USA > Pennsylvania > Welsh settlement of Pennsylvania > Part 42
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Admitting that Thomas Ellis's home was in Haverford, we have in a letter written by him at Dublin, Ireland, om 13 June, 1685, telling his correspondent the ews from the Welsh Tract, as he knew it at the time he left here, in February, 1684-5. He wrote, "we have our burying place where we intend our meeting House [shall be built], as neer as we can to the Center" [of Haverford ip.]. He also tells that there were fifteen families living there, when he left, and eight others expected to arrive soon. Thera is no reason to doubt that this house was built when and where Mr. Ellis said, as we have from the minutes of the Haverfor 1 (Radnor) Mo. Mtg., "Att our monethly Meet- ing held at Haverford, ye 10th of ye 11th month, 1694." * *
** "William Howell, William Jenkins, John Lewis, David Maurice, and David Lawrence, are ordered to gett a Stable made adjoining to this meeting House." This is cer- tainly good proof that there was a public meeting place here. What kind of a building it was is unknown, but it does not appear to have been durable, if built only ten years, for, from the minutes, of the monthly meeting, held
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with Haverford Friends, in 16, 0. 1695, we learn a com- mittee was appointed to inspect and consider what way will be most convenient, to rebuild, or to repair this meeting house (the one the men were meeting in), and what the cost would be in each ca e. No report of this committee, if made, is on record. It may be supposed that by 14 Jan. 1096-7, it was not yet decided which it was better to do, build or repair, as the minute of this date says that David Lewis "accounted to the monthly meeting he had received $5 from Maurice Llewellyn, in part of a legacy from Mar- garet Howell towards the Repairing or Rebuilding of ye Mecting House at Haverford."' But from the next minute on this subject, it may be seen that the Haverford Friends decided to build.
1697-8, 1mo., a committee was appointed by the monthly meeting to get contributions of cash money "to assist Hav- erford friends to build their Meeting House." And at the next monthly meeting, in 2mo., another committee was named "to consider what charges the building of the Meet- ing House at Haverford in every respect shall vome to, and bring an account thereof in writing against the next meet- ing." At the next monthly meeting, 3mo., this committee reported that the cost would amount to at least £158. Thereupon, another committee was appointed to bring the subscriptions of the Merion ind Radnor Friends towards the building expenses of the Haverford meeting, to the next monthly meeting. And in Amo. 1698, the committee re- ported it had received from Radnor meeting, £5. 15. 0; Newtown meeting, 88. 0. 0; Merion meeting £32. 10. 0, and from Friends in the Upper End of Merion, $9. 10. 0. total £55. 12. 0." This was a large sum for the Merion Friends to contribute when they were themselves paying for a meet- ing house, yet in addition to this subscription, the women's meeting of Merion contributed £4. 13. 7, "towards building Haverford meeting House," and, again the extant book of minutes of women's monthly meeting, 20. 8mo. 1701, held at Haverford says, "The women friends of Merion contri-
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buted £6. 13s. towards building Haverford meeting house." And by entry of 11. 7mo. 1701, the Merion men had in- creased their contribution to $33. 16. 2. The minute also says that these subscriptions from Merion were all paid. From the minuter of the men's monthly meeting, 11. 4mo. 1702, "informed that assistance was required towards fin- ishing the meeting House at Haverford, and it was decided to lend the £10 left by John Humphrey (towards the print- ing "The Sons of Jacob in Welch), to be returned when desired." From these items, it may be seen that the ex- perience of the two preparative meetings of Merion and Haverford, were about the same when building, and at the same time, only the Merion meeting did not get the decd for its "house lot" till in 1714, and the Haverford meeting trustees had their deed bearing date 7. 1mo. 1693-4, which was earlier even than the date of the deed to the Me ion Friends for their graveyard land, which: was in 1695.
In Radnor Town there was no necessity for a public meeting place for Friends Lefore 171' when erection of the present stone building was considered, the "town" being thinly settled, and dwellings scattered. But, as soon as families of Welsh Friends settled in far away Radnor, relig- ious meetings were held at the dwellings of John Jermon and John Evans. The first wedding of record in this town- ship and preparative meeting, took place at the home of Mr. Evans, on 2. 3mo. 1686, between Richard Ormes and Mary Tyder, both of this township.
When there was a sufficient number of Welsh Friends in Radnor Town, David Meredith formed and completed the organization of the Radnor preparative meeting, and it took the place of the Schuylkill preparative meeting in the Hav- erford monthly meeting. Through his efforts, it is pre- sumed, the Radnor meeting house was erected. Of this event in Radnor, the minutes of the Haverford monthly meeting record, on 10. 8mo. 1717, "A letter from our friend, Benjamin Holme, to this meeting, recommending to their consideration the stirring up of Friends in the
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building of the meeting house at Radnor, and with a desire tl: t we should be concerned." This was approved, and a c. imittee of the members of the monthly meeting was appointed, David Morris at the head, "to assist in the con- trivance of the building thereof." At the next monthly meeting, "Radnor's new house" was again considered, but the erection of the house as not begu till the following spring. At the monthly meeting in @mo. 1718, it was reported as par ly completed; but in d no. 1721, it was not all finished, and the work on it was then only partly paid for, therefore, a committee was appointed by the monthly meeting . try and obtain cash contributions to help along the Radnor Friends, bu in 5mo. 1723, the labor was not all paid. During the Revolutionary War, this meeting houss was for a time occupied as soldiers' quarters and a hospital, by the Americans.
Up to 1700, there were apparently no inhabitants of Merion who were t Friends, either Welsh or English, the reason being that the original purchases of land were in large lots, and the settlers well able to hold their grants, and not :ut them up into small farms, and sell them, till in the second and third generations.
It was the contrary in Radnor, and partially so in Har- erford. and the small farm lots soon attracted wany non- Quakers, especially those who built up the Welsh congre- gation of the Church of England in Radnor "town." As early as in 1700, this vas a mission visited by the Rev. Evax Evans, the rector of Christ Church in the city, when serr- ices were held at the house of William Davis. As the register of St. David's P. E. Church begins with a baptisne in 1706, it is presumed it was about that time the congre- gation had its first church, and that it was a log one stand- ing on the farm of Mr. Davis (which in late ears was the estate of Tryon Lewis), and that the ruins of a los building on the place may have been those of the church edifice which preceded the present stone building. There is an extant letter from the Rev. Mr. Evans to the S. P. G. F. P., dated
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Sept. 1707, telling of services which he condu ted "in the Welsh language at Radnor once a fortnight fo. four yearz past." It was . ot till seven years after this that the church had its first rector sent to take charge of the co .:- gregation. During these intervening years, the Rev. John Clubb, a Philadelphia school teacher, conducted the ser ices, and preached at Radnor, as a missionary The first grave- yard of St. David's was at the junction of the Reeseville and Sugartown roads, where it was originally, or on 7 Sept. 1714, intended to build the present church, the corner stone of which was laid with ceremony, on 9 May, 1715. Up to 1765, the church had no floor, and the gallery was built in 1772. The first rectory, or ' vestry house" was built in 1767, where a school house stood, but the present one was not erected til. in 1844. During the Revolutionary War the church was without a rector, and closed, excepting that like the Haverford meeting house it was used by the American soldiers.
Before these Welsh Episcopaliar had a minister, or their church, they seemed to prefer being wed by Friends' cere- mony than by a Justice of the Peace, or the missionary, hence there are some marriages of non-Friends on the books of the Haverford Monthly Meeting, as, for instance, the marriage (certificate dated "Haverford, the 17th day of the Ninth momth, in the year 1687") of "Daniel Thomas, late of Haverford, aforesaid," and "Eleanor Vaughan, of the same," "came to the meeting of God, called Quakers," and were married according to Friends' form. This certificate was signed in the usual Friends' custom, by Lewis David, Eleanor Lawrence, Daniel Thomas, James Thomas, Sarah Rhydrth, Eleanor Thomas, David Lawrence, Given Thomas, Morris Llewellyn, Francis Price, John Richard, Sarah Da. id, David Lawrence, Mary Llewellyn, Richard Hayes, and David llyllynn.
It is hardly within the scope of this work to more than refer casually to the unfortunate division, without bringing forward the particulars in the matter, in the Merion prepa-
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rative meeting, which occurred in 1827-28, and was brought a! out by the inject of the theories and teaching of Elias Hicks, when the n: ting was parated into two bodies, both members of the Society of Friends.
Ancient. Friends to-day recollect hearing that oiden time neighbors, birthright members of the Merion meeting (and it was possibly so in the other Welsh Tract preparativo meetings), who held different views on the serious matter of doctrine ind belief, or the tenets of their reli; on, the wedge that split every Friends' meeting, became estranged, and their social intercourse was interrupted, and that, at first, after the majority of this meeting was convinced that Friend Hicks was right in his claims and teachings, the two sections, the majority and the minority members, continued to use the Merion Meeting House for worship, alternately, each in a manner after its own convictions. It is related, that while all sat together, the so-called "Hicksites," their leaders being John and Joseph George, and Edward Price, would first hold their meeting for worship, then adjourn, close the shutters, shut the doors of the meeting house, and go home, leaving the minority, who came to be designated as "Orthodox Friends," protesting vociferously in darkness. Then these would open the door and shutters, and hold their services. But the feeling became too intense for such a condition to last long, and the two bodies met in the old m. eting house at widely different hours and days, till, it is tradition, the "Hicksit-s" changed the locks on the doors, and the minority could not get the use of the house, or, till the Orthodox minority could no longer "suffer" such humil- iating conditions, and, under the leadership of Jesse and David George, Israel Wister, and Henry Morris, retired in a body, leaving the property, and the ancient meeting house, with its memories equally dear to them, in possession of the Hieksite majority. But they took with them some of the old records of the meeting, the treasurer's accounts, &c., and these are still preserved in their vault, at their library, instituted in 1742, No. 142 N. 16th Street, Philadelphia.
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This branch, the scceding t. abers of the Merion Meeting, transferred their meetings or worship and business to a little stone school house, built about 1722, and standing till recently, in the woods, near where 57th and Jefferson streets now intersect, which they used ' 'Il about 1882, or till the death of Mr. Henry Morris, the la .i survivor of the "seceders." In an article by Mr. George Vaux, a venerable "Orthodox Friend," in "The Friend," 12. 9mo. 1896, tells a little more of the period of this unpleasant episode in the en y of the Merion Mer ing. He says, in 1827, at the time of the separation, the Radnor Monthly Meeting corsisted of five particular meetings, namely, Merion, Haverford, Rad- nor, The Valley, and Charlestown, and out of the 445 inem- bers of the monthly meeting there were only 70 of them who were "Orthodox," and naturally all of the meeting houses, and properties were retained Jy the "Hicksites." Those holding to the Trinitarian belief, as above said, retired from the Merion meeting to the little school house above Hestonville. And those from the Haverford meet- ing retired to meet at private houses, and eventually met at a meeting house they erected in 1837, near Haverford Col- lege. These two Orthodox Meetings had a monthly meeting up to 1865, when they united with the West en District of the Philadelphia Monthly Meeting of the "Orthodox" branch of the Society. After the decease of Henry Morris, the Hestonville Meeting, as the Merion seceders' meeting was known, was "laid down," but that of the "Haverford Friends (Orthodox)," still lives. Some of the r cords of the original meetings of the Welsh Friends are preserved in the vault of the Friends' Library, at 15th and Race streets, Philadelphia. By mutual arrangement, both branches of the Friends have had the old books in each other's keeping copied for themselves.
On the afternoon of the 5th. 10mo., 1995, "the bi-centon- nial celebration of the erection of the Merion meeting house," the pioner House of God west of the Schuylkill river, was celebrated with appropriate cerernon es in a large
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tent erected on the lawn on which the historic buil stands, a full account of which may be found in the Phina- delphia newspapers of that time, and in two little books, handsomely gotten up. It was estimated that upwards of 2,000 p ple visited the old meeting house that day. Both sections of the Society of Friends attended because the early history of the Merion meeting is the heritage and glory of each. The subject of this commemoration was first iutro- duced at a meeting of the Radnor monthly meeting, on 11. 4m( 1895, and ine celebrations was held under its auspice, Mr. Robert M. Janney being selected as chairman of the committee of arrangement and program.
The ceremonies were simple, and began with a paper read by Miss Walker, of Chester Valley, sketching briefly the a. mals of the Merion meeting. It is of interest to note here that Miss Walker, speaking of the desire for "un inde- pendent State" the Welsh Friends had to surrender after considerable of a struggle, as related before, said, "this relinquishment was only accomplished through a stern sense of duty, and was done, as Friends say, 'greatly in the cross,' after the failure of Griffith Owen, and others, to convince the Commissioners." Miss Walker was followed in t : program of the day by the reading of an appropriate poen_ by Dr. James R. Walker, of Philadelphia. Dr. Allen G. Thomas, of Haverford College, read a paper, entitled "What the Friend has done," in which he told of the good and useful deeds inaugurated and accomplished by the Friends. Dr. Francis B. Gummere, also of Haverford Co !- lege, read a poem, which was followed by a service of medi- tation, and a prayer. The literary part of the day's func- tion closed with an address by Mr. Isaac H. Clothier, who spoke of the work and principles of the Society of Friends. The meeting house was temporarily converted into a mu- seum, and relics and mementos of the olden time of the neighbo ood were displayed, together with old certificates of removal, old marriage certificates, deeds for local lands, &c. At the time of the celebration, there were not a dozen
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families of Friends which attended meetings in the old Merion house, and at this writing, there are not that many, and it is over seventy-five years since a wedding of record took place within its walls, but burials in the old graveyard are frequent.
This is, you may have seen, an annotated compilation of facts concerning the removal of the Welsh Friends to Penn's province. Assembled, they have told of the promises made to them as inducements to remove; their disappointment that they were not kept; how they adjusted them selves to their defeat, and, throughout their troubles with Penn, and his agent in his province, and for years after, that their leading men, their ministers and elders, were always noted for good influence in provincial civic affairs, and for this reason deserve the prominence they hold in the annals of the Province, and the Commonwealth.
But this was not the only end aimed at. It was to relate and to record the personnel of the Welsh settlers; the loca- tions of their first purchases; their early experiences in their new homes, matters interesting always to descendants, and something about their Meetings; but particularly con- eerning the Merion Preparative Meeting, and its place of worship, the oldest meeting house in America.
The method followed, I can only hope has been satisfac- tory to a majority of the readers. The viewpoint of the events of the past with "the eyes of to-day," should not necessarily distort them. However, human nature was the same then as now. The "high ideals" of olden times still have place; morals have only shifted. What was "wrong" then, from our viewpoint, does not obtain now. What is "wrong" now-a-days was never even imagined then. The "Christian sense of Sin" was the same in the 17th as in the 20th century. Only the "Golden Rule" has accumulated more "exceptions," and "creature comforts" are better, at least they seem so, now-a-days.
I had no idea when, on that
"Fair First-day morning,"
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I made my first acquaintance with the old Merion meet- ing house, which I then visited out of curiosity, that it would become the cause of such arduous labor as I have since experienced. However, it has been facinating, this self-imposed task as one of the chronicles of its annals, and this strange to say, for I have no Welsh blood, nor am I a Quaker, or a descendant of one. I say this all in extenuation of the selection and reproduction of some statements which I do not imagine will be pleasant reading to everyone.
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APPENDIX
Page 26. "No where was persecution [of Quakers] more severe" [than in Wales]. The Welsh Quakers "stood it all heroically, and when William Penn offered them a haven of rest, they found an honourable way of eseaping the trials which seemed practically end- less. But they loved their old country; its language and customs, and a committee of them obtained from William Penn the offer cf a Barony, where they could have a new Wales, and, as they hoped, a government of their own, unmixed with alien influences". (See pp. 442-3, "The Quakers in the American Colonies", by Rufus M. Jones, Isaac Sharpless, and Amelia M. Gummere, 1911).
Page 27. An exception can be given to this statement, for Lady Anne Conway was preminent as a Qual. ress in time of Mr. Fox. She was the daughter of Sir Heneage Finch, speaker of the House of Commons, died in 1631. She married (his first wife), in 1651, the Hon. Edward Conway (son and heir of Edward, Viscount Con- way, of Ragley), who succeed his father in 1655, and in 1679, was created Earl of Conway. Lady Conway's brother, Heneage Finch, 1621-1682, was created Earl of Nottingham, and was Lord Chan- cellor.
Page 80. The location of the Merion mecting house was rather on the northeastern line, than corner of Rees's first land.
Page 80. The deeds of 1695 and 1714, have cleared up all doubt as to on which lot the Merion Meeting House was built.
Page 96. "Elizabeth William Owen" (not "Katherine Robert"} was the wife of Robert Pugh, Gent., and mother of Hugh Roberts. See pp. 125-6.
Page 98. The six lines at the foot of this page were badly pied by pressman, and should read:
In Radnorshire, he visited Roger Hughes; at Lanole, Ed- ward Jones, David Powel, Thomas Goodin, near Llwyn-du. From North Wales he travelled to many places in South Wales, then back to Merionethshire, in the North, where he visited Lewis Owen, near Dollegelley, then to Bala, and "Penllyn where I was born and bred," and visited there his old friend, Robert Vaughan, and then made another pil- grimage through Wales.
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Page 110. At the top of this page, between the third and fourth lines, should be the lost line :
Goch of Byrammer, in the parish of Cerrig y druidion.
Page 110. Thomas Ellis and Hugh Roberts filed Memorials as to John Thomas with the Ilaverford Mo. Mtg.
Page 117. The difficulty that the heirs of John Thomas had in getting a bonus lot in the city, as in the following petition, is an oy- ample of what other Welshmen experienced.
"The Case of Robert Jones in Relation to a high Street Lot appur- tenant to his father's purchase Stated.
May it please the Proprietor.
My father John Thomas and Edward Jones for themselves and Company in Tber in the Year 1681 purchased 5000 acres of Land in this Province of which Quantity my father's part was 1250 acres.
In the year 1682 Edward Jones arrived here with several others of that Company by whom my father sent some Effects and agreed with them to make some provision for him against his intended coming and on the 18th of the 2d Month 1683 The proprictor issued his Warrt to the Surveyor Gen' to lay out to my father a front lot on Delaware proportional to his purchase of 1250 ac as aforesd.
In the beginning of the year 1683 my fathers intended Voyage hither was prevented be Death But his Widow and family about 20 in number arrived here in November 1683 and found one half of the purchase taken up in the place since ealled Merion and some small Improvement made on the same where we then settled And as we were soon after informed a lot was laid out in the City on Delaware front by one Richard Noble a Deputy Survr in pursuance of the Warrt aforesd soon after weh sd Noble left these parts and on Enquiry no Return found of the sd Lot the Warrt also was mislaid and not found for several Years during wrh interval one Herriot (If I mistake not) possessd himself of the lot laid out to us as aforesd.
On the 16th of 7ber 1684 the Commrs granted a Warrt to my mother for the high Street lot appurtent to the purchase aforesd.
About the Year 1692 the Warrt for the front lot being found we thereupon applied to the Commis for relief but upon enquiry the Survr alleged there was no vacant front lot on Delaware the sd Commrs therefore issued their Warrt dated the 24th. 10th Mo 1692 to the Surveyor to lay out to my Mother a Lot of 50 foot front on Delaware second Street adjoining John Griffiths weh lot was laid out accordingly.
But the High Street lot we were told fell at Skulkil and we refused to accept of it there it being as we conceived without any one president that our front lot should lie on Delaware and our High Street lot on Skulkil.
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APPENDIX
About the year 1700 the Second Street lof laid out to us as aforesd was again taken from us, hut on the 6th: 24 Mo. 1702 the Comm's granted us another Warrt for a Second Street lot in lieu of the former, but of 34 foot broad, no more (as we supposed) being then vacant and to compensate its deficiency in breadth, a small lot of 20 ft broad on third "treet was joined to it, and afterwards confirmed to us by patent But no high Street lot has yet been laid out to us
I therefore desire the proprietor would be pleased to grant a Warrt for the high Street lot in such manner as has been usual to other purchasers."
Robert Jones's mother, whom he mentions above, (and of whom in page 117), was known in her widowhood by her maiden name, after Welsh custom, as well as by her husband's name, "Katharine Robert" and "Katharine Thomas." Her certificate of removal which she brought over, and is preserved with Merion Meeting MSS, it may be seen was more than the usual, formal indorsement from one meeting to another.
"To all whom it may concern:
Whereas, Katerin Robert, of llaithgwm, in ye County of Mcrioneth, widdow, hath declared before us her intention in order to her and her families removal to Pensilvania in America, wee thought it convenient to certify in her and their behalfe yt she is one yt received the truth for these ten years past, and that hath walked since answerable to the truth according to her measure. She is a woman yt never gave occasion to ye enemies of truth to open their mouths against ye truth which she owned; her children taught and educated in the fear of the Lord from their infancy Answerable to ye duty of parents, both professing and possessing ye truth.
from our mens & womens
meetings ye 18 of 5mo. 1683.
Robert Owen, Cadd Lewis, Richard Price, Edward Griffith,
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