Morgan Family Connections
There
were Morgan connections in the early Davies family tree in Ystradyfodwg
parish, the family name Morgan having been adopted by some of the
descendants of one Morgan Hopkin, a brother of the grandfather of
William Davies alias Hopkin, but I have yet to research this connection
beyond the point at which I established that Morgan Hopkin's daughter, Wenllian Morgan married Thomas Morris,
who owned Bodringallt Farm, later to be farmed by our great great
grandfather Richard Davies. Wenllian and Thomas' son David Morris
inherited Bodringallt as he was the owner of the freehold when Richard
Davies took over the tenancy in about 1804. It would appear that
Wenllian, who was Richard's aunt, remained at Bodringallt after his
arrival as the parish register indicates that she died there in 1811.
For
the moment, I shall deal here only with the Morgan family connected
with our ancestors in and around Pyle and Bridgend. These were the
descendants of David Morgan and Alice Howell of Tytanglwst Farm, Pyle. This
family inter-married a number of times over several generations with
the Powells and Davids and our other ancestral lines. This series of
connections began in 1824, with the marriage of Mary Shaftesbury Morgan,
the daughter of William Morgan and Elizabeth Lougher, to Edward Powell,
brother of Rees Powell our great great grandfather. Mary and Edward
farmed in St. Brides Major (Slade and later Groes Farm), and for
several years they also ran Llanmihangel Farm in Margam.
In 1836, Mary's brother, Robert Lougher Morgan, married Anne David, sister of our great great grandfatther Griffith David. The
couple ran Marlas Farm, Kenfig. According to Barrie Griffiths of the
Kenfig Society, Marlas is "one of the oldest farms within the
boundaries of the former Borough of Kenfig. As "La Marle" it is
mentioned in a document of 1264 ... the present house [shown here] has
been dated to about 1600... In the 1640's the house was bought by the
Margam Estate and on two subsequent occasions (1646 and 1686) was
considered grand enough to become the temporary home for sons of the
Mansel family following their marriage"* It was from Marlas that Robert
and Anne's daughter Catherine Llewellyn (Kate) Morgan
married her cousin Gwilllim Powell, brother of our great grandfather,
Rees Powell. Following the death of his wife Anne, Robert Lougher
Morgan married his sister-in-law, Margaret David (née Jones),
widow of Griffith David - our great great grandmother. Further
connections occurred in later generations, but that is probably enough
to illustrate the close connection between our ancestors and the Morgan
family!* Photo and quote from "Welcome to Kenfig" , by Barrie Griffiths, The Kenfig Society Monograph No.20, published in January 2002.