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2 books: The History of Bradford County 1770-1878, by Rev. David Craft and History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania with Biographical sketches, by H. C. Bradsby 1891, give details in their chapters on Pike township, about the Welsh Settlement and the people who lived there. They describe the township as being:
"situated between the townships of Warren on the north; Tuscarora, on the south; Orwell and Herrick, on the west; and Susquehanna County, on the east."
Although some pioneers settled in the area as early as the 1780s, the first Welsh farmers, Joseph Jenkins and Edward Jones Sr. arrived in 1824. Others followed and the Welsh Settlement developed around an area that was originally dense forest. Eventually, it grew to encompass North Pike and South Warren in Bradford County and West Middletown across the county border in Susquehanna. In 1870, when a Post Office was established in the vicinity of East Pike/South Warren, this area became known as Neath. While this name had obvious associations with the part of West Glamorgan that many of the Welsh settlers hailed from, it's not known whether there was any particular reason why it should have been chosen for the settlement.
In 1828 a Welshman, David Williams (b.circa 1797) joined the early pioneers. He soon married Hannah Thomas, the eldest daughter of David & Hannah Thomas of Carmarthenshire, who had settled in Pike in 1825. David Williams wais enumerated at Pike in the census of 1830. According to Craft and Bradsby, the following year, in 1831, David apparently "revisited" Wales and returned to Pike with the contingent of members from the Baran congregation - suggesting that he originated from this area of Glamorgan. Both authors state that these members apparently included David's widowed mother, Margaret; his brothers, Phillip and John and a minister, the Rev. Daniel Jones. This appears to be confirmed by the passenger list of the Elizabeth Clark.
David's mother, Margaret Williams died on 10th June 1836, aged 59 years and is described on her headstone as "The widow of Jenkin Williams". A possible marriage record for Margaret & Jenkin is to be found in Llangiwg parish: where a Jenkin William of Llangyfelach married a Margaret John of Llangiwg on 4th June 1796. This appears to be an appropriately timed record for the birth of their son, David circa 1797. The census of 1850 shows the 3 Williams brothers, settled with families and farming at Pike. In this census, son, Phillip Williams is enumerated 2 households away from fellow "Baran settlers", William & Catherine Evans and is married to their daughter, Harriet, aged 26. Their 3 children, Margaret, William and Catherine, are apparently named after their grandparents. Phillip & Harriet are again enumerated at Pike in 1860 and 1870. They died in 1876 & 1877 respectively.
David Williams, his wife, Hannah and their 7 children moved to Nicollet, Minnesota sometime after 1850 and are enumerated there in 1860. His brother, John Williams died on 27th February 1860, leaving his wife, Elizabeth to be enumerated as a widow at Pike in the census later that year. 2 of their daughters, Margaret & Mary died as young women in 1863 & 1865 respectively. Elizabeth died in 1885, aged 65 years.
The community built a combined church and schoolhouse in 1833, followed by new church buildings in 1848 and 1872. Rev. Daniel Jones was their minister from 1831 to 1849. Local Pontardawe historian, Islwyn Davies, has described how Rev. Daniel Jones had been trained for the ministry by the Rev. Roger Howell of Baran. A single man at the time of his emigration from Wales, Daniel was from Pentwyn farm, near Blaenegel, on the Garth mountain in Rhydyfro, Llangiwg. The passenger list records his age as 23 in 1831. These details are confirmed by an obituary for Daniel, written for "Y Cenhadwr Americanaidd" on 3rd May 1850 by "L. Williams" of Carbondale, which names his parents as Daniel & Mary Jones. Daniel Snr. & Mary were enumerated at Cwmnanthopkin isha, Llangiwg in 1841. L. Williams describes how he and Daniel had been raised in the same locality and had attended the same school. They also emigrated from Wales together, travelling to New York aboard the same vessel. From these details, L. Williams can be identified as Lewis Williams, whose age was given as 24 in the passenger log of the "Elizabeth Clark". Lewis was the son of fellow passengers, William & Mary Williams. He records that Daniel had become a member of Baran chapel's congregation in 1828, during the time of a strong local revival and decided soon afterwards to become a minister himself. Daniel attended Roger Howell's school in preparation for his ministry and was ordained by him just prior to his emigration. The Reverends, Rowlands of Cwmllynfell and Powell of Cross Inn assisted at the ordination. After arriving in America, Lewis and Daniel apparently spent a great deal of time together and the 1850 census reveals that, by that time, Lewis was himself a Presbytarian minister, living at Carbondale, Co. Luzerne Pennsylvania. Raised in the community of Carmel chapel, Gwauncaegurwen, Lewis was ordained at Carbondale by the Rev. Thomas Edwards (previously of Neath and originally from Bettws, Carmarthenshire). In his "History of the Gwrhyd", Joshua Lewis, Penydderi, records Lewis William's home as Pant y Gamfa - a farm on the Gwrhyd mountain, near the chapel, sited there.
at Neath Cemetery, Pike, Bradford, by kind permission of Lyle Rockwell
Lyle's transcriptions of all the memorials at Neath can be seen at:
From the evidence of Rev. Craft's book and the New York passenger records, family and friends of the 1831 wave of settlers continued to arrive in Pennsylvania. On 8th October 1832, 2 of Catherine Evans' brothers, Evan and William Howell arrived in New York aboard the brig Raby Castle, along with Evan's wife, Jane and their 3 young children, Howell, John & Mary. They settled in South Warren. They were followed on 23rd July 1834, by Catherine's parents, John & Mary Howell, brothers, Roger and Thomas and sister, Elizabeth Davies with her husband, David and their 6 children. The latter party travelled on board the ship Cosmo.
John Howell and his sons, Roger & Thomas all died within a few years. From their M.I.s at Neath, John died on 18th October 1834, aged 67 years & 3 months; while Roger was only 27 when he died on 10th May 1838. Mary Howell lived until 1853 and is enumerated in the household of her son, William and his 2nd wife at Warren in 1850, aged 81 years. Mary's obituary, written by Rev. Samuel Williams for "Y Diwygiwr" records how she died, aged 84 years, at her son's home on 12th March 1853. She had been born at Brynbrain, near Cwmllynfell in 1769 and had been a faithful member of the Independent movement at both Cwmllynfell and later, Baran for 48 years. Her son, William was himself enumerated as a widower, with his children at Warren in 1860 & 1870. William's 1st wife, Rachel had died, aged 37 in 1842. Her memorial inscription records that the family "Left Wales on 16th June 1832". William himself died in 1880.
Mary's daughter, Elizabeth Davies lived until 1856 and was enumerated with husband, David and 8 of their 10 children at Warren in 1850, aged 54. Elizabeth & David (of Bettws) had married at Llangyfelach on 9th February 1822. Their 4th son, William T. Davies (b. 20th Dec. 1831 at Llangiwg), became a lawyer and was elected District Attorney in 1865. He also served as a Republican State Senator during 2 terms of office, 1876-1884 and from 1887-1891, was the Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania. He married Mary Watkins of Towanda and died, aged 80 years on 21st September 1912.
In 1867, another of their sons, Dr. Rees Davies (b. 5th July 1837), later of Wilkes Barre, married Margaret Williams, the daughter of his maternal 1st cousin, Harriet (nee Evans) Williams and her husband, Phillip.
David & Elizabeth's daughter, Ann, married her 1st cousin, Howell Howell, son of Elizabeth's brother, Evan on 28th May 1859. They had 3 children and Howell later fought in the Civil War with Company H of the 15th Regiment, New York Engineers. After his discharge in 1865, Howell was a school teacher and in 1884 was elected to the State Legislature. He died on 10th February 1897, while Ann died 17 years later in 1914.
Howell Howell's father, Evan died in 1875, following his wife, Jane's death in 1873. Evan and Jane Howell were enumerated at Warren in the censuses 1840-1870. Their only daughter, Mary became the second wife of Samuel Mills Williams, the eldest son of Rev. Samuel A. Williams.
The Williams family had immigrated to Deerfield in New York from Llanedi, Carmarthenshire in 1840. Rev. Samuel.A. Williams (born 1791) hailed from Llanelwedd, Radnorshire, whilst his wife, Jane (nee Mills) was born in Llanidloes, where the couple were married in 1820. After originally serving as a teacher and lay preacher, Samuel was ordained at Heol yr Eglwys chapel, Llanidloes on 8th November 1821. He remained there for a further 8 years before moving via Rhayader, Radnorshire on to Capel Isaac (1830) and later, Llanedi (1832) in Carmarthenshire. Samuel and Jane had 10 children: at least 3 of the eldest ones were born in Montgomeryshire, 1 possibly in Radnorshire, 4 in Carmarthenshire and 2 were born after arrival in New York.
After succeeding Rev. Daniel Jones, Samuel served the congregation at Bradford until the arrival of Rev. Ebenezer Morris of Caernarvonshire in November 1870. He died in 1877 and is buried with his wife (who outlived him by 10 years) at Neath cemetery. His successor, Rev. Morris later married Samuel's grand-daughter, Margaret Williams - 2nd daughter of his son, Samuel Mills Williams and Mary Howell.
William & Catherine Evans settled at Pike with their children, Mary, Harriet, Evan & Catherine and had 4 more sons, John, William, Thomas & Roger. They were enumerated at Pike throughout the censuses 1840-1870 and William is recorded as having died in August 1875. Their eldest son, Evan W. Evans (b. 6th January 1828) attended Yale and after a period as a professor at Marietta College, Ohio, went on to be the first professor appointed at Cornell university. As well as being a mathematician, he was also a philologist with a particular interest and expertise in the Welsh language and is recorded in the Dictionary of Welsh Biography. According to Horatio Newton Powell, Evan married Helen E. Clarke, daughter of Rev. T. S. Clarke of Cooperstown, New York in 1856. He died on 22nd May 1874, aged only 46 and is buried at Neath.
Another son, William H. Evans, graduated from Marietta College Ohio and was the father of Morgan W. Evans, an agronomist who worked for the Bureau of Plant Industry, United States Department of Agriculture. Morgan had a sister, Alice C. Evans (1881-1975), who also worked for the Department of Agriculture and made an important discovery about what would later become known as brucellosis - a bacterial infection carried by cows that could cause undulating fevers in humans. She went on to become the first woman president of the American Society of Bacteriologists.
As described, William & Catherine's 2nd daughter, Harriet married Phillip Williams and continued to live near her parents in Pike. Their eldest daughter, Mary married the Rev. Thomas Thomas on 1st January 1846. Mary & Thomas were enumerated in the neighbouring township of Orwell, Bradford County in the censuses of 1850 & 1860; at Middletown, Susquehanna County in 1870 and at Pike in 1880. They had 4 daughters and a son. When Bradsby was writing in 1891, Mary and Thomas were living at Stevensville, Bradford County, but by 1900, Thomas was a widower living with their daughter, Harriet at Wyalusing.
Rev. Thomas Thomas had been born in Carmarthenshire on 16th June 1812, the son of David & Hannah (nee Griffiths) Thomas. As described above, his parents had been early members of the Welsh Settlement, coming to Pike with their 6 children and Hannah's brother, Rees Griffiths in 1825. Their party had arrived in New York aboard the ship, William Byrnes on 1st December 1824. Tragically, 6 weeks after reaching Pike, Thomas' father, David apparently died from sunstroke. His mother died circa 1849. Thomas' elder sister, Hannah married the David Williams who originally brought the Baran members to Pike. Thomas himself studied for the ministry at Princeton Theological Seminary, after graduating from Lafayette College in 1843. His only son, Welling E. Thomas (born 1852) also attended Princeton and later became a minister in Ohio. Welling's eldest son, Norman (born 1884) was the 3rd generation of the Thomas family to attend Princeton, where he studied under future President, Woodrow Wilson. Norman Thomas was a fervent pacifist who ran 6 times as a Presidential candidate for the minority American Socialist Party during the period 1928-1948.
William & Catherine's youngest daughter, Catherine married her 1st cousin, Phillip Davis (sic), son of her mother's sister, Elizabeth Davies. The young couple are enumerated with Philip's widowed father, David Davis at Warren in 1860 and thereafter at Pike. By 1900 Catherine Jnr. was living with her married daughter, Helen Jones at Pike.
Another prominent member of the Welsh settlement, named by both Bradsby and Craft, was Samuel Davis (sic), born circa 1786, who also arrived in 1831. He is described in Craft's short biography of his son, William S. Davis, as being from the same place in Wales as settlers, John and Jane Phillips, i.e. Llangyfelach. In a death notice published in the Cambrian newspaper of Swansea on 14th April 1876, he is described as Samuel Davies "late of Gellygron Mill" - which was situated in the neighbouring, Mawr parcel of Llangiwg. As previously suggested, he is probably the Samuel Davies of Bettws who married Mary Jones at Llangyfelach on 25th February 1815. His place of birth - Hafod, Bettws - is confirmed in the death notice of his brother, Evan in the "Cenhadwyr Americanaidd" of 1849. Evan died aboard the ship, "Caleb Grimshaw" enroute for America on 2nd August 1849. The same ship caught fire and sank during another journey later that year.
Given these details, it is very probable that a baptism record at Gellionen chapel for "Samuel the son of Samuel David of Havod, Bettws and his wife, Gwenllian" refers to Samuel Davis. The record states that he was born on 7th April 1787 and baptised on 20th April that year by the Rev. Josiah Rees. Havod (more usually Hafod) farm lies on the Bettws mountain, just across county border between Glamorgan and Carmarthenshire. Other children born to Samuel David and Gwenllian included in these baptism records were: Mary (1778), David (1781), William (1783) and John, (1790). As described below, these family names are reflected in the names of Samuel Davis' own children.
Samuel came with Mary and children; John, Elizabeth, Gwenllian, Samuel & William and settled in 1832 to the east of Pike, on a 95 acre farm in Middletown township, Susquehanna County. Mary died only 3 years later on New Year's Eve 1834, aged 42. By the census of 1850, Samuel was apparently enumerated with a wife called Catherine, his sons, John and William; a different, younger son called Samuel; teenage daughter, Mary and 7 younger children under the age of 10. From the following censuses however, it becomes clear that Catherine was actually the wife of Samuel's eldest son, John and her age had been misrecorded in 1850 as 55 instead of 25. The teenagers, Samuel & Mary and a 3rd child, 6 year old, Henry were the orphaned children of Samuel's brother, Evan. The remaining 4 children appear to be those of Catherine & John. Samuel was last enumerated in the census in 1870, aged 83 and is recorded by Craft as having died, "at the advanced aged of 89" in 1876.
Samuel's son, William married Elizabeth Phillips on 29th May 1852. She was the daughter of fellow Baran immigrants, John & Jane Phillips. William & Elizabeth were enumerated at Pike until 1880. They had 7 children, the eldest of whom, Joseph went on to become a lecturer in Latin at Union college, Schenectady, New York, before attending theological college to become a minister in the presbyterian church. He later died, aged only 31 in 1884.
John & Jane Phillips also arrived in 1831, with their 4 children, Phillip, John Jr., Daniel and Elizabeth. John Phillips is recorded in 1840, but according to her memorial inscription, Jane had died on 1st March 1838, (aged 44 years and 1 day). By 1850, John is enumerated as a widower living at Pike with his 3 younger children - who include an American born son, Roger. Married sons, Phillip and John Jr. are enumerated close by with their respective, Welsh born wives, Gwenny and Jane and young families. According to "Y Cenhadwr Americanaidd" of 1843, Gwenny Davies of Susquehanna, (i,e. probably the daughter of the above mentioned, Baran settlers, Samuel and Mary Davies), was married by the Rev. Daniel Jones to Phillip Phillip of Bradford on 25th February 1843. On 23rd December the same year, Rev. Jones conducted the marriage ceremony for John Phillips and Jane Evans, of Bradford.
John Phillips Snr. died on 17th June 1853, aged 53 years and in the next census of 1860, John Jnr. and his family are not enumerated at Bradford. Son, Daniel had married and was a neighbour of his brother, Phillip at Pike. As described, their sister, Elizabeth married William S. Davies (son of Samuel) in 1852. Brothers Daniel & Phillip continued to be enumerated at Pike until 1880.
Research ongoing.........
