"Cambria in Pensylvania"
Born on this day 1760 in Llanbradach, near Caerphilly - Morgan John Rhys - radical evangelical Baptist minister who preached the principles of the French Revolution, against slavery and in favour of the reform of parliament. In 1794 he grew tired of the repression in Britain and emigrated to America where he changed his surname to Rhees and established the Welsh colony of Cambria in Pensylvania.
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Born on this day 1760 in Llanbradach, near Caerphilly - Morgan John Rhys - radical evangelical Baptist minister who preached the principles of the French Revolution, against slavery and in favour of the reform of parliament. In 1794 he grew tired of the repression in Britain and emigrated to America where he changed his surname to Rhees and established the Welsh colony of Cambria in Pensylvania.
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Cambria, was the first real Welsh colony , in which the Welsh language, culture and religion was maintained in a community with a distinct Welsh identity. Here Rhys established his own religious denomination and a newspaper, The western sky.
The history of Welsh emigration to Pensylvania, had begun, when Charles II was restored to the English throne in 1660, he instigated a wave of religious intolerance which threatened the rights of several groups including Quakers and Baptists, to worship in the way that they chose. Significant numbers of people - in some cases, whole communities - began to leave Wales. The Court of Great Sessions in Bala, North Wales, threatened to burn Quakers, prompting the Welsh Quakers to acquire land from William Penn, which was known as The Welsh Tract (approximately 40,000 acres) in and around what is now Pennsylvania. The project envisioned as a kind of "Holy Experiment," involved an oral understanding with William Penn and the Society of Friends (a pact made in England before the Welsh sailed to the New World). However this agreement was never put into writing and later became a source of bitter controversy between Penn and the Welsh Quakers.
Then in 1683, Baptists from mid and west Wales also made the journey to Philadelphia, where they settled and acquired 30,000 acres of land on the banks of the Delaware River. But it was Morgan Rhys's Cambria that is considered to be the first real Welsh colony in which the Welsh language, culture and religion was maintained in a community with a distinct Welsh identity.
Many towns in the area are named after places in Wales, such as North Wales, Lower Merion, Upper Merion, Bala Cynwyd, Radnor and Haverford Township, others such as Tredyffrin and Uwchlan, have independent Welsh names.
See MoreThe history of Welsh emigration to Pensylvania, had begun, when Charles II was restored to the English throne in 1660, he instigated a wave of religious intolerance which threatened the rights of several groups including Quakers and Baptists, to worship in the way that they chose. Significant numbers of people - in some cases, whole communities - began to leave Wales. The Court of Great Sessions in Bala, North Wales, threatened to burn Quakers, prompting the Welsh Quakers to acquire land from William Penn, which was known as The Welsh Tract (approximately 40,000 acres) in and around what is now Pennsylvania. The project envisioned as a kind of "Holy Experiment," involved an oral understanding with William Penn and the Society of Friends (a pact made in England before the Welsh sailed to the New World). However this agreement was never put into writing and later became a source of bitter controversy between Penn and the Welsh Quakers.
Then in 1683, Baptists from mid and west Wales also made the journey to Philadelphia, where they settled and acquired 30,000 acres of land on the banks of the Delaware River. But it was Morgan Rhys's Cambria that is considered to be the first real Welsh colony in which the Welsh language, culture and religion was maintained in a community with a distinct Welsh identity.
Many towns in the area are named after places in Wales, such as North Wales, Lower Merion, Upper Merion, Bala Cynwyd, Radnor and Haverford Township, others such as Tredyffrin and Uwchlan, have independent Welsh names.
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