GRIFFITH family, Carreg-lwyd, Anglesey
This family was descended from Ednyfed Fychan.
EDMUND GRIFFITH of Porth yr Aur, Caernarvon, was the third son of William Griffith Fychan of Penrhyn, in the county of Caernarvon. He married Janet, daughter of Maredudd ap Ieuan ap Robert, the great-grandfather of Sir John Wynn the most notable of the house of Gwydir.
Their fourth son was WILLIAM GRIFFITH (c. 1516 - 1587), who became rector of Llanfaethlu on 30 May 1544, only to be evicted from his living later that same year, and to be reinstated sometime during 1558-9. It was he, who, for 700 pounds, purchased the Ty'n-y-pant estate (later renamed Carreg-lwyd) in Anglesey, and married Elizabeth, daughter of Gruffydd ap Robert, Carne, Anglesey. William Griffith died at Llanfaethlu on 17 November 1587.
His son JOHN GRIFFITH (alive on 10 June 1608), a solicitor, was at one time secretary to Henry earl of Northampton.
EDMUND GRIFFITH (1559 - 1617), another son of William Griffith, was born in 1559, he went to S. Edmund Hall, Oxford, 1577 (B.A. 1580), was ordained priest 1583, and became rector of Newborough 1596, and Llanbeulan 1610. He died before 16 May 1617. He is sometimes confused with bishop Edmund Griffith .
ROBERT GRIFFITH (died 1630), fourth son of William Griffith, married Anne, daughter of Owen Pritchard of Llanfflewyn (now Tŷ Newydd), Anglesey. To them were born two remarkable sons.
The one, WILLIAM GRIFFITH (1597 - 1648), was born 28 October 1597. Educated at Winchester and New College, Oxford, he graduated in 1618, and was elected a Fellow. Thereupon he pursued a course in law and took the degrees of B.C.L. in 1622, and D.C.L. in 1627. In turn, he became chancellor of the dioceses of Bangor and S. Asaph, master of the rolls (in Wales), and in 1631 was appointed a master in chancery. He married Mary (died 1645), daughter of John Owen, bishop of Bangor, and died of the plague on 17 October 1648.
His youngest brother was George Griffith (1601 - 1666), bishop of St Asaph.
Author
- Dr David Jenkins, (1912 - 2002)
- Carreg-lwyd Papers in N.L.W.
- Anglesey Antiquarian Society & Field Club Transactions, 53, 71
- H. B. Thomas, A History of the Diocese of St. Asaph (1874)
- Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
- T. A. Glenn, The family of Griffith of Garn and Plasnewydd in the County of Denbigh, as registered in the College of Arms from the beginning of the XIth Century (London 1934)
Sources
Published date: 1959
Article Copyright: http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/
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