CHAP. V.] CHURCH OF WHITEWATER. 177 The Whitewater Congregational Church, at Paddy's Run, fifteen or twenty miles northwest of Cincinnati, stands next in age to Marietta, after Austinburg, in the northern part of Ohio. Its years. Persons of every sort were touched by it; and many persons made sad failures by leaving their comfortable homes here for a frontier life, for which they had not the first qualification. Some of the caricatures of that period were quite amusing and very suggestive withal. One represented Obio as a fat pig, nicely roasted, running about with knife and fork thrust into his sides, crying: "Come and eat me! Come and eat me!" Another pictured an emigrant starting for Ohio, on a prancing horse full of life and action; and another, this same emigrant returning to New England, disappointed, impoverished, ragged and wretched, riding the skeleton of the horse on which he left his Eastern home so proudly. The journey to Ohio, which the young men and women were disposed to regard as a fine long frolic, proved to be a somewhat serious affair. It was, in most cases, made in ox wagons, in which were all their worldly goods and chattels; and it required from twenty-two to fifty days of incessant travelling, much of the way over roads which would now be deemed impassable. It was frequently necessary to man the ropes attached to the wagons, and held hard to keep them from overturning; and the utmost care did not always avert this dire calamity. And then, on their arrival in “pleasant Ohio," the boys found an unbroken forest in which to make their homes. *I am indebted for all that I know about this interesting ancient Welsh settlement and church, to the courtesy of the Rev. John L. Davies, the present pastor of the church, who has not only answered by letter my many inquiries, but has sent to me the Manual of the Congregational Church of Whitewater, Morgan Township, Butler Co., Ohio; An Historical Sketch of Paddy's Run, Butler Co., O., by Rev. B. W. Chidlaw; and the Local His tory of New London Special School, Butler Co., Ohio. origin and history are deeply interesting and instructive. In the summer of 1795, the ship "Maria," of Salem, Mass., landed in Philadelphia a choice company of Welsh immigrants. Among them were miners, iron-makers, founders and excellent mechanics, and some skilled workmen. And over and above all, many of them, if not most of them, were evangelical Christians. Some of the company found employment in and around Philadelphia; others made their way to the centre of the State, among the coal and iron veins of Cambria county, and laid the foundations of the flourishing town of Ebensburg, where was planted, in 1796, a Congregational church, now the oldest of our denomination in Pennsylvania, and one of the largest, having in 1877 two hundred and thirty communicants; while two sister churches, by its side, had more than a hundred additional members. Still others of these Welsh immigrants pushed their way yet further west, to Redstone, near the centre of Fayette county, on or near the Monongahela river, in the neighborhood of the rich deposits of bituminous coal, which have made that county famous for its manufactures of iron and glass and cotton, etc. From this point these energetic, enterprising Welshmen easily floated down the Monongahela into the Ohio, and to Cincinnati, about a hundred miles from Redstone. In this way Ezekiel Hughes and Edward Bebb, originally from Llaubrynmair, North Wales, CHAP. V.] WELSH IMMIGRANTS. 179 reached Cincinnati sometime in 1796. From this point they travelled into the new country beyond the Miami river, which had not then been surveyed. After exploring the rich and beautiful valley of the Miami, they squatted on Blue Rock creek, on the eastern side of the Miami, and waited for the new lands to be brought into market. Here they were joined, in 1798, by Morgan Gwilym, and William Gwilym and his wife, from Redstone, who squatted by their side on Blue Rock creek. The Gwilyms were iron-makers, and while at Redstone helped to make the first iron ever manufactured west of the Alleghany mountains. When the Miami lands were offered for sale, in 1801, Hughes bought two sectious in Whitewater township, Hamilton county; and Bebb bought half a section on the Dry Fork, Morgan township, Butler county, a little further north. Having secured his land, he then turned his face towards Ebensburg, Penn., where he was married, and then returned with his young bride to help found a Christian settlement in the wilderness of the Miami valley. The first white child born in the township was their son, William Bebb, afterwards governor of Ohio. William Gwilym settled on Paddy's Run, Morgan township, Butler county. Andrew Scott *"Paddy's Run" was originally known as "Three Mile Run," indicating the length of the stream. During the expedition of Gen. Anthony Wayne against the Indians in the Northwest Ter and wife, John Vaughn, and David Francis and wife, James Nicholas and wife, Maurice Jones and wife, and the Parkinson family-three brothers-all settled at Paddy's Run and Dry Fork; and half a dozen other families followed during the years 1803-04. Others came into the settlement subsequently, until the close of the war, in 1815. In 1818 there were large accessions to the population and the resources of this Welsh settlement, and between 1820 and 1830 still further accessions, chiefly from North Wales. The pioneer families of this settlement were distinguished for their industry, energy, intelligence, general morality, and even strict piety; and have left a posterity which does honor to the fair name of their ancestors. A people such as have now been described, would of course welcome a Christian minister, and as soon as possible have the institutions of religion established among them. Accordingly, as early as 1802 the Rev. John W. Browne, an ritory, in the year 1794, his supplies were boated up the Miami river in flat boats, called "scoops." One of these boats having grounded at the mouth of Three Mile Run, an Irishman belonging to the company was ordered into the water, with others, to push it off; in doing which he came near being drowned. So the boatmen christened the creek "Paddy's Run," and gave a ridiculous misnomer to the entire neighborhood, which has "nothing Paddyish either in its origin, its character, or aught else."― Manuscript Letter from the Rev. John L. Davies, dated November 5, 1878. CHAP. V.) CHURCH AT PADDY'S RUN. 181 English Congregationalist from Cincinnati, was preaching in their cabins, and with so much effect that on the 3d of September, 1803, a Congregational church of five members-Benjamin McCarty, Asa Kitchel, Joab Comstock, Andrew Scott and Margaret Bebb-was organized in the cabin of John Templeton, on Dry Fork. To these names were soon added those of Ezekiel Hughes and wife, and William Gwilym and wife, from the Congregational church in Llaubrynmair, North Wales, and David and Mary Francis. These men and women were of different nationalities and different religious persuasions, but so truly Christian and liberal in their views, and so desirous of promoting the highest interests of the community, that they could meet "on the broad basis of Christian love," and agree upon a constitution, confession of faith, and rules of practice and discipline, which were so Scriptural and evangelical and satisfactory, that from 1803 to 1878 there had never been but one attempt-and that an unsuccessful one to form another evangelical church in that community.* In answer to the inquiry, how the church at Paddy's Run could maintain its distinctive character against the opposing influences of the West, the pastor writes: "It will be easily seen from the history of the church and community how this *Church Manual; Historical Sketch; and the pastor's MS. Letter. |