MADDOCKS (née THOMAS), ANN (1704-1727), ‘the Maid of Cefn Ydfa ’
; b. in 1704 (christened 8 May), daughter of William Thomas of Cefn Ydfa, Llangynwyd, Glam., and his wife Catherine Price of Tyn-ton, Llangeinor — sister of Rees Price, the father of the philosopher Richard Price (q.v.); they were m. 30 March 1703. William Thomas d. in 1706 (buried 14 May). According to the story, he had placed his heiress, Ann, in the wardship of Anthony Thomas, a lawyer of Cwmrisga, who compelled her to marry his own son Anthony; but William Thomas's will does not mention the wardship. Ann and Anthony junior did indeed m., 4 May 1725, and their marriage-contract is extant. She d. in 1727 (buried 6 June). With the above facts (correctly stated by T. C. Evans, q.v., in his Hist. of Llangynwyd) tradition has interwoven a romantic story, for which no evidence has been discovered; that the ‘Maid’ was in love with the poet ‘Wil Hopcyn’ (q.v.) — that he composed the verses ‘Watching the White Wheat’ to her — and that she died of a broken heart. This story has been fully discussed by G. J. Williams, in Y Llenor, 1927 and 1928; see also his Traddodiad Llenyddol Morgannwg, 251-9.
Author:
Emeritus Professor Robert Thomas Jenkins, C.B.E., D.Litt., Ll.D., F.S.A., (1881-1969), Bangor.
