WELSH
Few
countries have sent so much of themselves to America as has Wales during the
last 300 years. From Wales have
come men of music, industry, inventive genius and common sense, but its most
important single export has been me who not only loved liberty, but who have
worked and fought for it.
The Welsh are of Celtic
stock and have a language akin to the Erse or Gaelic of Ireland and the
Scottish Highlands. Like all
mountain peoples the Welsh have many legends and traditions; indeed, Wales may
almost be called the home of British folklore and old stories.
It is the land of King Arthur and his Round Table, of the “island
valley of Avilion,” and of Camelot. The
Anglo-Saxon conquest of Britain (5th and 6th centuries
A.D.) served to drive the Britons into the fastnesses of the western
mountains, and the Welsh are their descendants.
Beyond Snowdon and other mountains the Saxons could not well follow.
The country remained independent, under native princes, until Edward 1
of England subdued it (1282) and gave to his infant son the title “Prince of
Wales.” That son later
succeeded to the throne of England, and from then on the Heir to the English
throne has usually been known as the Prince of Wales.
During the reign of the lancastrian Henry IV, Owen Glendower carried on
a war for Welsh heroes. But the
reign of Henry V saw Wales once more subdued.
The Tudor Henry VII
developed a Council of Wales, a kind of subordinate Privy Council of Wales, a
kind of Council, which gave close attention to the administration of the
country. The Tudor sovereigns,
being of Welsh descent, took a special interest in the country and gave it
representation in Parliament and a local organization similar to that
of the English in place of the old tribal laws and organization.
English common law and English judges and juries brought order and
peace to the country. “A better
people to govern, Europe holdeth not,” said Sir Henry Sidney, who was sent
by Elizabeth I to rule Wales.
The reformation was not
kindly received in Wales, in the beginning.
The people found the Established Church of England not so considerate
of their customs. Puritanism won
many adherents; and in the 18th century the Wesleyan movement took
fast hold, though the people wished to remain within the Church of England as
Methodists. The religious
oppression and the beginning of the great industrial depression prompted many
of the Welsh to immigrate to America. This
began the travels of our forefathers, among them, the William Tibbotts, in the
late 1790’s.
The first Bible brought
into what is now Cambria County is in the archives of the Cambria County
Historical Society. This was
reported in 1939. The Bible was
given to Attorney Peter J. Little, society president, by Mrs. Margaret Lloyd
Spiller, a descendant of the Rev. Rees Lloyd, who brought the book to
Ebensburg in 1795 and used it in the first Congregational Church constructed
in this section of Pennsylvania. The
Bible was published in London in 1740.
During the year 1796 a
small group of Welsh emigrants left Philadelphia for a new homesite. The
fateful topography, which the Cambrian Company of the Welsh visionary Morgan
John Rhees (“Rhys”, a Baptist minister born in Graddfa, South Wales)
acquired for the launching of his “Gwladfa” (new homeland) happened
because the easiest potential overland route had never been improved.
That wilderness trail (Galbraith’s Road) lay some 30 miles east of
the last Juniata headwaters supply point (Frankstown).
Morgan Rhees knew that he could colonize that area by spiritedly
rushing there with a substantial number of courageous people.
And that is exactly the way Morgan John Rhees planned to do it.
His vanguard was led by the Rev. Rees Lloyd up through Blair’s Gap,
over the “Summit” (Cresson) along the old Galbraith Road to where it bent
south near today’s Munster. September
20, 1796 this group left
Philadelphia and wandered on foot
along the road until the 19th of November. They were weary, tired,
travel sore and clad in the homespun clothing of that day, these pioneers
presented a picture as they traveled up the eastern slope of the unbroken
mountains, cutting their way through the dense underbrush of the hillsides.
After their wearisome trek, they arrived upon a beautiful plateau
surmounting the mountain crest. Here
they stopped and surveyed the surroundings.
It is true that little could be seen through the heavy growth of
massive hemlock and other timber, but the carpeted floor of the forest,
denoting richness beyond comparison, appealed to the hardy menfolk and the
decision was made to settle where they were.
Those were days of
hardship and toil, but the early pioneers struggled through successfully, for
when the springtime came and the whole countryside began to take on a new life
the settlers started work on their homeplaces, clearing the land, erecting
suitable log cabins for their families. In
the Spring of 1797, Rev. Lloyd founded the first church here, it being the
Welsh Independent Church, then the Congregational denomination.
The Rev. William Tibbott and family are thought to have been in this
group of Pioneers. It is thought
that the Rev. William Tibbott and family were among the group, who left Wales
with the group called Independents, sailed on the “Maria” for
Philadelphia. It was a harrowing
trip and they arrived in 1795, settling in the “Great Valley” for the
winter of 1795, then on to what we now call Ebensburg.
These hardy emigrants started what has become one of the finest towns
in Pennsylvania.
The British Crown and
the Church of England had dictated both the economic and religious way of
life, which was far from the independent Welshman’s natural desires.
By the 1790’s the industrial revolutions’ effect on the average
man’s everyday life had become intolerable.
The Welsh ministers were fast breaking away from the (Episcopal)
church, ruled so rigidly by the church bishops, in favor of the congregational
type of church, ruled by members of their own congregations, with the
“Pastor” at the spiritual head of his “Flock”.
The hair-raising sermons of the Welsh Parson was a far cry from the
modulated tones of the British Priest and the Welsh loved the “Fire and
Brimstone” approach to the Bibles teaching.
It appears that in
1796, the group really stopped at what was really “Beula”.
Their surveyor, Thomas Watkin Jones staked out the outlines for Beula.
The people worked frighteningly hard that summer and fall, erecting
shelters to protect their families; a
grist mill was started so that they could grind their grain into flour for
bread. Wild game was bagged and
salted down for the on-coming winter which was accurately reported to be
severe. From the start these poor
people had their problems, both with mother nature and equipment.
The first grist-mill had been purchased used, and proved to have been
terribly worn, so much so that it had to be abandoned and was replaced the
next spring with another which didn’t prove to be much better.
We read in William’s “The Search for Beula Land”, that the
settlers had to carry flour over 20 miles (from beyond what is now Altoona) on
their backs to carry them over the winters.
Also, some of the settlers had turned to drink.
Persevere they did however and fought for the “Seat of Justice”.
(They wanted to be the County Seat of Cambria County.)
There was a falling out
of the various religious segments and the Rev. Rees Lloyd moved from what was
known as Beula to what is now Ebensburg.
Gazing over his group,
Rev. Rees Lloyd, the leader, is claimed to have said, “Here I raise mine
Ebenezer”. This is said by some
to have been the source fro the name Ebensburg.
Others have said that is was named for Rev. Lloyd’s son, Ebenezer,
whom he had intended for a missionary to the Indians but who had died in
infancy at Great Valley, near Philadelphia in 1796.
The ox-carts were
unhooked, camp was fixed and plans made for permanent settlement.
Soon huts were raised. Rev.
Lloyd chose as his homesite a spot near the site of the present Congregational
church. He felled the giants of
forest, hewed them into lumber with his axe and made himself a home.
The roof was made of hemlock boughs deep enough to turn the wind and
water. Before long heavy snows
came and it lay two feed deep tucking the settlers in with the warmness of
woolen blankets.
Morgan John Rhees, of
Beula, made many trips to Lancaster (then the capital of Pennsylvania) as well
as Philadelphia, begging support of those who might be influential in the
quest for the honor of “County Seat” for Beula.
Meanwhile, Rees Lloyd in Ebensburg was quietly working his own
political game with the assemblymen at the state capitol towards the same end.
It is interesting to note that one assemblyman Nathanial Sample also a
Congregational minister and teacher, was very interested in Lloyd’s problem.
History doesn’t record everything, but in March, 1804, the
Pennsylvania Assembly decided on Ebensburg as the all important “Seat”.
The Rev. Nathanial Sample had a street named after him, and later, Rev.
Nathanial Sample was named school master of the much talked about, Ebensburg
Academy.
After a short heyday,
Beula lost the bid in 1805 and it declined quickly and was all but abandoned
by 1808. Meanwhile, Ebensburg
grew.
Ebensburg was not so
grand in its beginning. Rees
Lloyd’s Ebenezer Chapel was a modest chapel of logs and rough hewn lumber.
It was called Lloyd’s town of Eben.
All that was offered by Lloyd, George Roberts, and William Tibbot (now
Tibbott) to their parishioners was hardship and toil “with the eyes of God
Almighty upon ye”. These early
pioneers struggled successfully with the difficulties that faced them and the
wilderness began to “Blossom as the rose”.
The people were faithful in their church attendance, even though some
had to travel great distances, without roads.
Services were held twice on the Sabbath with a mixture of Welsh and
English to satisfy all. Never
frivolous, the Welsh held their “Gyfeillach”, where they discussed their
religious experiences.
The Welsh who migrated
to this area were hard workers and prominent in the coal mines and blossoming
iron-mill industry. Among the
best know was Capt. William Richard Jones, son of a Welsh immigrant who was a
machinist for the Cambria Iron Company and was fundamental in developing the
Bessemer process of Steel conversion.
Pennsylvania has the
largest Welsh Population in America. In
fact, Cambria County and especially Ebensburg have been noted for the heavy
concentration of Welsh pioneers.
This
seems to fit:
“House” by Elwyn B.
Barr (Bud) [I have modified to
fit my situation.]
Years ago I left a place
in the mountains.
It’s an old town in
Pennsylvania,
called Ebensburg - Gosh,
but it’s grand!
I was born near that
town in March,
and the year it was
forty two.
Ever since I can
remember,
It’s the place where
“our” people have
dwelled.
I used to go there every
summer,
To grandmother’s house
on Julian Street.
Even now, as of then
when I left there,
A part of my heart
stayed for good.
I have been all over the
world,
To the Phillippines
far-far away.
You know I’ve seen
beautiful places
but I’ve only got one
thing to say.
When God made our land,
like a painting,
He signed it as all
masters do.
God signed his name in
the mountains,
In Ebensburg, so close
to him.
I would like to go back
there and finish,
The remainder of my days
here on earth.
When I am called, as we
all are, I’ll be home
In the town of my youth.
My grandmother’s up
there in heaven,
My dad, my mother and my
kin.
They all left from
Ebensburg’s haven,
Quite prepared for their
visit to him.
Oh, there is more I
could tell of my town,
Of it’s heritage,
memories, and song.
Of the bit of the Welsh,
that remembers
The places and people
since gone.
So you people back home
in the mountains
Be grateful for your
Ebensburg town.
You have everything the
world offers - I know,
Because I’ve been
around.
[Adapted from an
original writing by Elwyn B. Barr, Clayton’s and Mary Tibbott Barr’s son.)
David Morton sums it all
up:
I think those townsmen,
sleeping on the hill,
Are never careless how
their town may fare,
But jealous of her
living beauty, still.
Her ways are worth all
things for which they care.
For shattered houses,
lawns of tender grass,
And how the streets,
tree bordered, green and
cool,
Are still a pleasant way
for folk to pass,
Merchant and minister,
children home fro school.
I cannot doubt that they
are pleased to see,
Their planted trees
grown dearer year by year;
Living witnesses to such
as we…
And they are less
regretful when they hear,
Some name we speak, some
tale we tell again,
Of days when they were
warm and living men.