Thomas came from a family that was for many years seated at
Wenvoe. The original male line was named (ap) Harpwaye, of Tresimont. Harpwaye of Tresimont may be a variation of (ap) Harpway of Tresimwn/Tre Simon/
Bonvilston. The Harpwayes were an old family of Herefordshire. The family adopted the name of Thomas, as a result of a marriage with Catherine, daughter and sole heir of Thomas ap Thomas, of
Wenvoe Castle. Edmund Thomas was the only son of William Thomas and Jane Stradling, daughter of
Sir John Stradling, 1st Baronet. Edmund Thomas married firstly Elizabeth Morgan, daughter of Sir Lewis Morgan of
Ruperra Castle and sister of Thomas Morgan. He married secondly Mary Lewis, daughter of Sir Thomas Lewis of Penmark Place at Wenvoe on 1 August 1671. Their son and heir William Thomas married Mary, the daughter of
Philip, Lord Wharton with whom he had two children, Edmund and Anna. On William Thomas's death in 1677, his wife Mary inherited the estates of Wenvoe and Ruperra. Their two children, both died prematurely and on Mary's death, in 1699, the estates passed to her sister-in-law Elizabeth, Edmund Thomas's elder sister whose first marriage was to
Edmund Ludlow. On Ludlow'a death, Wenvoe and Ruperra were returned to the Thomas family when Elizabeth married secondly, her distant cousin
Sir John Thomas, 1st Baronet. ==See also==