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 8
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1723. Our friend Ann Roberts having returned from her visit to North Carolina and Virginia produced two certificates, which was read and well received.
1724. Hugh Foulke acquainted this meeting a concern lay upon his mind to visit Frds at Long Island. [Rowland Ellis and Cadwallader Evans were appointed to draw a certificate for him.]
1725, 6th mo. 3Ist. Sarah Davis laid before this Meeting her Concern to visit Frds in Maryland and ye adjacent parts of this Province. [This approved, and in 12th mo. following :] Sarah Davis produced a certificate of her travels in Maryland which was read and received.
30th of ye 9th mo., 1725. It is agreed yt ye Meeting of Ministers signifie on the behalf of our friends Cadwallader Evans, Row. Robert, Andrew Dean and Mary Foulke, yt ye few words dropped by them is in a general way well received.
5th mo. 26th, 1726. It is agreed here with ye concurrance of ye Women's Meeting, that Alice Griffith, Ellin David, and Ellin Evans be constituted and appointed Elders and Assistants in ye affairs of ye ministry.
At precisely what time it was that the meeting was strongest in ministers I am not able to say, but probably between 1725 and 1745. Joseph Foulke in his manuscript Journal speaks of its strength in early times, and says :
"I have heard my parents say that at one time fourteen approved ministers belonged to the [monthly ?] meeting, and when the Yearly Meeting was held at Burlington, N. J., the late George Dillwyn remarked that in his youthful days North Wales was called 'the school of the prophets.' "
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From the Journal of John Fothergill,1 of England, we get some glimpses of the Friends at Gwynedd, about this time. In 1721, accompanied by Lawrence King, he was visiting meet- ings in America, and we find the following passages in his Journal :
"The roth of 1Ith mo. [January] we had a Meeting at Buckingham, and went the 11th to North Wales, where we lodged at John Evan's, and had a good meeting that Evening with a large Number of Friends who came to see us. The 12th, being accompanied by several of those and some other Friends, we went to a new settled Place called Great Swamp, [Richland, Bucks Co.] and tho' the Snow was deep and the Frost very vere, yet thro' the Lord's Goodness we got well through, and had a good little Meeting with some Friends and other People who came in that Even- ing at Peter Leicester's. The 14th we were [again] at the Meeting at North Wales, which was very large, several other Professors coming in, and the Gospel was preached in its own Authority and Wisdom, and was exalted in many souls, [etc. ] We had another Meeting that Evening at the House of Hugh Foulke, which was much to our Satisfaction. The 15th we had a meeting at Plymouth * and the 16th we were at North Wales
* The meeting again ; a large solidly edifying Meeting it was. *
17th we had a meeting at Horsham ** * * We lodged that night at William Stockdale's, where we had some good service in the Love of the Truth that Evening, among a pretty many Friends."
His Journal continues (after mentioning visits to meetings in New Jersey and the neighborhood of Philadelphia) :
" The 17th [of 12th mo., February] we had a Meeting in the Baptist Meeting-house near Skippolk [Skippack ?], at the Request of some of them, where the Lord * * gave us a comfortable Time to Gen- eral Satisfaction. We parted lovingly, and came that Night to Evan
1 This John Fothergill (b. 1676; d. 1744), himself an eminent preacher, had two distinguished sons,- Dr. John Fothergill (1712-1780), the physician, of London ; and Samuel Fothergill ( -- 1773), a preacher among Friends. Dr. Fothergill was one of the most successful physicians of his age : he had an income of £7,000, and he left an estate of {80,000, with part of which he endowed the well-known Friends' School at Ackworth, in Yorkshire. Both he and his brother Samuel wrote several treatises and books.
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Evans's, at North Wales, and were the 18th at Friends' Meeting there, which was large, and it being First-day we had another in the Evening."
In 1736, John Fothergill made another visit to this country, and was again at Gwynedd. His Journal says :
"The 27th [of Ioth mo., December] I set out again into the Country, and had a Meeting that Day at Plymouth, and a large one the Day follow- ing at North Wales (it being their Monthly meeting for Business), wherein we were comforted together." * * * [In the following year, having in the meantime visited numerous meetings throughout the country, he was at Goshen, near the end of the 8th month (October), and says : "I went from there to North Wales, and was at two meetings there, wherein Divine Goodness was manifested."]
Returning to our notice of Evan Evans, we find him mentioned by John Churchman as "a grave and solid Friend." Gwynedd Monthly Meeting's memorial 1 speaks of him strongly. One or two passages have already been cited. It says "he was favored with an excellent gift in the ministry, which he exercised in solemn dread and reverence. -X * Besides his travels through many of the colonies, he also frequently visited the several counties in this province, and more particu- larly many of the adjacent meetings in their infancy ; wherein his unwearied labours of love tended much to their comfort, growth, and establishment in the truth." The memorial alludes to his usefulness in the administration of the Society's discipline, and to his consistency of conduct in private life ; it adds that " he was abroad in the service of truth when attacked with his last illness; and as the disorder was slow and tedious, he attended several meetings in the fore part thereof," etc. He was about 63 years old when he died,- July 24th, 1747.
Alice Griffith, the wife of Hugh Griffith, is also amongst those who have a memorial in the 1787 Collection. . It says
1 Collection of 1787, p. 137.
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that "being a woman of great integrity and uprightness of heart, she became very serviceable in divers respects ; zealous for maintaining good order and Christian discipline in the church. She was well qualified for that weighty service of visiting families, having at such opportunities to communicate of her own experience ; * and * would often be drawn forth in opening divine mysteries, as if she had been in a large assembly, as many witnessess can testffy that have been sensibly reached,-yea, baptized by her religious visits." The language of the memorial does not convey the impression that she was a minister, except in the sense just presented. It speaks of her concern to stir up Friends "to a close attendance of meetings both on First and other days, as also to observe the hour appointed, being herself a good example there- in, until, by old age and infirmity of body, she was disabled, which was about three years before her removal." She died April Ist, 1749, but the memorial does not state her age.
William Trotter, whose memorial from Gwynedd Monthly Meeting is also in the Collection of 1787, was a minister at Plymouth. He died on the 19th of 8th month, 1750, aged about 53 years and 6 months. It may be presumed that he was, occasionally at least, an attendant and minister at Gwynedd.
Ann Roberts, who died on the 9th of 4th month, 1740, was a native of Wales, and had been a minister for fifty years. (She was seventy-three at her death.) She was a widow, Ann Bennett, of Abington, when she married Rowland Roberts, and removed to Gwynedd. The memorial of Gwynedd Monthly Meeting, in the 1787 Collection, says : "Her first coming to reside among us was seasonable, for we having but few ministers, the field before her was extensive, in which she labored fervently," etc. Her usefulness in drawing out younger ministers is noted, and it is added that " she went pretty much
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abroad, visiting Friends in this and the adjacent provinces, to- wit, the Jerseys, Maryland, Virginia, and Carolina, accompanied to the remotest parts by her near and dear friend Susanna Morris. In her more advanced years she visited Great Britain, accompanied by our esteemed friend Mary Pennel X- * After her return she met with great difficulties in respect to her outward circumstances, which she sustained with Christian fortitude. * After this, she met with a very heavy affliction in the loss of her husband, which she likewise bore with becoming resignation," etc. She suffered from the dropsy near the close of her life.
Other memorials are given in the Collection of 1787 con- cerning Jane Jones, the wife of John Jones, "carpenter," of Montgomery ; Ellen Evans, the wife of John Evans, and daugh- ter of Rowland Ellis; Mary Evans, the wife of Owen Evans ; and William Foulke, the son of Thomas. John Comly re- marks, in Friends' Miscellany, what is very noticeable to any careful reader of these and the other memorials referred to, that they are written with unusual merits of composition. He says that "the order, the originality, and perspicuity displayed in these documents furnish a lively evidence of the literary qualifi- cations of the Friends of Gwynedd and Plymouth,"- and the candid reader who is at all in sympathy with their subject matter, must admit that this praise is fairly bestowed.
Jane Jones, Ellen Evans, and William Foulke were valued members, as is clearly apparent from their memorials, but they were not ministers. Mary, the wife of Owen Evans, was born in Philadelphia in 1695, and married Owen in 1736. She died in 1769. Her memorial says1 " Her public appearances were not very frequent, but when she spoke her testimony was fervent, sound, and edifying She was several times
1 Collection of 1787, p. 276.
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drawn forth in the love of the Gospel to visit Friends in most of the provinces on this continent, also the island of Tortola, which she undertook with the unity of her friends at home, and re- turned with clear and satisfactory accounts of her labors amongst those whom she visited."
Of Margaret Jones, there is a brief extract from the monthly meeting memorial in the John Smith manuscripts. It says " she received a precious share of Gospel ministry *
* And altho' the latter part of her life was attended with many trials and afflictions, nevertheless we believe she held her integrity to the end." Margaret was the wife of John Jones, the son of William John. She died in April, 1743, and was buried at Germantown.
It is impossible to study the records of this early period of the colony's experience without being impressed with the evident strength of character and the sincere religious nature of those who composed it. The tendencies and convictions of the people of Gwynedd, at that time, were obviously those of a simple and sincere body of Christians, closely united in feeling, and maintaining in an unusual degree the primitive virtues of life.
XI. Narrative of John Humphrey, of Merion.
T HE following document refers entirely to occurrences in Wales,- chiefly hardships experienced by the Friends, at certain periods, on account of their religious views. Its relation to the history of Gwynedd, it must be admitted, is not direct. But many of the incidents and details which it embodies concern persons who make a part of this history, and it throws light upon the character of the Welsh people who settled in Merion and Gwynedd, and upon their manner of life in the old country. The document, I believe, has never been printed ; I obtained it from a copy preserved amongst the papers of the late Lewis Jones, of Gwynedd.1 (In Besse's Sufferings of Friends some of the incidents here related at length will be found briefly men- tioned, but most of the document is unique.)
John Humphrey, who left this account, was not the early Gwynedd settler of that name, as might reasonably be pre- sumed, but another person altogether, and perhaps not even a kinsman. He was John Humphrey, "of Merion." He came to Pennsylvania in 1683, amongst the first of the Welsh immi- grants, and had a considerable tract of land in what is now Lower Merion, directly adjoining the Haverford line. He was a personal friend of Thomas Lloyd, the associate of Penn, and Deputy Governor, and upon the occasion of Thomas's death,
1 Lewis, I conclude, was the great-great-grandson of Rees John, repeatedly men- tioned in John Humphrey's narrative.
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in 1694, sent to his brother Charles Lloyd, of Dolobran, Wales,1 a well-expressed and impressive letter of condolence, a copy of which is also preserved in the Lewis Jones manuscript, but which I do not think it necessary to reproduce.
John Humphrey 2 was evidently a person of considerable intelligence, and of more than the average education of his time. His Narrative, though quaint, is always perspicuously, and often strongly, composed ; and his acquaintance with English was so unusually good, for a Welshman of his period, that he translated into English words and rhyme, Thomas Ellis's "Song of Rejoicing," a Welsh poem of three stanzas.3
John Humphrey left no children. But many persons of the same family name are descended from the sons of his brother Samuel.4
A Brief Narrative of the Sufferings of the Christian People called Quakers at Llwyn Grwill in Merioneth Shire, North Wales, Great Brittain, by John Humphrey.
In the year 1661 our sufferings in Llwyn Grwill was very Cruel, our Persecutors driving us out of our Religious Meetings, and putting us in a
1 The Lloyds were persons of education and wealth. Details concerning them, their family descent, etc., may conveniently be consulted in Keith's Provincial Coun- cillors of Pennsylvania.
2 He came over in 1683, with his wife Joan, and appears to have been, then, of Llwundu, in Merionethshire Their certificate from the Quarterly meeting of Merion- ethshire attests that he had been a friend for 23 years (i.e. since about 1660, as indicated in his Narrative), that he was faithful in times of great suffering, and that his house "was a free receptacle for Friends." It describes him, also, as " a minister, of few words, according to his measure." He died in Merion, on the 28th of 7th month, 1699, aged 66 years. His will was dated in 1699 and probated in 1700. His wife had died in 1698. His will shows his interest in literature by a legacy for reprinting an old Welsh book or tract, and he proves his kindly disposition by numerous gifts of remembrance to children of friends and neighbors.
3 It is given by Dr. Smith, in his History of Delaware County. Thomas Ellis was an early settler in Haverford, and a prominent citizen, serving for some time as Register General of the Province. He died in 1688.
4 Some details as to this family will be found farther on, in a foot-note to the Narrative.
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Pennfold by the Highway side, while they were drinking and making Merry over us, and over the witness of God in themselves, and in a Scoff- ing way asking if a little Dog that followed us was the Spirit that led us. After they had filled themselves for their work they drove us two Miles by the Sea Shore, Abusing us with their Swords, forcing us to trot before their Horses, it being late & Intending to Oblige the Ferryman to put us on a little Island or bank of Sand in the Sea, where they thought to secure us for that Night, that they might find us safe the next Morning, to drive us 24 miles farther where some of our Friends were in Prison ; they having no Warrant or Officer among them ; but some of our kind Neighbors over- took us before they had us into the boat, and treated with them between Jest and Earnest, so that they released us out of their hands that Night ; but Soon after, the same came in the night time and broke open the House of John William, the Father of Evan John and Rees John,1 who laid down their Bodies in Pennsylvania,? they Violently haled the Family out of their Beds Except their Mother, who was a cripple and could not stir but as she was helped in Bed, they drove them a Mile before Day, slapping them with their Swords (leaving none in the House but the Impotent Woman), and they put them in a Ale-House, while they were Seeking After others. The chief of them went to the house (where my Wife liv'd with her Brother before She was Married), and Knocked at the door ; She, suppos- ing who it was, kept the door shut while she dressed herself, knowing he had no good Design. When he came in he took her and sent her to the
1 Evan John and Rees John were early settlers in Merion. The former (as I have already said in Chapter VIII.) may have been the father of Robert John, one of the first company in Gwynedd. Rees John,- often called Rees John William, i.e. Rees, the son of John Williams,- came from Wales in 1684, arriving from Philadelphia on the 17th of 7th month (September), in the ship Vine, from Liverpool, William Preeson, master. With him were his wife Hannah and their two sons, Richard and Evan, and daughter Lowry. They had, after their arrival, several other children, one of whom, John, b. 1688, removed about 1710 to Montgomery, and was there well known as John Jones, " carpenter." Details concerning him are elsewhere given in this volume, and he will be found often alluded to. His (John's) brother Richard married for his first wife, Jane Evans ; their sister Lowry was the second wife of Hugh Evans (son of Thomas), of Gwynedd ; and their mother (widow of Rees John) became the second wife of Thomas Evans. So that the connection in different ways between the two Johns named above and the settlers of Gwynedd was very intimate.
2 Rees John died IIth mo. 26th, 1697. John Humphrey's Narrative was there- fore written between that time and his own death, in 1699.
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rest of the Company, and went up and down taking all Sorts that did not go to the Steeple-House, even the Milkmaids from Cottages in their Shifts and Petticoats, barefooted, driving them 20 miles before their Horses, not Suffering them to go out of the very Channel of the Road. They met an old Woman coming from the Mill with a small bag of Meal on her Head (her Son and Daughter used to come to our Meetings some times), they flung down the bag into the Channel, & made the Old woman trot six Miles before their Horses, untill She was quite tired, there they left her in the Road, and sent the rest to Prison, to a town Called Balla,1 & there they remained a Considerable time before they were released. I have seen some of these persecutors afterwards come to our Doors & gladly would accept of a Crust of Bread at our hands. Soon after they were Re- leased they were taken by a Warrant & brought before a Justice who tendered the Oath unto them & upon their Refusal they were committed to Prison, & also all sorts of Professors that were under the least Convince- ment were sent to prison Untill the Prison was filled. There they all Re- mained till the Assize, where they paid two shillings & sixpence a Week for their Diet besides Duties & Custom which would Amount to a Great Sum of Money in a Year, from every one, which was no small gain to the Gaoler. Then they began to Count the cost & thought what Estate they had would soon be consumed at that Rate, and that it was better for them to Yield soon than late, & Such that were not willing to part with all went away with the flood at the assize.
But I may not Omit to Record for a Memorial to Posterity, the faith- full Sufferings & sore afflictions in particular of four Friends, to wit, my Brother Samuel Humphrey (who Ran his race and finished his Course in the land of his Nativity, but his Wife and seven Children 2 in the Year
1 Bala is an important market town in Merionethshire, on the Dee. It is not, however, the shire-town, Dolgelly having that distinction.
2 The wife (Elizabeth) came, as here stated, in 1683. But her son Daniel had preceded her, having come the previous year. Elizabeth's certificate is from the Quarterly Meeting of Merionethshire, dated 5th mo. 27th, 1683, and signed by thirteen persons, among whom are Owen Humphrey (brother of her deceased husband, and of John, the author of the Narrative above), Rowland Ellis, and two Robert Owens. It refers also to her children, of whom five are named. From a family list furnished me by Philip P. Sharples, West Chester, the names of her seven children were Lydia, Daniel, Benjamin, Joseph, Rebecca, Ann, and Gobitha. Daniel Humphrey took up land in Haverford, and m. 1695, Hannah, daughter of Dr. Thomas Wynne, of Wynne- wood, in Lower Merion. Rebecca Humphrey (d. 1733) married Edward Reese, who d. 1728, and was buried at Merion Friends' m. h. Daniel and Hannah (Wynne)
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1683 Transported themselves to Pennsylvania) ; [and] the two Brothers Evan John & Reese John aforementioned, & one John William a poor Husband-man who went through great Conflicts & Suffered the Buffeting of Saten both within and without. These refused to Swear at all and pro- duced a Special Command for it, & by good Authority from the only Law giver who hath Power to kill & to save. This Doctrine indeed was not Preached at large Amongst us in those Days.1
It may be said, as before was said of Peter & John, the Innocent Boldness of these Illiterate Men that could not Read nor write save in their own Language, the Court were astonished & mad with fury because they could not make them bow to their Wills, when so many had obeyed their commands & bowed to the Image they had set up and taken the Oath upon their knees. Their Anger was kindled against these faithful sufferers and [they] Commanded them to be Chain'd in Irons, which was Immediately done by the gaoler in Presence of the Court, linking them two and two, & Binding their hands on their backs, then Conveyed them from thence to the gaoler's House, where they remained all Night in that Posture. The County gaol was long 12 Miles distant from that town & [there] happen'd to be exceeding Stormy weather & great floods in their way. When the gaol was Removed they were forced to travel all Coupled in Chains, only their hands were loosed & when they were brought to the Gaol the Gaoler provided Meat & Drink & Beds at the same rate as he Charg'd them and others before Sessions. He put his Victuals on a table, and Called some of his Associates to see him tender- ing his meat to them, Asking them if that was not sufficient for such Men to Eat, & and some said it was Sufficient Enough. Then he Vowed
Humphrey had ten children, of whom six were sons, and from this couple descended (son) Charles, who was a member of the Continental Congress, 1774-76 ; (grandson) Joshua, a great ship-builder of Philadelphia, and designer of several ships of the early American navy; (great-grandson) Samuel, who was the Chief Constructor in the American navy, from 1815 to 1846; and General A. A. Humphrey, of the U. S. Army, who served with distinction in the War against the Rebellion. Elizabeth Humphrey's son Benjamin, named in the certificate, settled in Haverford, but removed to Merion, where his uncle John, (the Narrative author), dying childless, had left him his own farm. He m., 1694, Mary Llewellyn, of Haverford, and died in 1738, aged 76. The daughters named in the certificate, Lydia and Ann, m. respectively Ellis Ellis and Edward Robert; Gobitha d. 1697, unmarried.
1 I take this to imply that up to this time it had not been urged by Quaker preachers, in that part of Wales, that it was wrong to take a judicial oath.
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with Curses & Oaths, that if they would not take that, he would famish them to Death, & their Blood should be upon their own Heads, & some affirmed that he Might do so, and so he did Endeavour to do for a long while, but some means was found in his Absence to Convey a little Victuals through a little hole in the wall on the Point of a pike to keep them alive. They were kept Close Prisoners until the next Assize, then the Judge came that Circuit & they were Released, but the Gaoler being sorely Vexed by the Disappointment he had from the Quakers, after he had Promised himself all they had, he Could get nothing from them, then he devised some Mischief against Samuel Humphrey, Supposing him to be the Author of his Overthrow. He advanc'd some Action Against him in the County Court & got a Writ to the Sheriff, and attacked him on a fair Day when he was about his Business, So that he was Clapt in Prison in depth of winter, having neither fire nor Cloaths for nine Days & Nights, save what he had on when he was taken and those very wet. Neither would he let him have any Repast but what was Conveyed to him in the Gaoler's Absence, and so Kept him close confined for several Months, until a Friend took the cause in Hand, & the Gaoler was cast in the Suit, still wanting advantage.
I Being all this time sick in Bed, several times threatened to be taken out of Bed to Prison, having a Distemper in my Limbs whereby I lost the use of my Right leg and thigh for a time, [when] I Recovered a little & strove to the Bath. In about a Week after I went there, one Day I was Bathing myself and After went to (as their Manner was) Procure Sweat, I Slumbered a little, & Dreamed that the same Gaoler Invited the said four Friends to his House and laid Meat on the Table before them, telling them whether they would Eat or not he would Make them pay. Supposing there was Something in it I took my Pen and Pocket-Book and Entered the Day & hour I saw it. In a little while after I received an account that Upon the very same Day & Hour they were taken by the same Gaoler with a writ of Quo-Minus from London Upon the Old Action. (I Perceived this was the Lord's doings ; therefore I Record It amongst my Memorials.) And so they were kept a long while in prison Untill the Gaoler was weary of them but got nothing. After they were come home from Prison and I from the Bath, Our Meetings were pretty fresh and we did Count the cost & Resolved to keep them up, come what would ; so on the first Day of the week those that first Molested us came with Swords and Staves into our Meeting, and took Old & Young, Male and Female, as many as was able to go and haled
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