the late Viscount Tredegar, which is not so old as the seven- teenth century, though an earlier house on the site even then bore the same name.