USA > Pennsylvania > Montgomery County > Gwynedd > Historical collections relating to Gwynedd, a township of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, settled, 1696, by immigrants from Wales, with some data referring to the adjoining township, of Montgomery, also settled by Welsh > Part 2
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1745, Malignant and fatal epidemic.
1769, St. John's Church (Lutheran, Whitpain), organized (probably). 1772-76, St. Peter's Lutheran and Reformed Church established.
[1775, Outbreak of the Revolution.] [1776, Declaration of Independence.]
1777, October, The American troops in the township ; march to and retreat from Germantown.
November, movement of the troops to Whitemarsh.
December, their movement to Valley Forge.
1778, June, Movement of the army from Valley Forge to New Jersey. [1783, Independence acknowledged by Great Britain.]
1784, Montgomery County erected.
1796, The Library at Montgomery Square established.
[1799, Sower's newspaper begun at Norristown.] [1800, Wilson's (later Winnard's) newspaper begun at Norristown.] [1804, Asher Miner's newspaper begun at Doylestown.]
1 804-05, Chestnut Hill and Spring-House turnpike built. [1812-15, War with Great Britain ]
1813, Bethlehem Turnpike begun.
1823, Third (present) Friends' Meeting-House built.
1830, State Road laid out.
1840, Public School system adopted by the Township. [1846-47, War with Mexico.]
1847-48, Spring-House and Sumneytown Turnpike built.
1856, North Pennsylvania Railroad completed to Gwynedd.
1857, North Pennsylvania Railroad opened to the Lehigh river. [1861-65, War of the Rebellion.]
1869, Borough of North Wales incorporated.
1872, Borough of Lansdale incorporated.
1874, Stony Creek Railroad completed.
II. Remarks upon the Geology of the Township.
G WYNEDD lies along the southern edge of, and just within, the extensive but simple and monotonous formation called by geologists the Mezozoic, or Red Sandstone, belt. The underlying rocks of the township vary in color, though they are mostly red, or reddish, and range from a tolerable sandstone to a decomposing shale; except that through the hill upon the Swedes-Ford road, tunneled at one point by the railroad, there passes a trap dyke of much harder rock, of an earlier formation than the Mezozoic.
The belt of Mezozoic, says Prof. Rogers, in his report of the Geological Survey of Pennsylvania, is very extensive. Begin- ning upon the right bank of the Hudson river, and extending along it from New York Bay to the base of the first ridges of the Highlands, it stretches south-west, traversing New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and, in a more interrupted manner, Virginia and North Carolina, so that its total length is not less than five hundred miles. In Pennsylvania, it begins with a breadth of thirty miles, along the Delaware, its southern limit being a point about half way between Yardleyville and Morris- ville, and thence, with a southern limit more or less sharply de- fined by streams and escarpments, it passes westward to the Schuylkill above Norristown. Its width there is less than on the Delaware, and for the remainder of its course through Berks, Lancaster, Dauphin, York, and Adams, it spreads over a section about ten miles wide between the Schuylkill and Susquehanna,
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HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS OF GWYNEDD.
and about fifteen between the latter river and the line of Maryland.1
The Mezozoic are those of the secondary formation, and containing evidences of plant and animal existence in what is re- garded as the second age of life. These rocks are conglomerate sandstone, slate, and shale, their predominating color being red or rusty gray,-hence the alternative name given the belt which they characterize,-the New Red Sandstone.
Prof. J. P. Lesley, State Geologist of Pennsylvania, - chief, for many years, of the "Second Geological Survey of Pennsyl- vania,"- sends me these notes on the geology of Gwynedd :
" In Bucks and Montgomery counties, the geology of the southern belt has been well worked up. But the rest of both counties contains but one monotonous formation, that of the Mezozoic red sandstone and shale, the rocks all dipping one way, and containing no minerals of any value,-only building stone and trap dykes. Gwynedd township is situated in the lower part of this great formation. The geology is exceedingly simple ; but a local geologist in any township might find a few fossils by long and laborious search.
" In Gwynedd, the most interesting point is a small trap dyke which was cut in the body of the hills through which the North Pennsylvania railroad tunnel was driven. The next most interest- ing point is the fact of the presence of a plant bed similar to that cut by the Phoenixville tunnel. No connection between them has yet been established, but they may very well be the same.
1 It may be suggested that this is the region of the German farmers of Pennsylvania, - the " High Dutch " Palatinates, - Lutherans and German Reformed; and the explanation of the fact that they chiefly hold these red-rock lands would involve a curious study of the characteristics of the varied nationalities that have peopled south-eastern Pennsylvania. Broadly speaking, the German farmers have held this region, and gradually bought out other nationalities, because of their closer economy in agricultural methods, and their contentment with smaller returns.
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GEOLOGY OF THE TOWNSHIP.
" Whether this trap be connected-underground-with the trap of Bowman's hill, south of Lambertville, on the Delaware ; or whether it be in any way connected with the great fault of Barrville, Greenville, and Centre, east of Doylestown, is not known. This last fault brings up [in Bucks county] the lime- stone floor, on which the Mezozoic rocks repose ; how deep this floor lies under Gwynedd township is a problem, but it must be at least one or two thousand feet.
" This is absolutely all the geology of Gwynedd that can be generally stated. No region can be more barren of general geological interest. But there are special problems of high scientific interest to be settled by special local work."
Prof. H. Carvill Lewis, of Philadelphia, who has made im- portant studies in the geology of south-eastern Pennsylvania, has been particularly attracted by the plant bed opened in the tunnel referred to by Professor Lesley. In a letter, March 14th, 1884, he says : "I have recently obtained quite a number of fossils, both shells and plants, from the railroad cut at Gwynedd, and find some of them identical with those occurring in a certain plant bed on the Schuylkill above Phoenixville. There are three fossil horizons near Phoenixville-the bone bed in the old tunnel, the plant bed in some old quarries near the north end of the old tunnel, and the shell bed at the lower end of the tunnel. The latter lies probably one thousand feet below the others. I believe the plant bed to be identical with that at Gwynedd. Fossil foot-marks of turtles occur in this bed at Phoenixville ; at Gwynedd there occur stems of calamites, seeds of a land plant, marine fucoids, foot-prints, minute shells of a species of Posidonia, etc., showing as at Phoenixville a commingling of fresh water and marine organisms. The theory that the Triassic deposit was made by a great north-east flowing river, which, in the neigh- borhood of Phoenixville, widened to become a marine estuary,
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HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS OF GWYNEDD.
emptying into the ocean near the mouth of the Hudson, is con- firmed by my recent investigations.1 Both sides of the deposit are bounded by a conglomerate, representing the pebbly beach."
In the lower end of the township the soil is more or less sandy ; the clay loam lies above the line of the Spring-House. Southward from this place, on the low ridge along the road to Penllyn, and down the turnpike toward Philadelphia, there are banks of good building sand, from whose quarries supplies have been drawn for local use, during many years. But in contrast with this, the flat lands near North Wales (distant from these sand pits, say 3 1/2 miles), have a bed of good clay from which bricks for building purposes have been and are still (1884) made ; and even along the southern slope of the Treweryn, less than a mile from the Spring-House, enough clay was found, some twenty-five years ago, to warrant the erection of a kiln, and the burning of bricks.2
The building stone from the quarries of the township vary in quality. The best of them have been freely used in dwellings, bridges, and other structures. The fault of the red rocks usually is their soft and shaley nature, which will not withstand the influences of air and moisture; but care in selecting the hardest generally secures a satisfactory wall.
1 This is a bold and striking theory. The " Triassic deposit " of which Prof. Lewis. speaks is, in other words, the " belt " of Mezozoic or red rocks; and the explanation that they are simply the deposit of a gigantic river, rising probably in North Carolina, and flowing north-east to the great sea, above New York city, is a remarkable chapter in modern geological research. Assuming the truth of the theory, nearly the whole of Gwynedd lay in this great river, whose shore ran along the south-eastern border of the township.
[Since the issue of the original edition, Prof. Lewis has died, having achieved for himself a high repute in science. In 1885, being then professor of geology in Haverford College, he went to Europe to prosecute his geological studies, and died in England. His early death was a cause for general regret. His wife (see Foulke Genealogy post, ) was the daughter of William Parker Foulke, and a descendant of Edward Foulke, the immigrant .- Note, 1896.]
2 This kiln was built by Robert Scarlett, on his field near " Brushtown," by the road that leads southwest from the toll-gate. It was abandoned after a few years' use.
III. Traces of the Indians.
O F those inhabitants of Gwynedd, few or many, who were here before the Welsh settlers came, we know but little. They have left us but few evidences of their occupancy. That the place was not entirely a solitude is proved by the discovery, here and there, of some of the stone implements and weapons such as it is known the Indians used. These, however, are comparatively rare, and though I cannot claim to have made a thorough examination or inquiry concerning every part of the township, yet I feel safe in saying that the aboriginal remains in Gwynedd are only sufficient to show that the place was visited by the Indians, and may have been, at times, occupied by small numbers of them. This, indeed, might be predicted of the place from a knowledge of its situation and natural features. The Indians of south-eastern Pennsylvania were not a large body of people, and they did not make their homes in the high grounds, but in the lower, along the large streams, and where fertile, open spaces made it easy to plant their crops. But Gwynedd would have been a place resorted to by hunting . parties, and occupied occasionally, or even permanently, by a band under some minor chief. The arrow-heads and other objects that have been found in certain places suggest the latter ; they indicate by their number more than a passing chase, or even a brief stay at that point.
Of record evidence, concerning the Indians in Gwynedd, there is next to nothing. I have met with but one allusion in
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HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS OF GWYNEDD.
print which is worth attention. In the memorial of Gwynedd Monthly Meeting concerning Ellen Evans, wife of John (son of Cadwallader the immigrant), who died in 1765, it is recorded that she " delighted to converse with our uninstructed Indians about their sentiments of the Supreme Being; and often said she ' discovered evident traces of divine goodness in their un- cultivated minds.' "
Nor are the traditions concerning them very numerous. One of the most interesting is that of the Indians who brought coal to the smith's shop, where Mumbower's mill now stands, on the Wissahickon. The story is this: This mill property was owned from 1777 to 1794 by Samuel Wheeler, a black- smith, and apparently something of a cutler and tool maker. (It is said that he made swords during the Revolutionary time.) To his shop there came, one day, some Indians who wanted repairs made to a gun. Wheeler said he could not make them, as he had no coal, when an Indian, departing for a short time, returned, bringing with him enough coal for the purpose. This tradition is ascribed to a daughter of Wheeler, a Mrs. Johnson, of Germantown, who many years afterward used to occasionally visit Gwynedd. (The question with Wheeler was as to the place where the Indians got the coal, but it had doubtless been brought from a distance, probably the upper Schuylkill.)
Mrs. Sheive, the mother of Mrs. John B. Johnson, who died at a very advanced age, say thirty years ago, spoke of the time " when the Indians went away " from the neighborhood, and said that one of them, an old woman, stayed behind and continued to live, by herself, in a hut or " wigwam," in what was known, in later times, as the " back woods " on Johnson's farm.
Mr. Mathews, in his articles on Gwynedd, says that in the eastern corner of Thomas Layman's farm, half a mile southwest
.
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TRACES OF THE INDIANS.
of North Wales, there have been and may be found a great number of arrow-heads and other Indian relics. "Tradition relates that here was the scene of a battle between two hostile tribes of Indians, in which the missiles of destruction flew thick and fast."
The same idea of a battle has been formed concerning a locality on the Treweryn, near Ellen Evans's. David C. Land, who has made a collection of Indian relics, says he found many, including axes, spear-heads, and arrow-heads, at this place, and he thought the presence of so large a number indicated a hostile encounter.
But it is natural that the stone relics should be found along or near the streams. There is where the Indians would fix their lodges, convenient for fishing, and also to utilize a sunny open space for their corn-fields. And in such a place, after they had thus been encamped for a season or a longer time, their arrow- and spear-heads, etc., would naturally be discovered. John Bowman says that he found many arrow-heads and some other relics in the meadow along the run, east of his father's house ; and on the Treweryn, Thomas Scarlett found an axe, " with a hole neatly drilled through it," the finest axe, I am told, dis- covered in the township.
Ellwood Roberts, now of Norristown, but for several years a resident on the State road, just up the hill westward from the Wissahickon, made quite a collection of arrow-heads, spear- heads, etc., picked up on the fields in the vicinity. He has kindly furnished me drawings and descriptions of several specimens. One is a hammer, which he thinks may have been used " in fashioning the flint implements, by pounding on a rude knife of bone or horn." His arrow-heads are mostly white flint ; one spear-head is jasper. Some articles that were found, he says, were unfortunately not preserved ; " among the rest I remember
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HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS OF GWYNEDD.
a small fragment of stone hollowed out, no doubt part of a mortar used for pounding hominy in. I also have a dim recol- lection of a stone that had been used as the pestle." All these objects, Ellwood says, " were found on the upland, near the house in which I lived," and not along the creek in the meadows ; but he adds : " I have always believed, from certain indications, that the right bank of the Wissahickon, just above the State road, where ' the old fulling mill ' formerly stood, is rich in such re- mains, but as it has not been plowed within my recollection, I have had no opportunity of verifying my conclusions."
Charles L. Preston has shown me some arrow-heads and other relics. They were to be found, he says, in plowing the fields of the Foulke estate (Dr. Antrim's) near the meeting-house. David C. Land gave an axe, found along the Treweryn, to the son of the author; and John Bowman gave me a curious implement, in form something like an axe, but with a point, rather than sharp edge, and one end ground off obliquely, and with perfect smoothness, near the grooved place where the handle has been fitted. John also had a round pestle, such as was used by the squaws for pounding corn in the mortar. Charles F. Jenkins, besides the axe given him, as stated, has a small collection of other objects, mostly arrow-heads. Some of these are very perfect. Usually they are flint, but one is a fine jasper, and one is of the softer bluish gray stone found in the township. Prof. Brunner,1 of North Wales, describes to me two arrow-heads, found by Benjamin Bertolet, in 1889, in a field adjoining the Stony Creek Railroad, on the farm now owned by Seth Lukens (formerly the Pope farm). One of these is a white flint, and the other is a flint of greenish tinge.
1 I wrote to Prof. Brunner concerning the collection of Indian relics at his Academy (belonging to Dr. Slifer), but none of them were certainly known to have been found in Gwynedd.
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TRACES OF THE INDIANS.
It will be seen from the details I have given 1 that the Indian relics of the township are moderately numerous, and found in all parts of it, but more frequently along the streams ; and that they are such as have been studied and classified by collectors in other parts of south-eastern Pennsylvania 2 - the general habitat of the tribes to whom such Indians as were hunters, or visitors, or dwellers in Gwynedd belonged. The list includes arrow-heads for the chase, or for war ; the larger " spear-heads," which may have been used as weapons, or as knives for skinning animals, cutting up their flesh, etc. ; the heavy flat axes, grooved around for the reception of thongs or strips of hide which attached it to the handle ; the other axes, more round than flat, which may have been used to gouge out the charred interior of a tree, set on fire to cause its fall, or make it available as a boat,-and in- deed for many other purposes ; the mortars and pestles for pounding corn ; and perhaps some others. I have seen no bone relics, nor any of pottery, found in the township.
I conclude my notes on the subject with some details furnished me by my friend Hugh Foulke, concerning an inter- esting locality, associated with the Indians by tradition. In a letter, written in the autumn of 1883, he says : " More than fifty years ago, my father took me to Yocum's woods, and pointed out a clearing of perhaps half an acre, which he told me was called ' the Indian Garden.' I afterwards visited it several times. It
1 As it is more than likely that collections of relics found in the township have not come to my attention, I can only say that I printed communications in the newspapers at North Wales and Norristown, asking information. concerning the subject, to which I received one reply,-that of Elwood Roberts. But whatever else there may be doubtless is of the same general sort as those described, and therefore of no special importance as increasing our knowledge of the subject.
" A very intelligent and thorough study of the subject, with a great number of engravings showing the different forms of Indian relics, will be found in Prof. D. B. Brunner's work (Reading : 1881), "The Indians of Berks County." He substantially disposes of the subject, within reasonable limits, for all south-eastern Pennsylvania.
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HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS OF GWYNEDD.
then impressed me as something quite phenomenal, being entirely free from underbushes, or any other growth, save the monotonous furze grass which one sees on poor worn-out land. As I re- member, it was a perfect square of about half an acre, and was surrounded by dense woods. I think it is about half a mile from the Spring-House, and in a direction a little west of north. From it the ground descends to the Treweryn, which is a few rods distant. It was not far from the lands of Jacob Danenhower (now George H.), Peter Lukens, and Wm. Buzby ; but I think it belonged to Reuben Yocum."
IV. The Arrival of the Welsh Settlers.
7
`WO Welsh farmers, William John and Thomas ap Evan,1
representatives of a company of friends and neighbors in Wales who had decided to emigrate to Pennsylvania, were in Philadelphia at the end of the year 1697.2 Their presence there was due to a series of circumstances. Fourteen years before the great " Welsh Tract " of forty thousand acres, on the west bank of the Schuylkill, embracing what is now the townships of Lower Merion, Haverford, and Radnor, had been bought and in time occupied3 by Welsh people, many of them from the northern counties of Wales-principally Merionethshire, Denbigh- shire. Montgomeryshire, and Flintshire. This large body of immigrants, containing many persons of character, and quite a number of considerable means and cultivation, had prospered in the new colony. The " Welsh Tract," wisely located, including much fertile land, near to the markets of Penn's quickly rising
1 See the Thomas Evans patent, which calls them " yeomen."
2 In February, which was then (" Old Style ") the last month of the year.
3 " This intended barony had its origin in the desire of the Welsh purchasers of Pennsylvania lands to be seated together, and in a promise exacted from Penn before leaving Wales that this desire should be gratified."-Smith's His. Del. Co. Penn's warrant to Thomas Holme, Surveyor General, directing him " to lay out ye sd tract of land in as uniform a manner as conveniently may be, upon ye West side of Skoolkill river, running three miles upon ye same & two miles backward, & then extend yt parallel with ye river six miles, and to run westwardly so far as till ye sd quantity of land be Compleately surveyed to ym," was dated at Pennsbury, Ist mo. 13th, 1684. David Powell, a Welshman, whom we shall meet in Gwynedd, was sent by Holme to do the field work of the surveys, beginning in April of that year.
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HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS OF GWYNEDD.
city on the Delaware, became in ten years after its purchase populous and attractive.
The records of the Friends' meetings at Merion, Haverford and Radnor show the extensive communication between the settlers on this Tract, and their friends and kindred in the old country, between 1684 and 1698. Many new comers brought certificates from home, and several who were here went back on different errands. Undoubtedly, there was much said and thought, amongst the Welsh highlands, of the settlement on the Schuylkill. "Now I return," says Samuel Smith, in his History of Pennsylvania,
"to give some account of the Welsh settlers. Those that were already arrived were of the stock of the ancient Britons. They came chiefly from Merrioneth Shire, North Wales, in Great Britain, being mostly relations and neighbors in their own country, several of them being tenants and having great families. They had heard a good report of Pennsylvania, that lands were cheap, taxes light, clear from oppression as to Tythes and church rates, and most of them were religious men, of good report in their own country. About this time, Hugh Roberts, a zealous minister among the Quakers, of whom we have seen some mention before, went from Pennsylvania to visit Wales, his native country, and had a successful visit to the end of his mission and greatly to the satisfaction of his country-folks, who held him in great esteem."
This visit of Hugh Roberts to his old home was in the year 1697, and to it we may ascribe, largely, the migration of the Welsh company who found their new homes in Gwynedd. Hugh Roberts commanded a large influence among the Welsh Friends. Joining them early, suffering persecution with them, he was a preacher of considerable power, and a man of activity and energy,1 and he appears to have had more than an average share of wealth. Having come to Merion with the first
1 " He was a man of much enthusiasm,-' a live man,' as would be said in these days,-and his journals and letters abound with evidences of it."-Dr. James J. Levick's paper on the Merion Friends, in Penna. Magazine, No. 15.
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ARRIVAL OF THE WELSH SETTLERS.
Welsh immigrants, in 1683,1 he had bought several tracts of land, and had helped much to promote the contentedness and comfort of the people. He twice visited Wales, after his first removal, it being on his second visit that he gathered the Gwynedd company. Samuel Smith in his History, already cited, further says :
" 1698. Several settlers, as we have seen, have already arrived from Wales, to Pennsylvania. Hugh Roberts, whom we left on a visit there from hence, stayed from this year, when, being about to return, a number of the inhabitants of North Wales, who had resolved to return with him, having settled their affairs for that purpose, they together in the spring sailed from Liverpool in a vessel belonging to Robert Haydock, Ralph Williams, commander, and touching at Dublin, sailed from thence the first of the Third month."
To the success of the Merion colony, therefore, and to the active persuasions of Hugh Roberts, the emigration of the Gwynedd company is largely to be ascribed.
The two " yeomen," William John and Thomas ap Evan, were in advance of the main company. They had come to select a place, and from this circumstance, as from other evidences, we must regard them as the chiefs, so far as business interests are concerned, in the Gwynedd settlement. That they preceded
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