In early April, John and Martha Hugh’s family traveled from Merionethshire to Liverpool. They were not alone. John’s sister’s family, along with a fairly large group of their Welsh brethren, joined them there. Indeed, they had all previously contracted with Mr. Robert Haydock to have one of his ships carry them to Pennsylvania (the arrangements with William Penn having been made prior to that).
2 “Welcome aboard!” greeted the captain of the Robert and Elizabeth as they loaded
themselves and their belongings onto the ship. “Husband, I am most uneasy about
this,” Martha whispered to John. “Calm yourself, wife,” he replied. “The Lord
will watch over us,” he assured her.
3 They departed from Liverpool a few days later and
made their way across the Irish Sea to Dublin, where they took on more cargo
and supplies. Then, at the beginning of May, they set sail for America. As the
ship made its way out into the open ocean, Martha and the other passengers
began to let go of their misgivings about the enterprise and allow themselves
to think about a future in Pennsylvania.
4 However, after five weeks at sea, uneasiness and
despair began to worm its way back into the hearts of the passengers. Several
of them had begun to experience abdominal pain, fever and diarrhea.
5 “What is wrong with them?” Captain Williams demanded. “Sir, I believe it is what is commonly referred to as the Bloody Flux,” Rowland Ellis calmly reported. “The Bloody Flux!” the captain exclaimed. “You had better start praying that it is not that!” he told his bewildered passenger.
6 Over the course of the next month, forty-eight
passengers and crew members would perish from dysentery. Martha Hugh was one of
those unfortunate souls.
7 Her children wept openly as her shrouded body was prayed over and then committed to the depths of the sea. “What will we do without our mother?” Jane asked her siblings. John looked away from his children and stared at the grey waves which had just received his wife’s lifeless body.
8 Eleanor Foulke watched her brother and his
motherless children from a distance, and then left the comfort of her own
husband and children to comfort him and them. She placed her hand on his
shoulder. “May God comfort you and give you peace,” she told him. He cupped his
own hand over hers and patted it to reassure her that he would be OK.
9 Eleanor then walked over to the children and wrapped
her arms around them. Jane looked up at her aunt and smiled as Eleanor brushed
the tears from her cheeks.
10 They finally reached Philadelphia in mid-July and
quickly disembarked from the ship that had been the scene of so much sorrow for
those who had been fortunate enough to survive the sickness that had ravaged
its occupants. The city that awaited them was small by English standards, but
it was bustling with activity and promise. And their spirits lifted the moment
they stepped into its streets.
11 John had purchased a little over one square mile of land in a place that the Welsh settlers named Gwynedd. The still grief-stricken John poured himself into the work of constructing a house for himself and his children, and his friends and neighbors joined in the task. Thus, within a few weeks, the Hugh family had settled into their new home and occupied themselves with helping their neighbors to do likewise.
12 They also kept themselves busy with preparations
for the approaching winter. There were barns to build and firewood to cut.
There were smokehouses to fill with various kinds of meat, which meant that
John accompanied his neighbors on numerous hunting trips into the surrounding
woods that fall.
13 The first meetings of the local Friends were held
in John’s parlor. And it was there that John began to notice one of the young
ladies who had accompanied them on the journey to America. Her name was Ellen
Williams, and John’s household needed a woman’s touch.
14 “We don’t really need another woman in the house,” Jane had told her father. “I will be the judge of that!” John told her.
15 John and Ellen were married in the new meeting
house in 1702. At first, Jane resented the fact that her father had remarried.
“This is my home,” she announced shortly after Ellen had moved into the house.
“It is now my home too,” her new stepmother gently reminded her.
16 The initial friction within the household was soon
ameliorated by the addition of two babies. A little girl was born just nine
months after the wedding, and a little boy was born two years after that. Jane
helped to take care of her little siblings and, in the process of doing so,
grew closer to Ellen.
17 Then, in 1707, a new Welshman arrived in the
community. His name was Thomas Ellis. And, like most of his neighbors, he was
from Merionethshire.
18 “Welcome to Gwynedd,” John greeted him. “Thank you, Sir,” Thomas replied with a nod of his head. “This is my wife Ellen and my daughter Jane,” John introduced. Jane smiled as she shook his hand. “He is very handsome,” she thought. “She is a beautiful young lady,” Thomas thought.
19 A few years later, when Thomas had gotten settled
on his new farm and had established his reputation within the local meeting, he
remembered the young lady in the Hugh household and began calling there. At
first, Jane pretended not to be interested, but her father continued to welcome
Thomas into their home anyway. “You must not give up too easily,” John told him
on one occasion when he noticed a look of profound disappointment on the young
man’s face.
20 John’s advice proved to be sound in the end. Thomas’ persistence finally won over the young lady’s heart. At the end of October in 1712, Jane and Thomas were married and began a new life together.
21 Now these are the generations of John Hugh:
22 John and Martha Hugh were the parents of Jane,
Rowland and Ellis.
23 Jane Hugh married Thomas Ellis, and they were the
parents of Enos.
24 Enos Ellis married Elizabeth Coulston, and they
were the parents of Thomas.
25 Thomas Ellis married Margaret Rees, and they were
the parents of Margaret.
26 Margaret Ellis married John Miller, and they had children together.
No comments:
Post a Comment