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'Tantalizing' is perhaps the best word that can be used to describe some of the facts that have come to light concerning the family life of Cadwalader Jones. His date of birth like that of his marriage, is unknown, and the first reference to his existence in the Llanfyllin parish register comes with the baptism, on 13th July, 1679, of his first daughter, who was given the unusual name of 'Dows' or 'Dousa'. The young family is recorded in Bishop William Lloyd's Notitia return for Llanfyllin in 16815 but a year later, tragedy struck with the death of Dousa, then a little over three years old. She was buried at Llanfyllin on 27th October, 1682, a victim of the high child mortality of an age during which 40% of all infants born never reached their fifteenth birthdays. Despite this cruel blow, life had to continue for Cadwalader Jones. He seems to have played quite an active part in the government of his native town, for his name appears on a list of the freeholders of Llanfyllin who made suit to the court leet of the borough at the Michaelmas sessions of 1684-86,6 and on 29th October, 1687, he was sworn in as a burgess. On this list of new burgesses, he is described as a 'pedlar', a somewhat disparaging description of his profession, but one which may well have been partly accurate, as will be explained. Furthermore, the baptism of Margaret, his second daughter, is recorded in the Llanfyllin parish register as having taken place on 3rd July, 1689. This entry also reveals the name of Jones's wife, Margaret, after whom the child was presumably named. The life of his second daughter was, however, to prove even shorter than that of his first. She died in October, 1689, and Cadwalader Jones's bereavement was compounded by the fact that his wife died almost contemporaeneously. Both were buried on 8th October, 1689, though no reference is made in the parish register to the circumstances surrounding the unusual double mortality. Thereafter, no reference exists to Cadwalader Jones until he dictated his will on 22nd February, 1695; two days later he was buried at Llanfyllin.8 The exact date of his decease is, therefore, impossible to pin-point, but as often seems to have been the case during this period he did not draw up his will until upon his death- bed. The will itself follows the customary formula of the time, with the settlement of spiritual affairs preceeding the bequeathal of his wordly estate. It is signed simply 'C.I. but it should not be inferred from this that the testator was only semi-literate, or even totally illiterate: on the contrary, it is far more likely that his mortal illness prevented him from signing his full name. There is also evidence Saint Asaph Miscellaneous Documents, No. 1401. Powis Manorial Collection, Uanfyllin Borough Leet, Box 1. 7 'Llanfyllin — some additional items of municipal history from the time of Charles II. Mont. Coll. Vol. 23, 1889. p. 149. 8 Until 1752, the New Year was reckoned to begin on 25th March- Despite the fact, therefore, that both will and inventory are dated February, 1694, the dates in the text have been converted to conform with modern practice, i.e. February, 1695.