USA > Pennsylvania > Welsh settlement of Pennsylvania > Part 37
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12. 6mo. "Lewis David, Thomas Thomas, and Edward William are desired to take frd's contributions in Cash to defray the Charge of having the Royal assent to ye affirma- tion act & make report thereof at next meeting."
9. 7mo. "The friends appointed to receive ffrd's contribu- tions towards having ye Royal assent to ye Affirmation Act is continued, and advised to press friends to bring it in as soon as may be, in order to be paid to Richard Hill before ye yearly meeting."
9. 10mo. "Edward William produced a Receipt signed by Richard Hill for £8. 18, received of him and Thomas Thomas, towards negotiating the affirmation act, for account of this meeting."
That these first settlers, pioneers in Pensylvania, Welsh Friends all, were sensible of the part they were taking in building a new world, and wished to appear to posterity at their best, both as to their acts and themselves and families, may be presumed from two of their contemporary records.
First, in the minutes of the Haverford (Radnor) monthly meeting, under date of 12. 11mo. 1698, a committee, consist- ing of John Bevan, Hugh Roberts, Rowland Ellis, and John
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WELSH SETTLEMENT OF PENSYLVANIA
Humphreys, who were among the leading men of the Welsh Tract, were appointed "to inspect and view over the [book of] minutes of this monthly meeting, since our arrival here, that it may be placed in order to enter upon Record for the service of generations to come." By entry in 9mo. 1607 it may be learned that this monthly meeting "decided t" buy a book in which to enter testimonies concerning ffriends of this monthly meeting." This we take to mean that cur Welsh Friends were proud of their acts and proceedings, and wished future generations to profit by not only their teachings, but the'r experiences.
Secondly, in the minutes of the Merion preparative meet- ing, under date of 3. 9mo. 1704, "Ordered to file accounts of themselves, Children, servants, and families, and their removal to this country, their place of abode in their native country," &c "to be kept in Remembrance to Generations to comc." f. mbers of the meeting were commanded to bring such accounts to the next meeting. At this sitting, it was also ordered t. procure a book in which to enter the births, marriages, deaths and burials of members of the Merion meeting.
That many accounts of members and their families were presented and copied into a book, appears on the minutes of this meeting, but the book into which they were entered as "Remembrance to Generations to come," is said to have been "lost" when the clerk of the Merion meeting carried off its record books at the "separation." But several families kept copies of the accounts filed, and they have been pre- served to the present day. These accounts, written by them- selves, of the antecedents of the first settlers, supplemented by the certificates of removal from Friends' meetings in the old country, and in several cases by "long drawn out" genealogies in the Welsh tongue, are what makes the pedi- grees of these early settlers so substantial.
It appears from the minutes of the Merion meeting that the following members filed sketches of themselves. 1704, 8. 10mo., Dr. Edward Jones, Rowland Ellis, and his uncle,
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.
WELSH FRIENDS' MEETINGS
John Humphrey, "per R. Ellis"; on 5. 11mo., John Roberts, Dr. Thomas Wynne, "per E. Jones"; on 2. 12mo., Edward Rees, Rees John, "per son Richard Jones, of Ulwyn-Gwrill, Clynin parish, Merioneth," and on 2. 1mo. 1704-5, William Howard, John Edward, "per brother William Howard," Evan Edward, "per brother William Howard," and Rich- ard Walter.
The below data as to the birth dates of some of the earliest settlers in the first "Towns" of the Welsh Tract, in this connection is of interest. It is from a paper which passed through the hands of Jesse George, and who indenti- fied it, on 1. 22. 1775, as having been memoranda made by Edward Roberts (a son of the minister, Hugh Roberts), when on a visit to Merionethshire, from the original records. Mr. George says that David George was appointed in 1750, by the Radnor Mo. Mtg., to record the births of children of members of the meeting, and that Hugh Roberts, a son of the aforesaid Edward Roberts, gave him this paper. In 1758, Jesse George was appointed to record the births, and he copied Edward Roberts's data into the proper book, "which was all in the British language." It may be noticed that Edward did not give to some of the children the sur- names they afterwards ised.
Children.
Born.
Parent. page).
Elizabeth Edward,
12.
18. 1671. John.
91
Sarah Edward,
11.
8. 1673.
91
Elizabeth Edward,
3.
14. 1672.
William.
85
Catherine Thomas,
6.
20. 1673.
John.
122
Robert Roberts,
11.
7. 1673.
Hugh.
102
Evan Thomas,
5.
8. 1675.
John.
120
Ellin Roberts,
10.
4. 1675.
Hugh.
102
Catherine Edward,
11.
29. 1676.
William.
85
Evan Edward,
2.
2. 1677.
John.
90
Mary Thomas,
8.
8. 1677.
John.
120
John Evan,
8.
11. 1677.
Robert.
Owen Roberts,
10.
1. 1677.
Hugh.
109
Jane David,
2.
28.
1678.
Robert.
83
Mart . . Jones,
3.
10.
1678.
Edward.
74
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WELSH SETTLEMENT OF PENSYLVANIA
(Sce
Children.
Born.
Parent. page).
Hannah Jones,
7.
22. 1678.
William.
105
Cadwallader Thomas,
11.
1. 1678.
John.
122
Morgan Morgan,
6. 25. 1679.
Cadwallader.
107
Rees Rees,
11.
11. 1678.
Edward.
80
Catherine David,
1.
25. 1680.
Robert.
83
Edward Roberts,
2. 4. 1680.
Hugh.
103
Jonathan Jones,
11.
3. 1680.
Edward. 75
Catherine Rees,
12.
1. 1680. Edward.
81
Edward Edward,
8.
5. 1681. John.
90
William Roberts,
3.
26.
1682.
Hugh.
103
Edward Morg n,
6. 22. 1682.
Cadwallader.
107
Sydney Thomas,
6.
14.
1682.
John.
120
Rachel Ellis,
1.
27. 1675.
Robert .*
Abel
1.
1677.
Moses
10.
5.
1679.
..
Ellis
12.
2. 1681-2.
. .
Aaron
8.
1685.
. .
Evan
1.
1.
1687-88. ¥
. .
Jane "
4.
24.
1690.
66
. .
The scope of the "business" of the leaders of the Welsh monthly meeting seems to us to have been very wide, even limitless as far as the concerns and conduct of its members were concerned, for the ministers and elders were the guard- ians and monitors of the people. But, whatever may be said, or supposed of any other Friends' meeting, in no min- - utes of theirs does it appear that the ruling Welsh Friends used their authority to the limit. It is the diversity only of their official employment that would be most remarkable, if it was not known they were controlling and regulating immigrants in a new country. And this was the first experi- ence of Quakers in living entirely under the control of the Meeting, for at home surroundings were different, and one might evade "the rules," many of which for this reason were "dead letter" there, but here were enforced, where
*"Arrived with their family in Pensylvania about the beginning of the 10mo. 1690. The said Robert [ Ellis] died in 10mo. 1697, and his wife [Ellin] within two weeks after."
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WELSH FRIENDS' MEETINGS
there was nothing but "Quaker Rules." It was obey, or suffer,-not corporal punishment,-but just the inward suffering that hurts more than any bodily pain. Here, com- parison between the Friends and the Puritans, in like con- ditions, would suggest partisanship. But in time, changed conditions has curtailed the gre :. responsibility of the Friends' ministers and elders.
In addition to the variety of the work put on the monthly meeting, or the leading men and women of it, already men- tioned, it may be learned from the records of the Haverford Mo. Mtg. that sometimes matters which should have been settled at home, in the family circle, were laid before the meeting, and incorporated in the minutes, as, on 4. 11mo. 1702, the trouble her father had with Hannah Jones, be- cause she persisted in "keeping company with Rees Wil- liam," after her father had warned her not to have any-
thing to do with him. He asked aid of the meeting (Women's Radnor Mo. Mtg.), to influence Hannah to obey him. A minute, in 1693, shows the concern of the monthly meeting on account of the tendency of certain Friends, and neighbors, "to follow the vain customs of the world," there- fore, a committee from the three meetings, Merion, Haver- ford and Radnor, was appointed to have "inspection" over these back-sliders, and bring them the sense of the right way they should behave.
In 1695, "disorder at Friends funerals" claimed the at- tention of the Haverford monthly meeting, for it was re- ported that some mourners were "remarked for immoderate speaking," and others "for want of seriousness and gravity." And in 2mo. 1703, "it is friends desire that friends be not Restless in meetings, and stand up in Meet- ings, and turn their heads to Publick friends when they are bearing Testimony ; that such be spoken to." In 1696, there was much concern in the monthly meeting because David Powell posted on the meeting house door certain ac- cusations against other Friends (unnamed), "before they were dealt with according to Gospel order." This seems to
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WELSHI SETTLEMENT OF PENSYLVANIA
indicate that it was the custom at that day to place "testi- monies of denial" in prominent positions at a meeting house. In 1726, the representatives to the Philadelphia quarterly meeting from the Welsh meetings are instructed to report "that things amongst us is not as well as we could desire; but a wennant hopes to obtain the victory." This refers to some . w unknown disagreement between the majority and the minority in the Haverford Mo. Mtg., and the smaller party was the ministers and elders. On S. Smo. 1713, we have an example of arbitration by the monthly meeting, when "Friends appointed to end the differences between David William and John Robert Ellis, reported they have agreed to an award, or determination between them." On the same date, we have a different example of the "work" of the monthly meeting, when "the Merion overseers bring a complaint of Edward Pees against Joshi a Owen that he does not take care to pay him some money that has been due
to him several years. Edward Jones and John Roberts appointed to speak to him to take care to pay his just debts." In 9mo. 1717, the matter of "regulation of weddings at private houses considered, on advice of the vearly meeting, which desired marriages to be only in the meeting house, excepting by permission of a monthly meeting," -- this rule was an echo of their ancestors, members of the Church of Rome, and one still enforced by "the greatest hierarchy cn earth."
The matter and manner of courtships and marriages among these Welsh Friends was one of the first considera- tion, and their rules were firmly maintained, and impressed on the young and their elders. The rite vas clean. Be- trothals carelessly entered into, resulting often in "broken engagements," were not possible, and "membership" be re- tained, for even there were rules of courtship to be observed, and they were enforced, therefore, though the country was thinly settled, and homes of the betrothed far apart, bund-
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WELSH FRIENDS' MEETINGS
ling was not tolerated, as it was at that time in other Ameri- can colonies, and long subsequently in this, "up the State.""
In this matter, the Haverford Mo. Mtg. has the following minute, "That all young men among Friends make known their intentions to their parents, or guardians, before they acquaint the woman's relations, and make it known to the woman's parents, or guardian, before they speak to ther [that is, before the young couple ask consent together], and if any do otherwise, they shall condemn the same."
*From the Men's and Women's minutes of the Concord monthly meeting, 4. 2. 1740, Women Friends complained of "Mary Wright, now House," as follows "for going to be married by a Priest, and marry- ing in a very uncommon way, by putting off her Close and putting on a shift, in order to serene her husband from her former husband's debts." Mary for this, and "marrying out," was disowned, 3. 4. 1741.
This seems to have been a way of evading the Provincial law as to certain old debts, and the celebrated statesman, Benjamin Franklin, say in his Autobiography that he just "took to wife" the young woman (a presumed widow who passed as his wife, and was the alleged mother of Franklin's bastard son, Gov. William Franklin, of New Jersey .- See Pa. Magazine, Sept. 1911), and who was the mother of Mrs. Sarah Bache after this "wedding," and no marriage ceremony was performed, although he was then, and afterwards, mneeted with Christ P. E. Church, Philadelphia, else he could have n compelled to pay his wife's former "husband's" debts, which were considerable when he disappeared, althoughis "husband" had a wife living when he "married" Franklin's subsequent "wife." He must have known of the trick of shifting sueh debts, but preferred to have only a "common law wife," which turned out to be a very dis- agreeable reminiseenee for some descendants of his daughter, -- his son had no issue.
Mr. Watson, in "Annals of Philadelphia," also mentions that in 1734 :- "A widow of Philadelphia was married in her shift, without any other apparel upon her from a supposition prevalent then that such a procedure would scrure her husband in the law from being sued for any debts of his predecessor," and that "Kalın, in 1748, confirms this faet as a common occurrence when her husband dies in debt. She thus affeets to leave all to his creditors." The same traveller tells of a woman going from her home to the house of her intende: husband in her shift only, and he meets her on the way and clothes her before witnesses, saying, "I lend these elothes."
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WELSH SETTLEMENT OF PENSYLVANIA
But, this order obeyed, did not release a Meeting from appointing a committee to find out the moral standing of the candidates for matrimony, and also, if possible, to learn if both werc "clear" to marry. "Having declared their in- tentions of marriage before this Meeting," a committee of several elderly members was "ordered to inspect as to their Clearness, and to bring an account thereof to the next Meet- ing." There never was any question but that the candi- dates were thoroughly "inspected," for if there were ever any cases of bigamy among Friends, they never made a minute fit. A month after this "declaration," the couple, "having laid their Intention of Marriage the second time before this Meeting, and nothing but Clearness found on each side," the candidates are "left to their freedom to proceed therein," and stand up and make their vows one to another and that they took each other in marriage, when the "Spirit moved them" to do so before any Public Meeting of Friends.
This orderly proceeding in the matter of the second im- portant event of life, had everything to do with the orderly, clean life in the Welsh Tract, in the years it was virtually under the care of Welsh Friends.
Whether all young Friends approached marriage in the solemn manner that the following young Quaker did, I do not know, since there are not enough similar confessions preserved to decide, but this one certainly went about it deliberately. Richard Davies, of Cloddean cochion, and Welsh Pool, (or Walsch Pole, as Leland wrote the name), in Montgomeryshire, who was one of the subscribing wit- nesses, on 11 July, 1681, to Penn's "Conditions and Conces- sions to Adventurers for Land," and who had a patent from Penn, dated in June and July, 1682, for 5,000 acres of the Welsh Tract land, as set forth elsewhere as "Company No. 7," tells in his autobiography how "the Good Lord alone pro- vided an help-meet" for him, after, as he says, "I prayed
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WELSH FRIENDS' MEETINGS
unto Him that she might be of His own providing, for it was not yet manifest to me where she was, or who she was."
His is an unconventional love-story :---
"But, one time, as I was at Horslydown Meeting, in South- wark, I heard a woman Friend open her mouth, by way of testimony against an evil, ranting spirit that did oppose Friends much in those days.
"It came to me from the Lord that that woman was to be my wife, and to go with me to the country, and to be an help-meet for me.
"After Meeting, I drew somewhat near to her, but spoke nothing, nor took any acquaintance with her. Nor did I know when, or where I should see her again. I was very willing to let the Lord order it, as it seemed best to Himself, and therein I was easy.
"In time, the Lord brought us acquainted with one an- otlier. She confessed she had some sight of the same thing that I had seen concerning her.
"So, after some time, we parted, and I was freely resigned to the will of God.
"When we came together again, I told her, if the Lord did order her to be my wife, she must come with me to a strange country, where there were no Friends but what God, in time, might call and gather to Himself.
"Upon a little consideration, she said, if the Lord should order it so, she must go with her husband, though it were to the wilderness.
"Being somewhat sensible of the workings of God upon her spirit in this matter, she was willing to consider in her mind as to what He wrought in her. But by harkening to one who had not well weighed the matter, she became disobedient to what God had revealed to her, which brought great sorrow and trouble upon her.
"I went to see her in this poor condition, and rested satis- fied with the will of God in this concern, being freely re- signed if the Lord had wrought the same thing in her, as was in me, to receive her as His gift to me.
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WELSH SETTLE ENT OF PENSYLVANIA
"After some time, we waited upon the Lord together.
"She arose, and declared before me, and the other Friends who had begot doubts, and reasonings in her mind, that, in the name and power of God, she consented to be iny wife, and to go along with me, wither the Lord should order us.
"I said, in the fear of the Lord, 'I receive thee as the Gift of God to me.'"
"So I rested," concludes Mr. Davies, "satisfied with the will of God, for a farther accomplishment of it," that she would not back out again, but would marry him. "They were married, and lived happily ever afterwards," and had a son, David Davies, who was living at the time Mr. Davies signed the "Concessions."
The solemn, stilted style of "the greatest Quaker of them all," in his love-making letters, when he was past 51 years, to the homely woman, over 30 years old, who became his second wife on 11 Nov. 1695, are reproduced to show tlie acme of Friends' love-letters of the period. However, we should make some allowance for Friend William, as he had been schooled in "the gayest Court of Christendom." As these two letters were sent to Hannah's father to read first, before handing them over to her, it is evident that Mr. Penn himself now bowed to the custom prevalent among the Friends, which the Haverford monthly meeting insisted upon being observed, as above.
"1st. 12mo. 1694-5.
"I cannot forbeare to Write where I cannot forebeare to Love as I love my dearest Hannah an' if yt be a fault, till she ceases to be so lovely, I need no Apolorry for it. Receive, then, my Dearest Heart, the Embraces of the best love I have, that lives & flows to thee every day, with Continual desires for thy felicity every way : more especially in the best things wch setts all to rights, & gives a peace above the little & low interruptions of this world. Suffer not anything of it to disturbe o abate thy satisfaction, but feel thy peace bottom'u upon that which is unchangeable. o meet me there, myn own Dearest, in thy retired walks & recesses from the world; & lett our fellowship be enlarged in that nobler Relation, wch time cannot dissolve; which gives us Courage, Sweetness, affection, truth & Constancy in the discharge of our Lower relation. The Lord in his wisdom & goodness,
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WELSH FRIENDS' MEETINGS
bless comfort, fortefy & settle thy minde & spirit more and more, above every careful thought, and anxious and doubtful reflection, with wch the most worthy, tender, & humble spirits are too often assaulted and but too incident to disquiet themselves with. In all which, my heart still loves & embrace's thee above every other worldly comfort, of which thou hadst a proof in thy last receipt, wch, tho I held the lower part too neer, & made it in part illegible I read enough to be sensible & Concerned with most endeared affection for my poore deare H. and rejoyced yt last time it seemed over. *
Now, my Dearest, I will say no more, only remember the receipt for the eyes, & apply it, and at all times, & in all conditions remember thou art sure of the love and friendship of Him that is more than he could ever tell thec.
Thyn Whilst.,
"WM. PENN."
"10th. 7mo. 1695.
"Most Deare H. C.
"My best love embraces thee wch springs from ye fountaine of Love & life, wch Time, Distance nor Disapointments can ever ware out, nor ye floods of many & great Waters ever Quench. Her it is dearest H- yt I behold, love, and vallue thee, and desire, above all other Considerations, to be known, received & esteemed by thee. And Lett me Say, that the loveliness yt the tendring & blessed Truth hath beutified thee with, hath made thee amiable in my eyes, above many, & for yt it is my heart, from the very first, has clenved to thee. Did I say above many, ay, above all, & yt is my confidence in this thing at all times, to my Selfe and others. o let us meet here, most Dear H! the comfort is unspeakable, and the fellowship undesolvable. I would perswade my self thou art of the same minde, tho it is hard to make thee say so. yet yt must come in time, I hope & belcive; for why should I love so well & so much where I am not wellbeloved? Take it not amiss: I have no other way of Convers, let my letters have some place if I deserve any; tho I hope thou art sensible of me in yt in wch we can never be seperated; but the time draws neer, in which I shall enforce this subject beyond all scruple, yet till then I must tell thee, & ever that thou art most entirely beloved of
"Thy unchangeable FRIEND W. P."
Although the Welsh may be, and were, of musical tastes, and, like the Irish, had a harp peculiar to themselves, there is not even a tradition that the Welsh Friends over the Schuylkill were inclined to music, singing and dancing, and so it is safe to imagine that music and fine arts, and classic
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WELSH SETTLEMENT OF PENSYLVANIA
literature were not parts of their life. Yet, they were far removed from boors, and had lit rary taste along congenial lines for it is on record that the Radnor monthly meeting voted "£40 by the year to encourage him [William Brad- ford] to continue in the art and practice of printing," and this was a very liberal subsidy considering the scarcity of cash at that time.
On 5mo. 14, 1720, there is a minute, in the Radnor Mo. Mtg. records, as to the printing, at his wish, of the MS left by Eilis Pugh, who "in the time of his long sickness had composed divers religious points contained in a few sheets accommodating to the understanding of illiterate, mean people, which he earnestly desired might be published in the British tongue, and sent to his native country, as Friends might see Service." Twelve Friends were appointed by each of the monthly meetings of Haverford and Gwynedd, to consider this weighty matter, "they reported unity and satisfaction, and recommended the publication." Thomas Pugh, a Welshman, was a bo. 'seller in Philadelphia in 1702.
It is elsewhere noted that John Humphrey, of Haverford, in his will, dated 1699, gave £10 towards the expense of re- printing, in Welsh, "The Testimony of the Twelve Patri- archs, and The Sons of Jacob." Up to 1702, this had n t been done, as the money was then loaned to the Haverford Meeting. And in 1723-4, the Radnor monthly meeting sub- scribed for fourteen copies of Sewell's "History of the Quakers," for the members of the preparative meetings of Merion and Radnor.
It does not appear that the Welsh Friends experienced trouble here in their first years as they had had in the old country on the hat question, so it may be presumed they sat "covered" in the Provincial Court, without creating com- ment. That Friends chose to wear their hats in places where others removed theirs, as a mark of respect for the law, or the service, be it in court, or in church, was not a fad which they clung to obstinately, for the general explana- tion of their custom is that the hat is as much a garment
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WELSH FRIENDS' MEETINGS
as any of the clothing of a man, and that it is just as sense- less to uncover the head as to take off the coat, or the shoes, in court, or church, or meeting .* And, if we are to believe Pepys, in the seventeenth century, in his day, it was not re- markable that men sat in the "steeple house" wearing hats, for he records: "To church and heard a simple fellow open the praise of church musique and exclaiming against men wearing their hats on in the church." and again, that he saw a minister "preach with his hat off, . which I never saw before." At that time the hat was an integral part of a man's costume, and Pepys himself apparently wore his hat all the time, excepting in bed, for he records : "caught a strange cold in my head by flinging off my hat at dinner."
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