.
I should be proofreading the books, but ...
The breakfast-time scoot through ebay turned up two pictures of a pretty girl from Wales, with her birthday and name on the back ... so I had a little look. Odd, that on the back of one photo she was called Eleanor and on the other Francis. Same birthdate ...
Addams-Williams family, of Llangibby Castle.
Biographical history
The Williams family acquired the Llangibby Castle estate (anciently called Tregrug) following the purchase of the estate by Roger Williams (d. 1585) of Usk in 1544-1545. He was succeeded by his son, Rowland Williams, followed by his son Charles Williams, who became MP for Monmouthshire in 1621. He was succeeded by his son Sir Trevor Williams who played a prominent role in the civil war in Monmouthshire, siding first with the King, then with the Parliamentarians before rejoining the royalists in 1648. The estate remained in the hands of the Williams family until the death of Sir John Williams without male issue in 1739. His daughter Ellen (1724-1781/2), who inherited the estate, married William Addams of Monmouth who assumed the additional surname of Williams.
And there followed an absolute torrent of Monmouthshire A-Ws, confusingly far too often named William or Thomas, and who apart from being sizeable landowners were solicitors or ... you guessed it! clergymen. Groan.
Our family are the children of William Charles (b 1829; d 1916), son of William A-W (1793-1865), son of Thomas (1758-1842) of Usk ... I haven't delved into the lineage from Roger of the Castle, doubtless one of those works that specialises in Gentry of Wales or the like will have done it. Oh, by the way, Llangibby Castle hasn't been an actual Castle for centuries. It is now an estate named for the ruins of the ancient castle. The Williamses seemingly collected ex-castles. In 1899 Alfred AW, the owner of Llangibby paid out over eighteen thousand pounds for the ruins of Usk Castle.
However, although our ex-album is peopled by A-Ws, they are only part of the story. This seems to be an album based on the family of William Charles's wife, Julia Gabb, and here come the Gabbs ...
Tom Gabb was a solicitor in Abergavenny. He married Miss Marcia Willoughby, 20 May 1829, and she bore him five daughters and two sons, before his demise at the age of 53 in 1849 (2 February). In order: Christopher, Cicely, Selina, Marcia, Julia, Charles and Eleanor. Eleanor was lost at the age of 13, Christopher in Madeira at 21 ... Cicely died a maiden lady of 56 (1887) ... Selina (b 9 July 1833) became a schoolmistress and, at forty, married a tutor, George William Gilmore, who turned missionary. They apparently missioned, from 1899, in Florida, where Selina died at Jacksonville 4 February 1926. They had a daughter, Florence.
Julia, as we know, contributed largely to the Gabblety of the Nations, and Marcia (10) and Charles (4) did likewise ...
Charles went to India and became an officer in the Bombay Cavalry. He married Mary Anne Allen, from Leeds, at Agra, sired Lucy Marcia, Christopher William Willoughby, Mary Selina, and Charles Willoughby .. of whom the odd photo survives in our set:
Lucy (b 16 October 1867; d 1 December 1944) |
This one is labelled 'Captain Willoughby Gabb', so I suppose is Charles ...
Charles died at sea, near Malta, on his way to England aged 32. The papers commented that he was the grandson of the late Sir Christopher Willoughby, bart, Baldon House, Oxford. Yeh ...
Of course, it could be his son, also a Captain, who died of a polo accident in Poona ...
His other son became a vicar in Derbyshire.
And then there was Marcia. Mrs Charles Price Lewis. A farmer's wife! Hurrah. 100 acres. 'Of the Mynde, Herefordshire'.
Children ...? Where? When?
Helen Lewis |
John Lewis |
Leonard Lewis |
Willie Lewis |
Mary Selina |
unnamed Lewis |
The castle that wasn't a castle |
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