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The land of hope not plenty |
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In the beginning
By the time of George Fox's death in 1691 there were over 500,000 Quakers around the country.
© Library of the Religious Society of Friends |
The intrepid explorers made contact with Morgan John Rhys. He was to be instrumental in the futures of the immigrants. He had arrived in 1794 and toured the Republic campaigning against slavery before finally setting his sites on creating an ideal town, Beulah. His vision was of a town to house all non-conformists sects, including Quakers and Baptists.
To this end he set up the Cambrian company and purchased 17,400 acres of land, 250 miles west of Philadelphia from Dr. Benjamin Rush for £9,450. The land was well placed, between the rivers of Blacklick and Connemaugh, and theoretically should have provided an ideal location for the settlers.
A bad start
As with almost all moves to the New World, the immigrants encountered many problems for which they were not fully equipped. One which struck many of them was 'hiraeth', a form of homesickness, which affected them regardless of the difficulties they faced in their native land.
Their troubles began with the hazardous voyage to America, which took from the 6th of August until the 27th of October 1795. The conditions on board were poor and although there are no recorded deaths on the voyage of the Maria, they arrived in Philadelphia tired and hungry, to a cold city. One of the passengers, the wife of Rev. Rees Lloyd was heavily pregnant and gave birth, to her baby Ebenezer on the day of their arrival. The baby survived only 8 months.
Morgan John Rhys led the expedition to settle the area, guiding 12 families into the wilds of un-chartered America. George Roberts recorded his memories of this time,
"Left Philadelphia for Cambria September 20th 1796, wandered on foot along the road in the wilderness till November 19th, when we had a small cabin of poles not larger than my thigh built in which we lived pretty contented for two years, sometimes without a bit of bread in the house"
Roberts was happy, but he was one of the few. He managed to develop his own small holding, eight to ten acres, just a few miles east of Beulah and survived well.
Elsewhere things were going wrong; this was a far cry from the land of plenty many of the travellers had been expecting. For the Rev. Rees Lloyd this was not what he had been hoping for, and he wrote advising against a move to this supposedly Arcadian paradise:
"It is too hard for poor people to make a living upon this land" I cannot with a clear conscience to encourage my poor countrymen to depend much on this place."
Harsh winters in hostile surroundings in the Allegheny Wilderness, lack of appropriate equipment and a poor diet affected many of those living in the area. Morgan John Rhys, after a spell preaching the principles of Beulah on the east coast, returned to the area with more settlers, full of enthusiasm for the principles of Beulah, in the spring of 1797. He had plans for a great town, with a library and seminary, but encountered people whose morale was at rock bottom.
Moving Onwards
The lands around Beulah were not as conducive to farming and comfortable living as Morgan John Rhys had hoped. Other areas, particularly in Ohio, were better options for those who wanted to live a life on the land. Following changes in federal legislation in 1800, they were opened up to the settlers. Many swiftly left Beulah heading west for an easier life.
But the Rev Rees Lloyd, although unhappy in Beulah, after having lost two children to the climate, did not want to make another journey into the unknown. He decided to build a visionary town of his own, just 3 miles east of Beulah.
This town was Ebensburgh. It was newer, smaller and less adventurous in its ambitions, but it survived.
While Beulah no longer exists, Ebenbursgh does, and still prospers. Rees Lloyd died there, a well respected member of a busy and gradually more affluent community, proud of developing a town, albeit not the Welsh idyll he had once dreamed of.
One obvious reason for the survival of Ebensburgh was its developer, Rev. Rees Lloyd. He wanted to stay in the area and live and prosper, and so made some acute business and political moves to this end. He worked tirelessly in the area, on his land and in his church. After purchasing land from Dr. Benjamin Rush, he developed Ebensburgh, but gave or sold a number of central plots to prominent and influential figures. This helped the town, regardless of the fact that it was barely more than a hamlet, become the county seat in 1805, making it a popular option for further development.
Beulah's visionary, Morgan Rhys, died in the winter of 1804/5, leaving the town without its idealistic leader. Rhys had spent much of his time travelling up and down the Eastern coast promoting his vision, without putting time and effort into developing it, this is now considered by many historians to be a major factor in the failure of Beulah. New immigrants to the area settled in the new town of Ebensburgh or travelled on into Ohio, following several of the original Llanbrynmair immigrants to better land.
Lasting impacts
Americans may not have the same public celebrations for their Welsh heritage as they do for their Irish roots, but delve a little deeper and Welsh blood is visible in much of America's history. The oldest ethnic language society is the Welsh Society of Philadelphia, which dates from 1729. In addition, 16 of the signatories on the Declaration of Independence were of Welsh descent.
In Wales, the Quakers who emigrated from Merioneth and Montgomeryshire accounted for the majority of Quakers in the area. Quakers now account for a tiny proportion of people in Mid-Wales. Whether Beulah survived or not, the emigration of these people from Llanbrynmair will always leave a mark on Mid-Wales and America.
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