USA > Pennsylvania > Welsh settlement of Pennsylvania > Part 35
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girls, boarders and day scholars. Many prominent Merion men and women began their education at this academy, which gave name to the hamlet here, Academyville.
The general lines of the great tract of land bought by the Welsh Friends for themselves, have already been given. It included eleven and a half of the present contiguous Pensylvania townships, in the counties of Montgomery, Delaware and Chester, these being Lower and Upper Mer- ion, Haverford, Radnor, Tredyffrin, East and West White- land, Willistown, East and West Goshen, East Town, and a part of West Town. The north and west lines of White- land township, are the old Welsh Tract lines. The Welsh Tract's north line separated Tredyffrin tp. and Whiteland tp. from Schuylkill, Charlestown, and Uwchlan townships, and the west line of the Welsh Tract separates West White- land, West Goshen, and the borough of Westchester from East Caln and East Bradford townships. Its northwest cor- ner being the northwest corner of West Whiteland town- ship.
The first three original townships, Merion (Lower), Hav- erford,* and Radnor, have been treated of, and of the others there are the following items concerning their Welsh set- tlers. Of this celebrated tract of land, geologists who have been investigating its structure for years, but have not come to a verdict. One set of gentlemen holding that the Welsh Tract may once have been on the side of a moun- tain 25,000 feet high, and the other, it may have been the bottom of the ocean, a thousand feet below the waves, and in support of this guess, they show the "Bryn Mawr gravel," which is the regular sea gravel, bedded 400 feet
*Haverford tp. taxables in 1715 :- Richard Hayes, Henry Lewis, Samuel Lewis, John Havard, Daniel Humphrey, David Llewellyn, Rowland Powell, Henry Lawrence, Thomas Lawrence, Humphrey Ellis, Samuel Reese, Martha Hughs, Gaynor Musgrove, Huglı David, Robert Wharton, Lidia Ellis, Owen Thomas, John Parry, Daniel Lawrence, David Lewis, and Mireck Davies. Freemen, Jacob Jones, and Evan David.
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above present tide water. But they concur that after the Welsh Tract was dry land, a great glacier coming from the northward scraped the Welsh Tract level, and left the huge limestone blocks, brought miles and miles from their natal bed and left them near the Chester Valley and in Blockley tp., about Race and 66th streets, Philadelphia.
When we go into Upper Merion, we are on ground made sacred by memories of the American Revolution, as many of the military events previous to the army's occupation of nearby Valley Forge farms, in 1777-78, happened within its bounds, though not all occurred in what had been a part of the great Welsh Tract. Swedes' Ford, Flat Land Ford, Matson's Ford and other Schuylkill river crossings of that period, are still landmarks of those strenuous times, when Washington and Howe marched up and down, crossed and recrossed the river, trying to get the advantage of each other, as also are North Valley Hill, Red Hill, Gulf Hill, (or Conshohocking Hill as it was known to the earliest Welsh settlers), Gulf Creek, Gulf Road, and the "old Gulph Mill," built in 1747, near which, in an unidentified farm house, Washington had its headquarters, his army being encamped here a week, 13-19 Dec., before taking possession of Valley Forge .*
Upper Merion's population never approached that of Lower Merion, and in 1741, had only 52 taxables, but in 1857, it had as many post offices, and they were located at Port Kennedy, King of Prussia, and Gulf Mills. At that time, the only public library, besides the Friends' inter- meeting one, in the two townships, was a little affair at the King of Prussia, conducted by Mr. C. J. Elliott, at the inter- section of the Gulf and State roads, and three other roads, and near the tavern where the township elections were held.
In 1734, under the direction of Thomas Penn, when or- ganizing the Land Office, a list of the landowners in Upper
*See "Camp by the old Gulph Mill," Pa. Mag. of His. XVII, p. 414.
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Merion was taken, and in it were named the following Welsh, some of whom were of the families of the carlicst settlers of Lower Merion, who had bought land there, and removed :
Hugh Hughes, Morris Edwards, Owen Thomas, Griffith Philips, Owen Jones, Thomas Junkin, John David, Hugh Williams, Benjamin Davis, Isaac Recs, Richard Bevan,* David Jones, William Recs, Edward Roberts,; Matthew Roberts, Thomas Rees, Harry Griffith, Hannah Jones, Griffith Rees, David Lewis, John Rees. The other land- owners were Swedes, possibly excepting William George, and John Moor.
Although the Abraham family is not in this list of Upper Merion landowners, yet there is evidence that a Sarah Abraham, widow, came from Wales, with her three sons, James, Enoch, and Noah Abraham, and that she bought land from the Letitia Penn estate, in Upper Merion, about 1730, and settled there. The sons married, but Enoch had no issue. James married Margaret Davis, and had a num- ber of children, one of whom, Isaac Abraham, born 28. 4mo. 1717, married Dinah Havard, and from them there are many descendants living in what was the "Welsh Barony."
Whiteland township (East and West Whiteland tps. after 1704), was also originally a part of the Welsh Tract, and in 1704 David Jones was its constable. The extant tax list of 1715, shows the following Welsh were then among its landowners, James Thomas, Richard Thomas, Thomas James, Owen Thomas, Thomas Owen, Llewellyn Parry, David Howell, Rees Hughs, Rees Prichard, James Rowland, Griffith Philips, Evan Lewis, David Meredith, and John
*He lived near Gulf Mills, and in 1751, advertised in the Pena. Gazette, July 24th, as having for sale, "a likely negro man, about 30 years of age, fit for town, or country business," and also a negro girl, aged 15 years. In 1790, there were 114 negro slaves in Mont- gomery Co., but in 1830, only one.
¡He was the 'Squire, 1726-41.
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Martin. Early township officers were J. nes Thomas, Lewis William, David Meredith, Sr., Evan Lewis, Rees Richard, Thomas Owen; James Rowland, James David, Thomas James and Griffith Howell. A petition from this township in 1731, addressed to Richard Hayes, president justice of the Chester Co. Court, shows that there were still many Welshmen in it.
Willistown township landowners in 1715, according to the tax list, were all English people, although this "town" was a part of the Welsh Tract, which was to have been entirely for Welshmen. Thomas Garret was the constable in 1704.
East Town township, another section of the Welsh Tract, had for its constable in 1704, William Thomas, and the 1715 tax list shows names of Welsh landowners, Edward Hugh, Ellis Hughes, Hugh Jones, Morgan Hugh, Philip David, David Davis, John Harris, John David, Evan Thomas, Owen Hugh, Richard Evans, and Thomas Ed- wards, and non-residents, John Pugh, and Owen Humphrey, and William Sharlow.
West Town township had earlier orgarization than the other distant "towns," but only a portion of it was within the Welsh Tract bounds. Its settlers were all English. Daniel Hoopes was its constable, in 1700, and possibly earlier.
Tredyffrin township, in Chester county, was also a por- tion of the original Welsh Tract. The Welsh knew this "town" as Tre yr Dyffryn, (the town in the wide valley, that is the great nd beautiful Chester Valley), according to the extant tax list of 1722. The English knew it as Vel- leyton, in 1708. This township was organized about 1707, when it appears that Thomas David, a Welshman, was the constable. Among the landowners in the Great Valley, in 1722, were James Abraham, Morris David, Hugh David, James David, Sr., John David, Henry David, Thomas David, James Davies, William Davies, Timothy Davies, Stephen Evans, Lewis Evans, William Evans, John Howell, Griffith
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WELSH SETTLEMENT OF PENSYLVANIA
Jones, Sr. and Jr., Thomas Jermon, Thomas James, Jenkin Lewis, James Parry, John Robert, Thomas Martin, Thomas Godfrey, Samuel Richard, John Richard, all Welshmen, and Daniel and Lewis Walker, Thomas Hubbert, Mark Hub- bert, &c. It seems that in early days, the landowners, resi- dents of a "town," took turns in being the constable. In this township there served this office, 1707-1753, Thomas David, Griffith John, Rowland Richard, John David, Owen Gethen, Stephen Evans, John Roberts.
The earliest road supervisors were also Welshmen, among them, David John, Thomas James, John David, Thomas Martin, Stephen Evans, &c. The extant tax list for 1715 for this township shows that the following Welsh were land owners in it: Thomas Jarman, Sr. and Jr., Stephen Evans, Rowland Richard, Griffith John, John Roberts, James David, Margaret Walters, John David, John David Howell, Thomas Rees, Owen Gethen, John David Griffith, Llewellyn David, James Parry, Henry John, David Evan, Thomas David, Thomas Martin, Thomas Godfrey, and Thomas Hubbert, and Lewis Walker. The non-resident holders were Capt. Nordant, Benjamin Davies, Mordecai Moore, and William Evans.
Over the roads of this township portions of the contend- ing armies of the Revolution maneuvered for positions, and it was while Gen. Howe's division was in this township, he sent Gen. Grey in the night to surprise and attack Gen. Wayne, near Paoli Inn, when Wayne was surprised and 150 of his soldiers were killed and wounded, and 80 taken pris- oners, and his cannon and baggage carried off by the British.
Goshen township, (divided in 1817 into East and West Goshen township), though originally a portion of the great Welsh Tract, and where nearly all of the early Welsh Friends had to accept as the location of half of their pur- chase from Penn, was too far away to become settled till nearly twenty years after the first coming of the Welsh, and, for some reason, but few of them settled there. The
[492]
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township is presumed to have been organized about 1704, as this is the time when it had its first constable, Cad- walader Ellis, a Welshman. The oldest extant tax list is of 1715, and there are few Welshmen mentioned, namely Ellis David, Cadwalader Ellis, Ellis William, Thomas Evans, and the following non-resident landowners, Dr. Edward Jones, Dr. Griffith Owen, Thomas Jones and Robert Jones. Gov. Lloyd owned considerable land in the southwest part of the township. His executors, in 1706, sold 797 and 850 acres here. In 1702, they had sold 965 acres to John Haines, a resident of West Jersey, and the city of Westchester stands, made a borough in 1788, on part of this tract, and on a part of a 1,100 tract owned by Richard Thomas, of Whitland. His land lay east of High street, and Lloyd's south of Gay street. East of Richard Thomas's land was 346 acres owned by Evan Jones, and 350 acres owned by Ellis David. Next was a tract of 635 acres owned by John ap Thomas's sons, Thomas Jones, &c. The first Welshman to settle in Goshen is supposed to have been Robert Williams. An extant peti- tion, dated 1731, shows only the following apparently Welshmen out of thirty-two signers, Thomas Evans, David Davies, Ellis Williams, Richard Jones, and Thomas Price. On the extant tax list of 1753, only the Welsh names of David Davis, Thomas Evans, and Amos Davis are among the taxables, and in the 1774 list, not so many.
[493]
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FRIENDS MEETINGS OF THE WELSH TRACT
MERION FRIENDS' MEETING HOUSE, CIRCA 1830.
MERION, HAVERFORD, RADNOR
The Welsh Friends being of course pious, and in full . appreciation of the liberty their new home gave them to meet for worship without molestation, joined together for thanks and communion as soon as they became in a manner settled. These first meetings upon their land at the Falls of the Schuylkill, were beneath the great trees of the pri- meval forest about them, in pleasant weather, and, other- wise, at the primitive home of a family in their settle- ment, be it then a cave, tent, or a lean-to shelter, and sub- sequently in the dwelling houses they immediately erected.
This was the experience in each Welsh township- Merion and Haverford, and subsequently in Radnor, Gos- hen, and the others-where the little settlements were far apart, for several years, till the inhabitants increased in such number, that central, convenient public houses for worship were required.
At this period, these two contiguous settlements of the Welsh Friends, in Merion and Haverford, with a third one, mostly of English people, in the Western city liber- ties, adjoining the great Welsh Tract, held their meetings independently, not yet being large enough to effect the or- gan' ation peculiar to the Society.
In Philadelphia, where there was soon a large popula- tion of Friends, and there being several small peculiar, particular, or preparative meetings, then amenable and subordinate to the Burlington monthly meeting, the neces- sity for the proper local organization was sooner experi- enced and accomplished. The first conference of resident "city Friends" for this purpose was held on 9. 11mo. (Jan.) 1682-3, when it was ordered that those present, and other Friends in town, bring their certificates of membership
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WELSH SETTLEMENT OF PENSYLVANIA
and removal, vouching their good standing, issued to them by the meetings of which they had been members in the old country, and submit them for examination and record, at the business mecting to be held on 6. 12mo. following. This was accordingly done by a great number, and on 6. 1mo. (March) 1682-3, the distinctive Philadelphia monthly and quarterly meetings were regularly instituted.
As the initial meetings in Merion and Haverford were composed of those who had been friends and neighbors in the old country, and belonged to the same monthly mect- ing, there was no occasion, till long afterwards, for a call for certificates as to the standing of anyone, hence, there are few recorded early in the books of the Haverford (Rad- nor) monthly meeting, unlike that of Philadelphia, which was in a great measure a congregation of strangers.
The following are some of the earliest Welsh Tract settlers who brought certificates from meetings in Wales and England to the Haverford (Radnor) monthly meeting : Evan Jones; Mary Elis, widow; Rowland Ellis; Treharn David; Evan ap William Powell; David Powell and wife Gainor; Philip Evan; Elizabeth Owen; Rebecca Humph- rey; Alice v. James Lewis; Thomas Duckett and wife, and his sister Mary; Hugh Roberts; Cadwallader Morgan ; Hugh John Thomas; John Robert of Llun; Robert David; Katherine Robert; Gaynor Robert; John Jarman; David Meredith; Stephen Evans; David James, Rees Petter; John Humphrey; Richard Humphrey; Elizabeth Humph- rey, widow; Joshua Owen; Margaret John, widow; John Rhydderch; Thomas Jones; Thomas Ellis; John Bevan; Ralph Lewis; John Richard; Rees John; Griffith Owen; Sarah Hearne; Howell James; Owen Morgan; Mary Tyd- dur; Matthew Holgate; Ellis Pugh; Robert Tuddur; Robert Ellis; Jane Griffith; Anne Jones; Griffith John, widower; Robert Owen and wife Rebecca; David Price's children; Maud Richard; John Rice, &c.
It is of interest that certificates of the following Welsh Friends were among the earliest filed in the Philadelphia
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WELSH FRIENDS' MEETINGS
monthly meeting: Henry Lewis, Lewis David, and William Howel, from the Redstone meeting, in Pembrokeshire, dated 6. 6mo. 1682. They became of the founders of the preparative mecting of Haverford. Samuel and James Miles, from Montgomery-llainhangel meeting, in Radnor- shire, dated 27. 5mo. 1683, who settled in Haverford. Thomas Ellis from the quarterly meeting, at Dolyserre, in Merionethshire, dated 27. 5mo. 1683, a large Welsh Tract landowner. Evan Morris, and his wife Gainor, from the quarterly meeting at Tyddyn y Garreg, Merionethshire, dated 8. 5mo. 1690. They settled at Gwynedd. Evan Powel, a weaver, and his wife Gwen, from Nantmell, Radnorshire, dated 20. 3mo. 1698. Thomas Powell and Edward Moore, from Landwdaen parish, Radnorshire, dated 20. 3mo. 1698. Lumley Williams, from Radnor Town, dated 20. 3mo. 1698. These Welsh Friends, all from Radnorshire, came over with Penn, in the "Welcome": Thomas Jones and Evan Oliver, and his wife Jean, and their children, David, Elizabeth, John, Hannah, Mary, Evan, and "Seaborn."
As said, in the first year, the three small separate meet- ings for the Welsh Tract, and the Liberties, had no further organization than as independent preparative meetings. In Merion Town, there were, in the year 1682, only five families, those of Dr. Edward Jones, Robert David, Wil- liam Edward, Edward Rees, and John Edward; in Haver- ford Town, only the families of Lewis David, Henry Lewis, William Howell, and George Painter, and in the adjoining "city liberties," only those of Thomas Duckett and Barnaby Wilcox, while in far off D' idnor Town, there were no families at all, (although by his map, Surveyor-Genera Holme would have it believed there were forty settlements in Rad- nor tp., and thirty-two in Haverford, in the following year). Tl. efore, it can be said. Friends' families across the Schuyl. il, in 1682-3, were "few and far between."
In June. five months after the Philadelphia Friends' fa;nilies were numerous enough to separate themselves from the Burlington monthly meeting, and organize the Philadel-
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WELSH SETTLEMENT OF PENSYLVANIA
phia monthly meeting, we learn from the minutes of the latter, under 5. 4mo. 1683, that the English Friends living over the Schuylkill river, nearest the city, had a small meet- ing which gathered at the home of Thomas Duckett. This memorandum, made when the Philadelphia monthly meeting was considering the settling of the preparative meetings in Philadelphia County, says, it was "agreed that there be a first-day publick meeting at Philadelphia, and a first-day publick meeting at Skuylkill." And "agreed that every other first-day there be a publick meeting of friends for the wor- ship of the Lord at the house of Thomas Duckett, on the other side of Skuylkill, and that the meetings in these two places [Philadelphia and Duckett's house], make one monthly meeting."
From this, it might be presumed that the "English Friends living over the Schuylkill" were numerous, (but they were only two families), and that the Welsh Friends were not recognized by the Philadelphians. But other minutes clearly show that the Welsh met with these English at Mr. Duckett's, so it may have been only convenience to designate all the little meetings over the Schuylkill, as "Duckett's meeting," for, when the Philadelphia quarterly meeting was established, composed at first of the Philadel- phia, "Duckett's," Tackony, and Poquessin meetings, in Philadelphia County, it appears that Welshmen and Eng- lishmen represented "Duckett's meeting," or "Skuylkill meeting," as it was variously called. But it was not until the Philadelphia quarterly meeting of December, 1684, that the Welsh meetings were distinctively recognized, although they "belonged to the quarterly meeting" from the first.
It has been presumed that after Hugh Roberts arrived here with his family, in Nov. 1683, accompanied by four families for the "Thomas & Jones tract," namely those of the widow Thomas, William Jones, Cadwalader Morgan, and Hugh Jones, and John Bevan's, and some other families, that settled nearby, or in Haverford, he set out to organize the two Welsh preparative meetings into a monthly meet-
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ing; but this arrangement was not consented to by the Philadelphia quarterly meeting till the following spring, who, in the minutes of the Philadelphia monthly meet- ing, under 4. 1mo. 1683-4, is the statement :- "It being proposed to this meeting that the friends of Wales, beyond Skuylkill, belonging to the Quarterly meeting, may be allowed to keep a weekly and a monthly meeting amongst themselves. The meeting agreed, thereunto."
This was the birth of the Welsh monthly meeting, known for several years only as the "Skuylkill monthly meeting," but which was called both the Merion, and the Haverford monthly meeting later, and subsequently, when the prepara- tive meeting of Radnor was added, the union became known as the Radnor monthly meeting, and ever since has been tributary to the Philadelphia quarterly meeting, an arrange- ment positively decided upon in 1698, after the Welshmen's "boundary line troubles," when these Welsh meetings refused to be within the jurisdiction of the Chester monthly, or the quarterly meeting, although located in Chester Co., and in this stand they had the consent and support of the yearly meeting, as elsewhere stated.
The cause of there being several names for the Welsh Friends' monthly meeting may be found in the early custom of these Friends to hold their monthly meetings alternately with each preparative meeting, those of Merion, Haverford, and Schuylkill, as the little meeting in the Liberties was called, the gatherings being at the dwellings of members of the Society, and, from the minutes of these mectings, the men's and the women's, it is learned that wherever a monthly meeting was held, it was called by the name of the "town" in which the dwelling used was situated. This was, of course, before the permanent name "Radnor" was adopted. As late as 26. 6mo. 1706, the Chester monthly meeting minutes record that the Newtown meeting had received "from the Merion Monthly Meeting," a general certificate,
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WELSH SETTLEMENT OF PENSYLVANIA
recommending William Lewis, Sr. and Jr., Evan Lewis, Lewis Lewis, Rees IIowell, William Bevan, and William Thomas.
It would be natural to suppose that this new monthly meeting had borne permanently the name of "Merion," when the designation "Schuylkill" was dropped, in honor of the eldest of the original meetings in the Tract; but in deciding upon the name, it was the unanimous wish that it should bear the name of "Haverford," (and for the same reason it subsequently was called "Radnor"), because of the brave opposition that meeting put up against the plot of the Chester people to divide the Welsh Tract, and refusing courteously but flatly to be in the jurisdiction of the Chester monthly meeting.
The extant minutes of the monthly meetings held at the dwellings of Friends in the Western Liberties, Merion and Haverford, till in 1698, open with the minutes of the first four "men' meetings," and seem to be complete for these early years, but then comes a gap of seven years in them, without any known reason, and when the record is resumed, the monthly meeting is no longer called "Haverford" but "Radnor," without any suggestion why the change of name took place. This hiatus is provoking, as it occurs at an important time in the life of the Welsh colony, the period of its contention for autonomy. And then, too, we might have found reliable information concerning the date of building the stone meeting house for Merion, and what accommodations were had for meetings in Merion and Haverford before their houses were erected, aside from meeting once a month at dwellings.
Or, more particularly, the minutes of the men's monthly meeting are from 10. 2mo. 1684, to 12. 6mo. 1686; 15. 5mo. 1693, to 12. 8mo. 1699; 1709 to 9. 9mo. 1704, and from 10. 10mo. 1712. (Originals at No. 140 N. 15th St., Philadel- phia.) And the minutes of the women's monthly meeting are 12. 1mo. 1684-5, to 1740, and from 1746. (Original at No. 142 N. 16th St., Philadelphia). Minutes of the men's
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meeting Merion, 1701-2, 12mo. 6 to 6. 5mo. 1705, and of women's meeting, Merion, 1702-1705, both at No. 140 N. 15th St. Philadelphia. Records of Radnor monthly meet- ing from 23. 8mo. 1682 (births, marriages, deaths, certifi- cates, &c), originals at No. 142 N. 16th st. Philadelphia.
The first entry in the records of the "Haverford monthly meeting," of the Welsh Friends, in its "old limp-leather book," is under "2d month, 10th., 1683-4," telling that at the men's meeting, held at Thomas Duckett's house, "two couples passed." These were Thoma . Stampford and Joane Hooding, and Humphrey Ellis and Gwen Rees, who "declared their intentions of marri ge with each other." Each monthly meeting of these Friends appointed a place for the holding of the next meeting, of course, always at some neighbor's dwelling. "Weekday meetings" were also held at Mr. Duckett's on each "third day," and "at Haver- ford" on 4th days, and "at Merion" on 6th days.
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