1. Hywel ap Llewelyn, of Talybont.
1.1. Owen ap Hywel, m Gwenlwyfer v. Meyrick ap Gruffydd.
1.1.1. Lewis Owen (Lewys ab Owain), m. Margaret Pulleston (dau. of Robert Pulleston and Margaret Whitney); a niece of Sir John Puleston (John ap John ap Madog Puleston, of Bers), to whom Lewis Owen was a deputy in 1540. (J.Y.W. Lloyd, “The History of the Princes …”, p. 28, 1882). Lewis was of Cwrt Plâs yn Dref, Dolgellau, Merionethshire. He d. Oct. 11, 1555, at Llidiait-y-Barwn, Dugoed Mawddwy, Merionethshire. He was Vice-Chancellor of North Wales and Baron (judge) of the Exchequer of Caernarvon. (John Edwards Griffith, Pedigrees of Anglesey and Carnarvonshire Families: with Their Collateral Branches in Denbighshire, Merionethshire, p. 363, 1914). He was Sheriff of Merioneth. 1546.; Robert Salusbury holding that position in 1549.
1.1.1.1. Robert Owen (Justice of the Peace), m. Elizabeth v. Robert ap Morgan.
1.1.1.2. Edward Owen, m. Ellin, sister of Elizabeth v. Robert ap Morgan. Their br. is witnessed in a number of court cases. inc.: Morgan v Owen. Plaintiffs: John Morgan. Defendants: Lewis ap Owen and others. Subject: property in Talyllyn, Merionethshire. ca. 1560-70 (C 3/119/35). Morgan v Vaughan. Plaintiffs: John Morgan. Defendants: John Vaughan. (Probable br. of Hywel Vaughan*). Subject: property in Trefrion, Merionethshire. ca. 1560-1570. (C 3/120/56).
1.1.1.2.1. Margaret Owen, m. her cousin, *Hywel Vaughan, son of Gruffudd ap Hywel (and Catrin verch Lewys, dau. of Lewis Owen), son of Hywel ap Dafydd and Elen Salusbury (dau. of Robert Salusbury of Plas Isa), the sister of Fulke Salusbury, of Llanwrst, father of William Salusbury, ‘the best scholar among the Welshmen’ of his time (T. C. Edwards, p. 60). According to his contemporary, Sir John Wynn (op. cit. p. 94), he was ‘especially an Hebrician, whereof there was not many in those days.’, and was skilled in nine languages. He was the first translator of the New Testament into Welsh, a task he undertook (1563-1567) at the episcopal palace of his friend and accomplice, Richard Davies (d. 1581), bishop of St. David’s, at Abergwili in Carmarthenshire. In 1586, Lewis Dwnn mentions Salusbury as one of the gentry ‘by whom he was permitted to see old records, in the compilation of his pedigrees’ (Her. Visit. i. 8).

(It is to such ‘established’ pedigrees that early settlers of Virginia are welded, naturally so, as the genealogical wilderness from which such settlers came is too daunting to tackle, and easier pathways are sought. If venturing an opinion as to the origin of Nicholas Vaughan (d. Dec. 9, 1738 in Virginia), it may be pertinent to consider his father to be the William Vaughan (of Bristoll); who came to Virginia in ca. 1660. Similarly, when considering his wife, Ann Lewis, instead of (copycat) assigning her as a dau. of Thomas Lewis and Rebecca George (relict of Phillip Pardoe, and sister of Joyce Lewis, wife of Phillip Brantley Sr.), the possibility of her being a dau. of Morgan Lewis (perhaps br. of Thomas) might be considered. If so, the record of ‘Morgan Lewis of Llandeilo Carmarthen, son of Lewis Morgan’. indenture June 23 , 1658, 4 years VA, by Abraham Roome, of Bristol, mariner, becomes of interest. Llandeilo is 13 miles from Abergwili. Lewis Morgan’s headright was Mary Rose. (Coldham, The Bristol Registers of Servants Sent to Foreign Plantations, 1654-1663, p. 56). There was a plethora of Welsh Vaughans in Bristol. The seams are too thin to follow.

1.1.1.2.2. Robert Owen, b. ca. 1564, d. 1616, in Bristol. The same comment about ‘easy pathways’ applies. In the case of a connection to William Salusbury and Richard Davies, a reasonably connection to Robert Owen’s property in Abergwili can be assumed, as Bishop Davies sold church lands and benefices to friends and family. Robert Owen’s relict, Mary, sister of William Pitt (and aunt of Robert Pitt, of Virginia), m. (2), as his third wife, Rees Davis, Esquire (son of Lewis Davis, recently of Carmarthenshire), of the Middle Temple, and of Tickenham, Somerset. His nephew, Richard Davis, m. Mary Owen, da. of Mary Pitt and Robert Owen. The Will of Robert Owen, merchant of Bristol, named two brothers, George and Griffith; a son of either, William, was party to the disputes between the claimants to his estate.

If this William Owen was the father of Bartholomew Owen, and he who m. Elizabeth Knight, on Nov. 19, 1619, in Wiveliscombe, Somerset (granddau. of Alice Bearde, sister of John Bearde, great-grandfather of Agnes Bearde, who m. Thomas Bennett, July 17, 1623); Bartholomew Owen was as connected in a familial sense to the Bennett family as the Harris. Thus, connected to: Thomas Harris, who appointed his relict Alice Newman his Extx. R. Nov. 13, 1672. Security, John Newman, Edward Brantley (father of Phllip Brantley Sr.). John Newman, 150 ac. in James City Co., near the head of Grays Creek (B. 2, p. 2), assigned part or all of this patent to Luke Mizell, on which he lived until his death. Luke Mizell Jr’s guardian, William Foreman, with Jno. Moring, witnessed the inventory of Bartholomew Owen’s estate, Feb. 14, 1677. Thomas Harris, d. 1672, is commonly supposed to have married, firstly, Eleanor George, cousin of Rebecca George, aforementioned.

‘Robert Owen of the city of Bristol, merchant, now bound on a voyage into the parts beyond the seas, Sept. 5, 1614, with a codicil dated Sept. 4, 1615, proved Feb. 16, 1615. To wife Mary four hundred pounds and the messuage wherein I now dwell situate upon the “Kaye” within the said city, to hold for life ; and after her decease I give the said messuage to my son Robert Owen. I give my said son all my lands, messuages &c. in Bristol and in Portbury, Somerset, or elsewhere, and also two hundred pounds. To my daughter Mary Owen three hundred pounds. The same to daughter Johane Owen and the child wherewith my wife now goeth, yet unborn. A great part of my estate is in Adventure at sea, part insured by Policy of Assurance recorded in the Royal Exchange in London and part upon mine own adventure not insured. Wife Mary to have the use and keeping of my children’s legacies until they shall accomplish their several ages of one and twenty or be married, she putting in sureties to be bound in double the sum to pay the said legacies together with the benefit and use for the same at the rate of nine per cent for one whole year until such time as they shall be paid. My brother Griffeth Owen. My sister Mary Owen. My brother George Owen. My sister Ellinor Owen. My brother Griffeth Owen to pay his brother and sisters at the town of Carmarthen. Wife Mary and son Robert to be executors and loving cousin Rice Davies Esquire and loving brother in law William Pitt, merchant, and good friend William Baldwyn, brewer, to be overseers. In the codicil he increases the legacies to his daughters Mary and Johane by two hundred pounds apiece more. Probate was granted to the widow as above but was not granted to the son, Robert Owen, until April 24, 1627.

At least a part of Robert Owen’s property in Abergwili, juxta Carmarthen, devolved to Edward Pitt, son of William Pitt, then to his son, William Pitt. (See Bristol Arch., AC/AS/56/25/a). Pitt v Pitt. Plaintiffs: Sarah Pitt widow. Defendants: Edward Pitt. Subject: property in Abergwili, Carmarthenshire. 1625-1640. (C 3/412/1a).

(If “daughter Johane Owen” was she who m. John Griffith, then the following continuation can be considered:
1.1.1.2.2.1. Jane Owen, m. John Griffith.
1.1.1.2.2.1.1. Owen Griffith, m. Mary Bodie (relict of william Bodie). Mary’s first husband was Robert Edwards, by whom she had issue: Judith, the wife of Thomas Harris, assumed to be the son of Thomas Harris, d. 1672.
1.1.1.2.2.1.1.1. Sarah Griffith, m. (2) John Joyner, son of Thomas Joyner (son of Thomas Joyner, as follows), and br. of Bridgman Joyner, guardian of an orphan of Thomas Harris, d. 1688.

Retracing steps: Elizabeth Knight (probable mother of Bartholomew Owen) was the sister of Sarah Knight, who m. Nicholas Harwood, May 2, 1614, in Wiveliscombe. Will of Nicholas Harwood (tobacco planter), dated April 1, 1639, mentiomd debt to John Stringer (“for my phisicke”), who witnessed his Will. Deposition of John Stringer (p. 183) states that he was at Mr. Burdett’s house, where he witnessed Thomas Joyner (as, attorney of Edward Robins, partner of Edward Bennett) calling Mrs. Robins (wife of Obedience Robins, br. of the said Edward Robins) “dishonest”, she calling him a “knave”. Thomas Joyner was ordered to ask forgiveness by the court. (Beverley Fleet, Virginia Colonial Abstracts, vol. 2, p. 85, 1988).

It is the accumulation of circumstances that validates theory; one based on the absolute fact that most associations in early Virginia were continuations of English (kinship) ones.

It was nothing like ancestor claimants have contrived.

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