During 1727-Bapt, 47; Sepult., 63; Nupt., 2. Evidently the town [Welshpool] was visited by an epidemic. The insanitary state of the town and the ignorance of the very rudiments of sanitation accounts for the large death rate, and the infant mortality is appalling; in those days it was a case of the survival of the fittest. Sara Newel, Vidua, de Pola, Sepult. 111110 May, 1728. Widow of William Newell, Sen., of Welshpool, tobacconist and malster, who died in 1726, and mother of William, Joseph, Thomas, Edward and Robert Newell or Newill, of Welshpool, Shrewsbury and Dolgelley. They were hereditary burgesses of Shrewsbury, and descended from Richard Newell of Worthen, time of Henry VIII. Mrs. Sarah Newell, in her Will, dated May 7th, 1728 (the day previous to her death), bequeaths various houses in Welshpool to her sons, the Pack Horse and houses in Mount Street being included. This Will is now in the possession of the Rev. J. Gilbertson- Pritchard of Morben and Lytham, who is also a descendant, through his great grandmother, Sarah Newell (who married David Pritchard in 1793), of William and Sarah Newell of Welshpool. There is a large stone over No. 4, Broad Street, inscribed- N. W. S. i.e., W. and S. Newell, 1721.
