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 3
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1 Hugh Roberts and family, of Llanvawr parish, Merionethshire, brought their cer- tificate, dated 5th mo. 2d, 1683, from Penllyn monthly meeting, to Friends in Pennsyl- vania. On his return from his second visit home, he brought a certificate from the meet- ing at Llyn Braner, dated Ist mo. 16th, 1697-8. In 1695 he and Joseph Kirkbride, of Bucks county, went on a religious visit to New England, they being the first from Pennsylvania who had preached there, except John Delavall and Jacob Telner, in 1692. It was on another visit of the sort that he (H.R.) died, on Long Island, at the house of John Rodman, in the 6th mo. (August), 1702. His will, which is dated the 25th of the pre- ceding month, shows his large ownership of property. He divided it amongst his three sons, Robert, Owen, and Edward, the last named receiving his home plantation, in Merion, 200 acres, "called Chestnut Hill." The will mentions other tracts-one of 1100 acres "at Goshen," and one of 400 acres, " that was Jos. Claypoole's." It was a part of his original purchase in Merion that, having passed from his son Edward, in 1721, to the George family, was in 1867 given to the City of Philadelphia by Joseph and Rebecca George, and is now the beautiful part of Fairmount Park known as " George's Hill." His son Robert removed to Maryland; Owen and Edward were prominent citizens, the latter a merchant in Philadelphia, and Mayor of that city, 1739-40.
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HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS OF GWYNEDD.
the other immigrants, to choose land, was according to the habit of the Welsh. Speaking of Rowland Ellis, of Merion, Proud says in his History :
" In 1682, he sent over Thomas Owen and his family to make a settle- ment. This was the custom of divers others of the Welsh, at first, to send persons over to take up lands for them, and to prepare it against their coming afterward."
How much examination the two agents gave to the land offered them before they made a selection is not known. There is no distinct evidence that they ever saw the Gwynedd tract, be- fore purchasing it, but we may presume they did. That they rode up from Philadelphia for the purpose,-or, possibly came across from Merion, with some friend and guide,-is a reasonable presumption. There is a tradition that they passed through Whitemarsh, but declined to buy there because the heavy timber on the limestone lands of that township would make the labor of clearing too severe.1 But while it may easily be that they looked at Whitemarsh, this explanation of a choice elsewhere seems questionable ; as a matter of fact, the Gwynedd lands were heavily timbered, as the descriptions by metes and bounds of the several tracts show. I can easily see strong reasons, entirely aside from this, why a purchase in Whitemarsh would not suit : in that township prices of land had already risen, and there remained no large undivided tract, such as the Welsh party re- quired. They desired to settle together, and therefore would wish to buy an extensive and compact body of land.
The land at Gwynedd was owned by Robert Turner, of Philadelphia. How it happened to be his is fully recited in the confirmed titles which the settlers subsequently acquired by patents from William Penn, in 1702, and though it cumbers this chapter, and interrupts my narrative, I think it best to present at
1 See Wm. A. Yeakle's Historical Papers on Whitemarsh. The tradition was pre- served by the late Benjamin Jones, son-in-law of John Wilson.
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ARRIVAL OF THE WELSH SETTLERS.
this point the full text of one of these confirmatory patents,- that to Thomas Evan, or Evans. It is as follows :
William Penn true and Absolute Proprietary and Governor in chief of the Proviance of Pennsylvania and Territories thereunto belonging.
To all to whom these presents shall come Greeting-
WHEREAS by my Indenture of Lease and Release bearing date the two and twentieth and three and twentieth days of March in the Year One thousand Six hundred and Eighty-one, for the consideration therein mentioned, I granted to Robert Turner his heirs and Assigns Five thousand Acres of land in this Proviance under the Yearly quitrent of One Shilling Sterling for Every hundred acres forever and by my Indenture bearing date the fifteenth day of August in the Year one thousand Six hundred and Eighty-two for the Consideration herein mentioned I released to the said Robert Turner his heirs and Assigns forty-five Shillings Sterling part of the said yearly Rent, to the End that five shillings only should remain and be paid Yearly for the said Five thousand Acres for Ever ;
AND WHEREAS by Severall Like Indentures of Lease and Release bearing date therein mentioned I granted to John Gee of the Kingdom of Ireland his heirs and assigns Two thousand five hundred acres, to Joseph Fuller of the said Kingdom his heirs and Assigns Twelve hundred and fifty Acres, and to Jacob Fuller also of the said Kingdom Twelve hundred and fifty Acres, being in the whole Five thousand Acres under the Yearly quitrent of one Shilling Sterling for Every hundred Acres thereof forever, which said last recited severall parcells of Two thousand five hundred Acres, Twelve hundred and fifty Acres, and Twelve hundred and fifty acres the said John Gee, Joseph Fuller and Jacob Fuller by Several Indentures of Lease and Release duly Executed did grant and make over to the said Robert Turner his heirs and Assigns To hold to the said Robert his heirs and Assigns forever, By which said severall hereinbefore recited Indentures the said Robert became Invested with a right to Ten thousand Acres of Land in the said Province, part of which being laid out in several parts thereof the remainder and full Compliment of the said quantity, being Seven thousand Eight hundred and twenty Acres, was laid out by Virtue of several warrants from myself in one tract in the County of Philadelphia in the said Proviance ; AND WHEREAS the said Robert Turner by his Deed poll duly Executed bearing date the tenth day of the first Month March
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HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS OF GWYNEDD.
One thousand Six hundred and Ninety-Eight, for the Consideration herein specified did grant and convey the whole Seven thousand Eight hundred and twenty Acres of land to William John and Thomas Evan both of the County of Philadelphia, Yeomen, to hold to them their heirs and assigns forever a certain part of which Seven thousand Eight hundred and twenty Acres of land Reputed to contain Seven hundred acres of land in the actual possession of the said Thomas Evan then being, was Resurveyed by Virtue of a general warrant from my now Commissioners of Property bearing date the Nine and twentieth day of September last past and found to be situate and bounded and Containing as follows viz. : Situate in the Township of Gwinned in the County of Philadelphia Beginning at a stake standing at the Corner of Edward ap Hughs land from thence running by a line of Marked trees South East two hundred perches to a corner, Marked hickery tree growing at the corner of the Land of Cadwallder ap Evan, from thence running by a line of Marked trees by the said land of Cadwallder ap Evan and the land of Robert ap Evan South forty-four degrees and a half West Nine hundred perches to a corner Marked hickery tree, from thence running North west one hundred and Seventy-six perches to a Marked tree growing at the corner of Robert Johns Land, from thence running by the said Land of Robert John and the said Edward ap Hughs land North forty-three degrees and a half East Nine hundred perches to the first Mentioned Corner Stake, being the place of beginning. Containing one thousand and forty-nine Acres, to Seven hundred acres whereof the said Thomas Evan having a right as aforesaid and seventy acres more being allowed in measure, and requesting to purchase of me the remaining two hundred and Seventy-nine acres and thereupon a confirmation of the whole One thousand and forty-nine acres of land at the Yearly quitrent of one English Silver Shilling for ever under my great Seal of the said Proviance.
Know De that as well in Consideration of the severall hereinbefore recited grants and conveyances as of the sum of Sixty-one pounds Eight pence three farthings Silver money of the said proviance to my use paid by the said Thomas Evan for the purchase of the Two hundred and Seventy- nine acres and for Redeming the quitrent as aforesaid, and in full of all arrears of quitrent for the said one thousand and forty-nine acres to the first day of this instant first Month called March the Receipt of which Sixty-one pounds Eight pence three farthings I doe hereby acknowledge and thereof and of every part and parcell thereof I doe acquitt, release
1
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ARRIVAL OF THE WELSH SETTLERS.
and by these presents forever discharge the said Thomas Evan his heirs, Executors and Administrators, I have given granted released and Con- firmed and by these presents for me my heirs and successors do give grant release and confirm unto the said Thomas Evan his heirs and assigns for- ever All that the said one thousand and forty-nine Acres of Land as the same is now set forth bounded and limited as aforesaid with all Mines Minerals, quarries Meadows pastures Marshes Swamps Cripples Savannas Woods under-woods Timber and Trees, Ways passages Yards Houses Edifices Buildings Improvements, Waters, Water Courses Liberties Prof- fets Comodoties Advantages Hereditaments and Appurtenances whatsoever to the said One thousand forty-nine acres of Land as to any part or par- cell thereof belonging or in any wise appertaining and Lying within the bounds and limits aforesaid, and also all free leave right and Liberty to and for the said Thomas Evan his heirs and assigns to Hawk Hunt Fish and Fowle in and upon the hereby granted land and Premises or upon any part thereof (three full and cleer fifth parts of all Royal Mines free from deductions and Reprisalls for diging and refining the same only Excepted and hereby reserved) ;
TO HAVE AND TO HOLD the said one thousand and forty-nine acres of Land and all and singular other the premises hereby granted with their and Every of their appurtenances (Except before excepted) to the said Thomas Evan his heirs and assigns to the only proper use and behoof of the said Thomas Evan his heirs and assigns forever. To be holden of me my heirs and Successory Proprietaries of Pennsylvania as of our Manor or reputed Manor of Springetsbury in the said County of Philadelphia in free and Common Succage by fealty only in Lieu of all other services, Yealding and paying therefor Yearly from the first day of this instant first Month called March to me my heirs and successors at or upon the first day of the first Month called March in Every Year forever thereafter at Philadelphia one English Silver Shilling or value thereof in Coyn Currant to such . person or persons as shall be appointed from time to time to receive the same.
In Witness I have (by Virtue of My Commission to my Proprietary Deputies hereinafter named for the said Proviance and Territories bearing date the Eight and twentieth day of October which was in the Year of our Lord One thousand Seven hundred and one) Caused my great Seal of the Proviance to be affixed hereunto.
Witness Edward Shippen Griffith Owen Thomas Story and James
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HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS OF GWYNEDD.
Logan my said Deputies or any three of them at Philadelphia the Eighth day of the first Month called March in the Second Year of the Reign of our Soverayn Queen Ann of England &c. and the three and twentieth of my Government Anno Domini one thousand seven hundred and two.
EDWARD SHIPPEN GRIFFITH OWEN
THOMAS STORY JAMES LOGAN
[Recorded the 26th Ist Mo., 1703]
It will be seen that Robert Turner had acquired his title to the lands which we are considering as the net result of several purchases of rights to locate, and that he was presumed to have in the tract no more than 7820 acres. On Holme's "Map of Original Surveys," the drafts of which were begun about 1681, but which were continued and added to, for some time afterward, the locality of Gwynedd is shown divided lengthwise about equally, the north-eastern half being marked "John Gee & Company," and the lower, or south-western, " Robert Turner." At the time, therefore, when this part of the map was made, the transactions between Gee and Turner, by which, as recited in the patent, the latter acquired the entire title, had not been com- pleted ; and at what date their completion was effected is left uncertain. But it was before 1698 ; when the two Welshmen, in Philadelphia, were seeking for land, Turner's large and com- pact tract drew their attention, and he, doubtless, having waited a good while for a purchaser, cheerfully bargained with them.1
1 Robert Turner was a prominent man in the early history of Pennsylvania. He came here about 1682, and died in 1701 Before coming he was a merchant in Dublin, and it was to him that Penn addressed the letter from London in March, 1681, in which he announces the final granting of the patent for the Province :
"Thine I have, and for my business here know that after many waitings, watch- ings, solicitings, and disputes in council, this day my country was confirmed to me under the great seal of England, with large powers and privileges, by the name of Pennsylvania,- a name the King would give it in honor of my father. I chose New Wales, being, as this, a pretty hilly country, but Penn being Welsh for a " head," as Penmanmoir, in Wales, and Penrith, in Cumberland, and Penn, in Buckingham-
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ARRIVAL OF THE WELSH SETTLERS.
The title of Turner was passed to John and Evans, as appears by the recital in the patent, on the 10th of First month [March], 1698. No doubt they entered immediately into possession, but as to this we have no certain knowledge. The most definite ac- count we have of the time when the settlers actually entered upon their lands, is that given by Edward Foulke,- which I shall quote in full, later,-and he was one of the main company of immigrants, who did not reach Philadelphia until July. (On March Ioth they had not set out from their homes in Wales. It was the 3d of the month following that Edward and his family left Coed-y-foel, to take the ship at Liverpool.)
But it is fair to presume that the two representatives lost no time in repairing to their purchase. It was a wooded upland. The timber was well grown,- oaks, hickories, chest- nuts the most conspicuous and useful. Of Indians, there were few, if any. Of neighbors there were some in the township be- low, but none in those beyond Gwynedd. Horsham had been taken up soon after Penn's first visit, and Upper Dublin received some settlers a little later. In Whitpain, the family of that name had located as early as 1685, and other settlers in the interval.
shire, the highest land in England, called this Pennsylvania, which is the high or head woodlands ; for I proposed, when the Secretary, a Welshman, refused to have it New Wales, Sylvania, and they added Penn to it,-" etc - See letter at length in Janney's Life of Penn.
Robert Turner was one of the Quaker Company (which included William Penn) that purchased East Jersey in 1681-82, from the estate of Sir George Carteret, and as the Pennsylvania undertaking was largely the outgrowth of that in New Jersey, · he was, no doubt, one of of Penn s intimate business friends. He was an active man in Philadelphia, and built, it is said, the first brick house in the city, at the south-western corner of Front and Mulberry streets. From 1687 to 1689 he was one of the Commissioners for Penn who carried on the government of the Province, and from 1686 to 1694, and again in 1700-1701, he was one of the Provincial Council. He was also a justice of the peace, and a commissioner of property. In the controversy between the Friends and George Keith, he, for a while, sup- ported the latter. He left two daughters, from whom numerous Philadelphia families trace a line of descent-the Leamings, Rawles, Colemans, Pembertons, Fishers and Hollingsworths.
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HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS OF GWYNEDD.
But Montgomery, Hatfield, and Towamensing were unoccupied, and the Welshmen, as they began to ply their axes, waked the echoes of the undisturbed wilderness. They were on the frontier of civilization, at this part of the line.
The main company of immigrants sailed from Liverpool on the 18th of April. Their ship was the Robert and Elizabeth, its master Ralph Williams, its owner Robert Haydock, of Liver- pool. They touched at Dublin, before proceeding on their voyage, and it was not until the Ist of May, that they finally spread the ship's sails for the new world. Precisely who were on board, besides Edward Foulke and his family, it is unsafe to say, but Hugh Roberts, returning from his visit, was with the company, and it is safe, undoubtedly, to regard the three brothers of Thomas Evans,- Robert, Owen, and Cadwallader,- Hugh Griffith, John Hugh, and John Humphrey, with their families, as of the number. As to the others who are known to have been first settlers, we can only suppose them to have been aboard this particular ship be- cause the company is commonly spoken of by all authorities as coming together ; and I expressly reserve Robert John from the list, because I think it extremely probable that he was first a settler in Merion.1
Forty-five of the passengers,- a very large part, doubtless, of the whole number,-and three of the sailors, died of dysentery.2 It was not until the 17th of July,3 eleven weeks to a day after they had left Dublin, and fifteen after starting from their
1 My reasons for this opinion, though they are not conclusive, will be stated farther on.
2 Smith's History of Pennsylvania makes this statement; Edward Foulke does not mention the three sailors.
$ Smith. who is followed by Proud, says the 7th of July ; but Edward Foulke, mentioning the 17th, adds, . " We were eleven weeks at sea," which fixes the latter date.
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ARRIVAL OF THE WELSH SETTLERS.
homes in Wales, that they reached port in Philadelphia, and set foot in the land of their adoption. Edward Foulke's narrative shows that they were kindly received, as we feel sure they would be, by the Welsh settlers who already were settled here; and the women and children found homes for several weeks among old friends or kinsfolk in Philadelphia, or at Merion, until the men had prepared shelter, and laid in food for the winter.1 It was " at the beginning of November," that Edward Foulke says he " settled " in his new home, and " divers others of our com- pany, who came over sea with us settled near us at the same time." This is explicit enough ; the interval from the middle of July to the beginning of November had been occupied in the erection of houses, and probably the gathering of such crops as had been planted by William John and Thomas Evans, after getting possession in the spring. Something might have been done, indeed, by the settlers, after their arrival in July, to secure provisions for winter. They could have made a crop of buck- wheat,2 and they could have saved some forage for their cattle from the natural meadows along the streams. In August the blackberries would be ripe, and later the chicken- and fox-grapes, the chestnuts, shellbarks, and walnuts. But their great depend- ence, naturally, was of two sorts ; the crop of Indian corn, such as it might be, which William John and Thomas Evans had pro-
1 Smith's account is this : "Shortly after they got out to sea the bloody flux began among the passengers, and proved very mortal, forty-five of them and three sailors, having died before their arrival at Philadelphia, which was not till the seventh of Fifth month following. When arrived they met with a kind reception, not only from their relations and acquaintenances that were in the country before, but from others who were the more strangers to them in that they understood not their language, so that it then appeared to them that Christian love presided even among those of different speech and profession, for they were not now many of them of those called Quakers."
2 The Swedish settlers who preceded the Welsh, raised buckwheat here, and their habit was to sow it about the end of July. Early in August turnips could be sown, but they were not much raised, Acrelius says, even as late as 1750.
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HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS OF GWYNEDD.
cured to be planted ; and the supplies of food secured from the settlers in adjoining townships. Nor can we doubt that their old countrymen west of the Schuylkill gave them liberal aid, without money and without price. To have failed in this would have made them unworthy the name of Welshmen.
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#1
السبب الزبون
V. Edward Foulke's Narrative of his Removal.
F OUR years after the arrival of the settlers, Edward Foulke wrote, in Welsh, an account of his removal. This, translated into English many years later, by his grandson, Samuel Foulke, of Richland,1 is a unique document. It is the only account of this immigration known to exist, written by one of the Gwynedd company, and it is more circumstantial and precise than almost any other referring to any of the Welsh settlers in Pennsylvania. Many copies of it are in existence, and it has been three or four times printed. No version of it within my knowledge differs materially from any other as to essential facts, but there are slight differences among different copies in the genealogical accounts which it presents. The copy here used is from that preserved by the late William Parker Foulke, of Philadelphia, as follows :
A brief Genealogy of Edward Foulke, with an account of his family and their removal from Great Britain to Pennsyl- vania, written by himself, originally in British.2
"I, Edward Foulke, was the son of Foulke, ap Thomas, ap Evan, ap Thomas, ap Robert, ap David Lloyd, ap David, ap Evan Vaughan (ap Evan), ap Griffith, ap Madoc, ap Jerwert, ap Madoc, ap Ririd . Flaidd,3 Lord of Penllyn, who dwelt at Rhiwaedog.
1 Who was a member of the Colonial Assembly, 1761-68. See data concerning him, in this volume.
2 This introduction was added, no doubt, by "Samuel Foulke, upon making the translation into English.
3 This name, in the old copies of the narrative that I have seen, is generally given as Ririd Blaidd, which is an error. Rhirid Flaidd was a well-known figure in Welsh history, and is strictly identified with the person meant by Edward Foulke, by the fact that he was " Lord of Penllyn." See post.
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HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS OF GWYNEDD.
,
"My mother's name was Lowry, the daughter of Edward, ap David, ap Ellis, ap Robert, of the Parish of Llanvor in Merionethshire.
" I was born on the 13th of 5th month, 1651, and when arrived at mature age, I married Eleanor the daughter of Hugh, ap Cadwallader, ap Rhys, of the Parish of Spytu in Denbighshire ; her mother's name was Gwen, the daughter of Ellis, ap William, ap Hugh, ap Thomas, ap David, ap Madoc, ap Evan, ap Cott, ap Evan, ap Griffith, ap Madoc, ap Einion, ap Meredith of Cai-Fadog ; and (she) was born in the same parish and shire with her husband.
" I had, by my said wife, nine children, whose names are as follows : Thomas, Hugh, Cadwallader, and Evan ; Grace, Gwen, Jane, Catherine, and Margaret. We lived at a place called Coed-y-foel, a beautiful farm, belonging to Roger Price, Esq., of Rhiwlas, Merionethshire, aforesaid. But in process of time, I had an inclination to remove with my family to the province of Pennsylvania ; and, in order thereto, we set out on the 3d day of the 2d month, A. D. 1698, and came in two days to Liverpool, where, with divers others who intended to go the voyage, we took shipping, the 17th of the same month, on board the Robert and Elizabeth, and the next day set sail for Ireland, where we arrived, and staid until the first of the 3d month, May, and then sailed again for Pennsylvania, and were about eleven weeks at sea. And the sore distemper of the bloody flux broke out in the vessel, of which died five and forty persons in our passage ; the distemper was so mortal that two or three corpses were cast overboard every day while it lasted. But through the favor and mercy of Divine Providence, I, with my wife and nine children, escaped that sore mortality, and arrived safe at Philadelphia, the 17th of the 5th month, July, where we were kindly received and hospitably entertained by our friends and old acquaintance.
"I soon purchased a fine tract of land of about seven hundred acres, sixteen miles from Philadelphia, on a part of which I settled, and divers others of our company who came over sea with us, settled near me at the same time. This was the beginning of November, 1698, aforesaid, and the township was called Gwynedd, or North Wales. This account was written the 14th of the 11th month (January), A. D. 1702, by Edward Foulke. Translated from British into English by Samuel Foulke."
Referring to the ancestry mentioned by Edward Foulke, it
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EDWARD FOULKE'S NARRATIVE OF HIS REMOVAL. 35
may be remarked that Rhirid Flaidd, " who dwelt at Rhiwaedog," is frequently alluded to in the Welsh chronicles of the later half of the twelfth century. Details may be con- veniently found concerning him and several families of North Wales who trace their descent from him, in the Annals and Antiquities of the Counties and County Families of Wales,1 under the particular chapter devoted to Merionethshire. It says (p. 678) :
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