David Yale (1535 - 1626) Part One
Dr. David Yale was born in England about 1535, and died in Chester, England, in 1626. His wife was Frances, the daughter of John, (Dr.) and Elizabeth (Pigott) Lloyd. Dr. David Yale, the ancestor of the Yales of Plas Grono, and Thomas Yale, whose descendants continued the line of "Plas-yn-Yale," were half brothers; hence the relationship of the Yales of these two ancient estates. Dr. David Yale was also known as David Lloyd D. C. L., but this is not at all strange, as at that time surnames in Wales were quite unsettled, and in fact were first brought into use and handed down from father to son, just about this time. He and his half brother Thomas were the first, after their uncle Thomas Yale, Chancellor of Matthew-Parker, to assume definitely and finally, the surname "Yale."
Dr. David Yale was rector of Llandegla (1564–1573), prebendary of Y Faenol in St. Asaph Cathedral (1578–1624), prebendary of Chester (1582—), Chancellor of Chester (1587–1624), Justice of the Peace (1601–1620) "and of the Quorum" for the County of Chester (1603). He owned the estate known as Erddig House (now Erddig Hall) and also Plas Grono and other extensive tracts of land in the vicinity. In the deeds preserved at Erddig, he is generally called "doctor of laws" and sometimes "esquire and doctor of laws," and once he is described as "Chancellor of Chester." Before his acquisition of Erddig, he is generally described as "of Chester" or "of Tattenhall," Cheshire.
David Yale was in possession of Old Plas Grono before the year 1590, represented in later years by "plas Grono farm," in the hamlet of Hafod-y-bwch, in the township of Esclusham below Dyke, County of Denbigh. It is not known how long he had owned this estate before the year 1590, neither is it known when New Plas Grono was built, in the same hamlet, but nearer the confluence of the two brooks, called "Afon sech" and "Afon goch." The latter was, to avoid confusion, called "Plas Newydd" (New Hall) and "Ty Cerryg" "Stone House," but finally it was known by the original name "Plas Grono," or to employ its full form, "Plas Goronwy" (Grono's or Goronwyls Hall). It was pulled down in 1876.
The house could accommodate a family of twenty, with rooms to spare; there was an walled-in fruit garden, an ample lawn, a dove cot and sufficient stabling. The tax returns for 1670 state it contained eight hearths. It passed from the Yale family when in 1728 it was sold by the heirs of Governor Elihu Yale. On the 17th or 18th of December 1731, this house, with part of the estate belonging thereto, was resold to John Meller of Erddig and in 1908 was a part of the Erddig estate, now represented by Erddig Hall. After it became a part of Erddig it was occupied by several families, among whom were Rev. William Powell A. M., Dean of St. Asaph, Mr. Richard Lloyd, of "The Rossett" in Gresford parish. Mr. Isaac Wilkinson, ironmaster of Bersham Iron Works. Rev. George Warrington, afterwards vicar of Hope and Mr. Thomas Apperley, father of the famous "Nimrod" (Charles James Apperley), who wrote affectionately of the old place, in part, as follows; "I have never seen such noble sycamore and horse-chestnut trees, as those which sheltered Plas Gronow from the fury of the south western blast direct from the Welsh hills; nor tasted such fine fruit as its garden produced, nor drunk such cream, nor tasted such butter." He writes also of the surroundings of this old home: of the pretty cottages covered with honeysuckles, of the lovely lanes, of the noble woods of Errdig and of the tall and beautiful tower of Wrexham Church, seen two miles away. It seems likely that "New Plas Grono," later called simply, "Plas Grono," just described, was built by Dr. David Yale, for his son Thomas Yale, the father of David, Anne and Thomas the first Yales in America.
Dr. David Yale also owned "Erddig House," (now Erddig Hall) and resided there, at least a part of the time, from about the year 1600 to the year 1619. He purchased some lands in Erddig as early as September, 20, 1598, as on that date he empowered "Robert Lloyd, gent., as his attorney, to take possession of lands in Erddig, purchased by him from John Erthig and William Erthig, gentlemen of Erddig," Also about the same time he was purchasing Messuages and lands, or leases of leasehold property, in the adjoining townships of Esclusham and Sontley. The Erddig House estate consisted of about 254 English statute acres. about the time Dr. Yale sold it to Mr. Richard Davies, according to "Norden's Survey" of 1620. Mr. Davies purchased it from Dr. Yale in the year 1619. Among the fields on the Erddig Hall estate in Dr. Yale's time were "Bron Erthick" (Erthig Brow) "Llwyn Erthick" (Erthig Grove) "Kae yr Castell" (Castle field) "Y dolydd Erthick" (Erthig Meadows) "Gweirglodd Erthick" (Erddig hay field) "Gwerne Erthick" (Erddig alder-marsh) and "Laund Y Glyn" (Glyn Glade).
On August 3, 1601, Dr. David Yale conveyed the estate of Erddig House to trustees: first, to the use of himself and of his wife, Frances, for the term of their natural lives, and after their death, to the use of Thomas Yale, their eldest son, or, in default, to George Yale, their second son, or, in default, to David Yale, their third son, or, in default, to John Yale, their fourth son, or, in default, to Hugh Yale, their fifth son, or, in default, to Richard Yale, their sixth son.
Dr. Yale also was in possession, by lease, of Glyn Park, which was English Crown land. The park, generally speaking, took in the whole valley of the Clywedog, from a point near "Erddig Fechan" to the King's Mills on the Ellesmere Road. He purchased the lease of part of the park, from Peter Warburton Esq., in the year 1606, and also secured otherwise a lease of nearly all the remainder; for it is stated that on October, 9, 1615, he was "seized for years yet enduring of 'One Parke commonly called Glyn Parke, also Parke Coed-y-Glyn,' in the parishes of Wrexham and Marchwiel, which said park had long since been disparked and turned to arable land, meadow and pasture, and wherein were divers messuages and tenements, and two 'corn milnes.' " Park Coed-y-Glyn included part of Erddig township and adjoined the rest of it. There is a map of Glyn Park at Erddig Hall, drawn up in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, on which the estimated area is given as 697 statute acres.
On October 9, 1615 Dr. David Yale conveyed to Richard Davies, Vinter of London, his right in a leasehold property in Sontley and September 15, 1619, he together with his wife Frances, and eldest son and heir apparent, Thomas Yale, sold for £2300 to the same Richard Davies, his Erddig estate; the same containing, four messuages, a dovehouse, 150 acres of (arable) land, eighty of meadow, hundred of pasture, twenty wood, twenty heath and bruery, and twenty of moor, "in Erthick and Esclusham."
David Yale died in Chester, England in 1626. He had outlived his oldest son, Thomas Yale who died on August, 1619 in Chester (see above).
David and Frances had 14 children: Thomas (born about 1580), George, David, John, Hugh, Richard, Simon, Samuel, Ellen, Katherine, Frances, Devereux, a daughter who married a Elyse, and a daughter who married a Reynolds.
See also the comment by Hal Whitmore about David Yale on John Yale post.
