ANCESTRY OF IEUAF AP ADDA AP AWR OF TREVOR
By Darrell Wolcott
According to Deputy Herald Hugh
Thomas (died 1720), the two manors called Trevor and Llys Trevor were held by Tudor ap Rhys Sais and given to his third son,
Cuhelyn.[1] According to this source, those manors descended to Ieuaf ap Cuhelyn, then to Awr ap Ieauf who gave them
to his son, Adda ap Awr. But the reliability of the Hugh Thomas pedigree suffers greatly when he cites an Iorwerth ap
Awr as a brother of Adda. A chart showing the timeline will illustrate the problem:
1025
Rhys Sais
l
1055 Tudor
l
1095 Cuhelyn
l
1130
Ieuaf Einion Efell 1135 ob 1196
l l
1170 Awr Rhun 1165
l
l
1205 Adda Cuhelyn 1195
_____l______ l
l l l
1240 Ieuaf 1240 Efa==Ieuaf 1230
This construction, while not
impossible, requires a series of 35 and 40 year generation gaps among the ancestors of Efa; all of the families cited in extant
pedigrees point to their patriarch Ieuaf ap Adda ap Awr as being born c. 1240. But Iorwerth ap Awr cannot be a brother
of Adda ap Awr; not only is he given as "Iorwerth ap Awr ap Ieuaf ap Llywarch ap Ieuaf ap Nynnio" in other sources[2], the
wife matched with him occurs c. 1280 thus:
1095 Rhiwallon Rhys Sais II 1124
l
l
1125 Cynwrig Elidyr 1152
l l
1160 Nynnio Meilyr 1180
l
l
1195 Ieuaf Iorwerth 1215
l
l
1235 Awr Ednyfed 1250
l
l
1270 Iorwerth====Marged 1285
We have estimated birthdates
based on several other cited marriages for men in this chart (and others descended from them), but this Iorwerth ap Awr occurs
about two generations later than Adda ap Awr in our first chart and could not be his brother.
If this were the only
problem with the Hugh Thomas pedigree, we would likely excuse it as no more than a common error confusing men of similar names
and made by a genealogist from the era when strict adherence to a pedigree timeline was not in vogue. But the Vaughan
family of Golden Grove, descended from Einion Efell through Efa ap Adda ap Awr, casts a pedigree claiming her father was "Adda
ap Awr ap Ieuaf ap Cuhelyn ap Cynwrig ap Rhiwallon"[3] thusly:
1065 Cynwrig
l
1095 Cuhelyn
l
1130 Ieuaf
l
1170 Awr
l
1205
Adda
Although this timeline
works as well as that ancestry cited by Hugh Thomas (first chart above), no other sources mention a son named Cuhelyn
for the Cynwrig ap Rhiwallon of c. 1065. But that Cynwrig did have a son, Nynnio, who had a son named Ieuaf. We
turn to the lands themselves for further guidance. Trevor and Llys Trevor were located in Nanheudwy by the River
Dee, part of the patrimony of Llyddocca ap Tudor Trevor. The claim by Hugh Thomas that they were held c. 1100
by Tudor ap Rhys Sais is credible; he descended from Llyddocca while Cynwrig ap Rhiwallon descended from Dyngad ap Tudor Trevor.
The latter received Maelor Cymraeg, not Nanheudwy.
Normally, this would
be taken as evidence that the 13th century Lord of Trevor, Ieuaf ap Adda ap Awr, must have descended from Rhys Sais.
But there are reasons to believe the Vaughan family was closer to the truth. The male names Ieuaf and Awr and Adda are
common in families descended from Nynnio ap Cynwrig ap Rhiwallon and almost wholly absent in those descended from Rhys Sais.
(Adda occurs in that family rarely, Awr and Ieuaf never) Returning to the Hugh Thomas pedigree, he actually says
the Trevor manors were given to Cuhelyn ap Tudor and his brother Meurig. No other extant pedigrees mention sons
of Tudor with those names; his eldest son was Bleddyn and his second son was Gronwy. If the deputy herald is right,
a third son named Cuhelyn and a fourth called Meurig held the Trevor land about 1120 after the death of Tudor.[4] Even
the Vaughan pedigree includes a Cuhelyn as ancestor to Adda ap Awr.
We would suggest both pedigrees
have elements of fact and both omit a vital link: how we get from Cuhelyn ap Tudor to Awr ap Ieuaf. Our
solution is to posit a daughter for Cuhelyn, an only child, and assume Meurig ap Tudor died without issue.
If that daughter married Ieuaf ap Nynnio ap Cynwrig ap Rhiwallon as his second wife, their putative child Awr ap Ieuaf could
have inherited his mother's land. The older sons of Ieuaf (Iorwerth, Llywarch and Griffri) are known to have received
the bulk of his patrimonial lands in and around Wrexham. In this event, the Hugh Thomas pedigree lists as a son of Cuhelyn
a man who was actually his son-in-law. And the Vaughan pedigree substitutes the father-in-law of Ieuaf for his father
(Nynnio) but gives his grandfather correctly as Cynwrig ap Rhiwallon. We believe the following construction reconciles
the differences in the two conflicting pedigrees:
1065 Cynwrig ap Rhiwallon Tudor 1055
l
l
1095 Nynnio
Cuhelyn 1095
l
l
1130 Ieuaf==========daughter 1130*
l
1170 Awr
l
1205 Adda
l
1240 Ieuaf (and Efa)
*We suggest this
was a late marriage for both spouses which produced a son Awr, her only son, but was probably not her first marriage
In the Appendixes below, we
(1) discuss other errors contained in both the Hugh Thomas and Vaughan family pedigrees; and (2) introduce a later "Ieuaf
ap Adda ap Awr ap Ieuaf" who clearly descended from Nynnio ap Cynwrig.
