settlers, gathering at Robert Evan's, there had such part of the Church of England service read to them as could be done by one not in orders. Robert Evan's house, then a plain cabin, no doubt, built of logs with the bark unremoved, stood where in later times a stone dwelling was placed by some of the Roberts family, who for many years occupied the place. The site is on the southern slope of the hill, a short half mile west of the meeting-house. Here the meadow side slopes down to a little rivulet whose head is in a spring hard by, and it is the fancy of the writer that on this meadow bank, when spring came after the first winter, the settlers may have gathered in the Sabbath sunshine to hear the reading of the church service. This was performed, as the common account goes, by Cadwalader Evans, who appears to have been the youngest of the four brothers, and very probably the one with most education. He read, doubtless, from a Welsh Bible; an edition published in London, in 1678, "gan John Bill, Christopher Barker, Thomas Newcomb, a Henry Hills, printyr," contains, in front of the Scriptural text, a number of pages of the services of the Established Church; and such a one was probably in his hand.

Of this reading of the Bible at Robert Evan's, and of the circumstances under which all the settlers subsequently joined the Friends' body, Watson has handed down an account,' copied by numerous other writers, from information which he derived from Jesse Foulke, of Penllyn. I do not undervalue this old and interesting statement, which very probably has in it important elements of correctness, but there is evidence that besides John Hugh and John Humphrey, who were avowedly Friends, others of the settlers were well disposed toward the same religious body. The memorial of Robert Evans, by Gwynedd monthly meeting, prepared probably in 1738, early in which year he died, says, that "some

1 Annals, vol. ii. p. 78.

2 Jesse was the son of William, the son of Thomas, who was the eldest son of Edward, the immigrant. Jesse lived through the revolutionary time, at Penllyn, and is repeatedly mentioned in the Diary of Miss Sally Wister, extracts from which are given by Watson in his Annals.

time before he left his native country he forsook the national worship and went to Friends' meetings." This definite statement as to him, since it was at his house that the company of non-Friends assembled, gives force to what is for numerous reasons altogether probable: that the whole company of immigrants, though not all had actually declared themselves, were warmly disposed towards the Quakers, and were inclined to join them when they left Wales. Their intimate relationships with the settlers in Merion, who were mostly Friends, the fact that it was Hugh Roberts, a preacher of the Society, who had gathered them for the removal, the respect they entertained for Penn, and other circumstances, all tended to produce the unity which actually followed.

That all the settlers joined in building the first meetinghouse is well settled. It was a small structure, of logs, and stood where the present building is situated, near the geogra phical centre of the township, on high ground that overlooks to the south, for many miles, the fertile farm lands along the lower Wissahickon, and up the slopes of Chestnut Hill. A second and larger house was built in 1712, and it gave way in 1823 to that now standing.

Of the character of the settlers, and of the community which they formed, a study of the facts inspires one with a high opinion. The earnestness of their piety, the simplicity of their habits, the cordiality of their intercourse, their cheerfully granted aid to each other, all impress us. Of great hardships they experienced few, if any. The struggle to establish themselves needed courage, patience, and strength, but of these qualities they had a large share. Famine or disease did not waste them, the Indians did not molest them. All the details of their history are those of peace.

Few direct descendants of the first company of settlers are now in Gwynedd. Several of the Welsh names are still represented, but by only a family or two in each, while some have altogether disappeared. But a genealogical study shows to what other fields of action those who have left Gwynedd have transferred themselves, and in a great range of instances the record is one of credit. To speak of some of the earlier

names only, two sons of Thomas Evan-Hugh, who removed to Merion,' and Owen, who remained in Gwynedd, served for many years in the Provincial Assembly. Hugh sat in 1722, and from 1746 to 1754 continuously. He lived to a very old age, dying in Philadelphia in 1772, "aged 90 years and 2 months." It was he who, as a lad at Gwynedd, peeped through the logs of his father's house at William Penn, and saw the great man on his knees giving thanks for the refuge he had found in the wilderness, as related by his granddaughter, Susan Nancarro, to Watson;2 but it is worth while, perhaps, to note that the statement that he was then "a boy of twelve years" is obviously an error. He was born in 1682, and, as Penn's visit to Gwynedd was in 1700 or 1701, he must then have been near manhood.

Owen Evans died in 1757, aged 70, which would fix his birth in 1683. He was for many years a Justice of the Peace at Gwynedd, as well as a store-keeper, and he sat in the Provincial Assembly from 1739 to 1750 inclusive.

The fourth son of Thomas Evans, Evan Evans, a preacher, died at Gwynedd in 1747. The year of his birth is given as 1684. From him are descended a numerous family, including Jonathan, Thomas, William, and Dr. Charles Evans, all of Philadelphia, in their lifetime-well known among the Society of Friends as preachers, or writers, or both.

From Cadwalader Evans, the original settler, descended Dr. Cadwalader Evans, a grandson, who was an eminent physician in Philadelphia, dying in 1773; and his brother Rowland Evans, who was County Judge, a member of the Provincial Assembly, and Trustee of the General Loan Office of the State from 1785 to 1789, when he died. Another prominent member of this branch of the family was Cadwalader Evans, of Gwynedd, who served in the General Assembly from Montgomery County from 1790 to 1800 inclusive, being

Robert, the eldest son, also went to Merion in a few years after his father's settlement in Gwynedd. He owned much property there, but appears to have held no public place.

2 Annals, vol. ii. p. 79. Mrs. Nancarro was the daughter of Owen Jones, whose wife was Susanna Evans, Hugh's daughter.