LINE OF 15 OAKLEY I LEIGH
CONTINUING IN 7th GENERATION OF LEIGHS

74 Rev. EDMUND II LEIGH (chr 21 April 1736 Caldicott, Mons. - 14 Dec 1819 Llanedi), clergyman. Father: 71. Rev. RICHARD NASH II LEIGH
unmd ELIZABETH WILLIAM (abt 1745 - 16 Mar 1814 Llandeilo - Talybont), dau of John WILLIAM, farmer, and ELIZABETH UNKNOWN

77. DAVID III LEIGH

Nothing is known of why Rev. Edmund did not marry ELIZABETH WILLIAM. In the Bishop's Transcripts he gave as DAVID’S father the name of his maternal grandfather JOHN WILLIAM, but the boy grew up with the LEIGH name and his descendants continued it. In several ways Rev. EDMUND treated DAVID as his eldest son, and he himself apparently remained the trusted family pastor. See BIOGRAPHIES, Rev. Edmund Leigh. and David Leigh

md ANNE PUGH (chr 8 Feb 1751 - 11 Dec 1833 both Llanedi), dau of MORGAN PUGH and JOAN JOHN, on 12 Oct 1773 in Llanedi

The PUGH family were farmers at Cae Corryn farm just south of the Llanedi church. By local standards they were considered prosperous, and ANNE'S father MORGAN and uncle John were literate by 1744 when they first signed their names as Llanedi parish churchwardens. We found their father HENRICUS who married MARY MORGAN in the Llandeilo-Talybont parish church on 15 June 1700, but they moved to Llanedi, where their two sons John and MORGAN later lived. MORGAN married JOAN JOHN in 1736 in Llanedi, and five children were born to them, our ANNE PUGH coming in the middle. JOAN JOHN'S father DAVID was buried in 1722, and other JOHNS were present in Llanedi, but we could not construct a family group. ANNE'S elder brother Henry PUGH married Ann HOPKIN in 1762, and had eight children. Henry's family is memorialized in a large gravestone next to Rev. EDMUND and ANNE’S grave in the Llanedi churchyard (see BIOGRAPHIES).

The PUGH family were known as supporters of Methodism. Gomer Roberts describes Henry PUGH as intervening with the local squire in favor of a Methodist man preaching in front of the church. Henry's wife Ann was one of the "founders of the fellowship at Capel Hendre." In 1792 ANNE’S father MORGAN PUGH had his will witnessed by two friends Griffith and Daniel Morgan, who were "guiding lights of Goppa Calvinistic Methodist chapel in Pontarddulais," according to Derek Williams. These actions and associations occurred during the period of internal differences about reform within a single church body, and long before the Welsh Methodists separated from the Anglican church in 1811 after strong objections to the split by Howel Harris, the major Methodist leader in Wales, whom Rev EDMUND admired greatly according to his own letter to Harris in 1771. During that same period the PUGHS continued to christen their children and bury their dead in the Llanedi parish church, and the large graveyard monument for Henry PUGH’s whole family in 1833, would seem to indicate that despite their desire for reform in the Church of England/Wales and their liking for the warm, informal, non-liturgical Methodist spirituality, they remained faithful Anglican members, as did Rev EDMUND himself.

The local newspaper, the Carmarthen Journal dated 13 December 1833, commented upon the funerals of ANNE PUGH LEIGH and her brother Henry PUGH, which by chance occurred in the same week, as follows: "She was nearly 70 years a communicant of the Church of England and adorned her Christian profession by her personal virtues. Also, at the same place, much lamented, on the 12^th instant, the day Mrs Leigh was interred, Mr. Henry Pugh, aged 100 years [was buried]; ;and it is a remarkable fact that they both entered the pale of the church the same day, and were buried the same week. He also remained in communion with the church till his death" (p.3. col. 6).

78. ANNE III LEIGH

79. Ebenezer LEIGH (chr 31 Jul 1775 Llanedi - ?)

80. DANIEL I LEIGH

81. John VI LEIGH (chr 7 Nov 1778 - 11 Nov 1778 Llanedi)

82. Rev. Samuel I LEIGH (chr 7 Feb 1780 Llanedi - aft 20 Apr 1831 ?Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire). Father: 74 Rev. EDMUND II LEIGH
md Elizabeth HANDLEY on 16 Jul 1811 in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire

Rev. Samuel was ordained a deacon on 25 Sep 1803 and the next day licensed as curate under his father in Llandielo Talybont, then he was ordained a priest on 23 Sep 1804, according to the St David’s Clergy List Transcription Project made available on the internet by Paul Vivash (June 2001). In 1818 he translated to English the Welsh funeral poem in honor of his father Rev. EDMUND LEIGH. His later career as priest is unclear, but he was curate or officiating minister in the English parish of Chipping Norton in 1814 and for much of 1820-31, then he disappears from the Bishop’s Transcripts (Film no.0095229). No children of his own were christened in that time, though his marriage was given. His wife Elizabeth may have been the woman of that name buried in Chipping Norton on 28 December 1829, but if so she was not identified as his wife and she was fourteen years older than her husband, who was then 49 years old. That reference to the burial of Elizabeth LEIGH age 64 was the only LEIGH reference found in the Chipping Norton parish records (Film no.95229).

83. ELIEZER LEIGH

84. JOHN HUNTINGDON LEIGH

85. NATHANIEL LEIGH

86. Edmund III LEIGH (chr 14 Jun 1789 - 20 May 1803 Llanedi)

87. Vicar WILLIAM III LEIGH

Several birth and death dates of Edmund's children appear in various records, but their source is unknown. We have used the christening and burial dates from the Bishop's Transcripts (Films no.105162 and no.104472). The step-brother DAVID is confirmed in SAMUEL II LEIGH's manuscript journal. See BIOGRAPHIES for all that we have learned of this energetic, well-loved country parson and his children.

LINE OF 15 OAKLEY I LEIGH CONTINUING IN 7th GENERATION OF LEIGHS

LINE OF 15 OAKLEY I LEIGH
CONTINUING IN 7th GENERATION OF LEIGHS