Welsh Journals

A PORTRAIT OF THOMAS MAKEIG IV (1772-1838) OF LITTLE SCOTLAND AND PARK Y PRATT THE portrait of Thomas Makeig II of Penlan-fawr, published earlier in this journal,1 ended with the death of Thomas III. John, son of Thomas II and brother of Thomas III, was also dead, in fact before his brother. Little is known of him, for few details can be discovered of his life. We draw a blank as to the date of his birth in the parish register (as in fact for his brother and elder sisters), for there is a gap in that usually invaluable record when no item of birth, marriage, or death was entered between 1739 and 1745-which may have been the crucial years for our research. Here the register of St. Mary's, the ancient church in Cardigan town, is useful, for it proves to us that John had married and had a family 1. Baptism Thomas son of John Maeikeg 28 Sept. 1775. 2. John son of John Makeig by Hester his wife was born on the thirteenth Day of September in 1776 and bap. on the seventh Day of October in 1776. 3. Elizabeth daughter of John Makeig was born on the 4th of December 1778. 4. Births 1781 May 21st Jane Dr. of John McKeig Gent. 5. Mary Anne daughter of John Makeig was born on 2 of May 1783. It was in Cardigan, too, that John Evans, Surrogate, issued the following papers of administration Let administration of all the Goods, Credits, and effects of John Makeig, late of the Town and Parish of Cardigan, who died intestate, be granted and committed unto Hester his wife, she being first duly sworn before me, this 17th Day of Dec- ember 1787. The amount concerned was the sum of £ 300. Little enough for a widow with five young children, for their ages in 1787 were 15, 11,9,6 and 4. A search in the graveyard of St. Mary's proved unfruitful in the quest for further information, as very few headstones survive from the eighteenth century. Made of the local slate, which is very soft and crumbles with age, many stones disintegrated on disturbance during recent work in the grounds of the church others lie face downwards in the grass or are piled up against the wall, awaiting replacement round the perimeter. Inscriptions on a few are blurred and indecipherable. So that source of possible information as to dates and names is closed to the searcher. Despite the ending of the direct succession of three elder sons-those charitable and kindly countrymen so much mourned-the line was in no danger, for it was to receive a new lease of life (not three lives, but of