File L2/101. - Disputes over the estate of Richard Clayton,

Records of several Chancery suits concerned with the estate of Richard Clayton of Lea Hall who died in 1724, administered successively by his widow, Mary and her new husband, Arthur Owen of Porkington, then after their respective deaths in 1738 and 1739, by Arthur 's brother, Lewis Owen, and finally after his decease in 1746 by his brother, William Owen. The earlier papers include claims on the estates of Robert Jeffreys of Acton, first husband of Mary Clayton, 1717-1718, and of Richard Clayton, [1724x1739]. The subsequent cases, 1741-1761, involve the daughters of Richard Clayton and/or their husbands, in counter suits against each other and against other defts, including Lewis and Elizabeth Owen, William Owen, Sir Thomas and Elizabeth Longueville, Susanna Lyster, the trustees and the estate steward; the main points of dispute are the inheritance of Richard Clayton 's estate, charges on Mary Owen 's Brymbo property, the failure of the successive administrators to produce deeds and adequate accounts, and subsiduary problems caused by the unadministered estates of Arthur and Lewis Owen. The documents include several bills, accounts and claims for expenses, 1724-1760; correspondence, 1735-1760; a draft of William Owen 's case and answers, 1749; and the settlement by arbitration of a claim by William Owen and Susanna Lyster against Conway Longueville for money due from the personal estate of Lewis Owen and Sir Thomas Longueville, 1762-1764.