Sir William Owen, Sr - Where's the Proof?

Alas, he is just too late for Bartrum's Welsh Genealogies, which is the gold standard for the Welsh tree RIGHT above here. Sorry.

Doesn't seem to be one of the Parliamentary Owens either (i.e. not a match to any of the Owen MPs of record in that period).

Shaw's Knights has a clutch of Owens, but the only William is one of the MPs. https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1604-1629/member/o...

You might get somewhere with Lewys Dwnn's Visitations of Wales, but only if you have a very good idea where the person you're trying to track came from. The two volumes are a valuable resource but very difficult to use.

Looks like someone has been trying to false-graft to the Owen baronets of Anglesey. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owen_baronets

Well Family Search has different wife for him looks like.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/ancestors.familysearch.org/en/LYVN-T6Z...

Could they be mixing him up with this Sir William
Owens dates close but not exact?

https://books.google.com/books?id=C1z3zxlCuf0C&pg=PA121&lpg...

My heritage trees does have him as Sir.

https://www.myheritage.com/names/william_owen%20owain

Sir William Owen Owain, 1568 - 1641
William Owen Owain was born in 1568, in Wales, to Hugh Owen and Elizabeth Owen (born Wyrriot).
Hugh was born in 1550, in Bodowen, Anglesey, Wales.
Elizabeth was born in 1551, in Orielton, Pembrokeshire, Wales.
William had 10 siblings: John Owen, Sibyl Wogan (born Owen), Anne Presaddjed (born Owen), Jane Carmarthen (born Owen), Janet Penrhyn (born Owen), Frances Wagan (born Owen), Janet Langhram (born Owen), Jenett Langhram (born Owen), Janet Laugharne (born Owen) and Isabel Wogan (born Owen).
William married Sallye Owen Owain (born Lnu) in Wales.
Sallye was born in 1561, in Wales.
William passed away in 1641, at age 73 in Barmouth, Merionethshire, Wales.

https://thomasharrisofvirginia.wordpress.com/tag/swann/

I found this william in Gentry but can’t connect to above stated.

https://thomasharrisofvirginia.wordpress.com/tag/swann/

Looks like might connect with the Thomas father

I have to research more. So far nothing concrete.

Billie

Familysearch trees are no more trustworthy than anyone else's, and for all the same reasons. You're on somewhat firmer ground with their Records, especially if they give a specific source - and even then there's a chance of slip-ups.

We've had a lot of trouble with the Virginia Harrises due to bad assumptions about who was related to whom.

If this all has to do with "Who was Bartholomew Owen?", the answer is still "Nobody knows for sure". https://walterfitzgilbertdehamilton.wordpress.com/2015/12/03/in-sea...

The trouble with researching Owens is that "Owen" was (and is) a frightfully popular first name in Wales, and when Henry VIII put the kibosh on Welsh patronymics, a lot of guys whose father or grandfather was an Owen simply took that name as their "surname". It's almost as bad as Jacksons or Smiths.

Thanks everyone for the replies and links. Do we agree that Sir William Owen of Shrewsbury is probably a different person than the William Owen of Machynlleth?

I was recently in Wales looking for the Owen family in old parish records. The parish records for the Barnouth/Dolgellau/Machynlleth area at the National Library of Wales only go back as far as 1760. Also, nothing relevant found in the archives of the Merionedd Record Office at Dolgellau. My time was limited so my search was not as thorough as I would have liked.

There are a number of wills for men named William Owen at the National Library of Wales that are also available online. They're in English but you almost would not know it because 17th-century handwriting is so different from modern cursive, it will probably take some time to transcribe them.

Virgil Owens -- hello! I'm the main curator working in the medieval Welsh tree. This is after my main work area, but I'm always interested in getting the Welsh branches untangled.

I read medieval and Renaissance manuscripts -- 17th CD is easy peasy. If you can download pdfs to the profiles, I can take a look at them.

OR if the National Library has the photocopies online, even better. Give me the links.

Photocopies of Welsh wills can be searched here https://www.library.wales/searchwills/

You need to give me the link to what you want read.

Thanks for the offer but It's not just one specific will. What I'm looking for is any Owen family living within the triangle of Barmouth, Dolgellau, Machynlleth who might be related to Bartholomew Owen, died 1677. Also, any Owen family living in Llanfor parish near Fron Goch.

I have no trouble reading 17th-century American documents but the Welsh handwriting in wills is a whole 'nother animal even thought it's English. It's not a high priority for me because my expectations of finding anything are low. I'll eventually muddle through it.

I can say with conviction that the William Owen buried in Williamsburg was not likely related to Bart or the William who came to Virginia in 1650. Pretty sure he was just a guy. The record for this guy in Williamsburg suggests he was an inmate at the asylum in Williamsburg - which means he was either batty or a total alcoholic....I've visited the restored asylum; would hate to think an ancestor lived in it!

And, yes, I agree that " Do we agree that Sir William Owen of Shrewsbury is probably a different person than the William Owen of Machynlleth?" The thing that gums the whole effort to find out which Owens belong to whom is that I think Sir William Owen of Shrewsbury is descended from a Richard Owen who did go from Machynlleth to Shrewsbury in the 1500s and may be related to some Owens who stayed in Machynlleth. I had thought at one point that the William who came over here was the son of Sir William - but he wasn't. I found that son quite dead in the UK. Not our guy. My hypothesis is now that William who came here was from an indirect branch of that family.

The best way to settle some of this - and get most of the craziness off of all the online genealogies - is to find men still in the UK named Owen who carry the same Y-DNA as the guys who came over here. Go visit http://www.hprg.com/owen/ You will see that the descendants of Bart carry the Y-DNA of R1b-L2-FGC46807. This means that Bart's father and grandfather and all the way back had Y-DNA of R1b-L2-FGC46807. Now, we could go over to the UK and dig somebody up and see if we could get DNA out of their very old bones, but....

The descendants of the William who came over here in 1650 carry the unusual Y-DNA of J2a1a-BY32938 so we know that 1650 William was not the father of Bart, who appears to have come to Virginia in 1619 - nor Bart the father of William.Who were the fathers of William and Bart? I think we don't know!! All we know is that they weren't related to each other - and that both were likely Royalists/Cavaliers, not friends of Oliver Cromwell! I gather people still in the UK don't do DNA tests like we do because they know who their ancestors were! And they don't seem to spend much time worrying about who got on a boat and went to the colonies.

I had in mind to just go over to the UK and start digging in the archives at Shrewsbury and Machynlleth - and then along came COVID. And then along came inflation and wiped out my retirement money. So, if you're still financially sound, get yourself over there and start digging. My 5th cousins from Georgia(we both descend from William, not Bart) went to Machynlleth and Shrewsbury pre-COVID but didn't find any smoking guns. My brother also went to Machynlleth a few years back but said the only Owens he found were in cemeteries - just the ones we need to get DNA from!! He also said the brew in the pubs were excellent.