The Welsh have claims for recognition and patriotic gratitude by the American people, because of the prominent part taken by some of their descendants in founding the American Republic. The Welsh mind and heart have contributed no small share, in common with the good, the noble, and the enlightened of other lands, to mould its institutions and to make possible a country where the highest conditions of a Christian civilization may be enjoyed.
That little vessel of one hundred and eighty tons' burden, the Mayflower, embryo of a free republic, was commanded by a Welshman, Captain Jones. Among those who came as passengers were several of Welsh origin,—Thomas Rogers, Stephen Hopkins, John Alden, and John Howland. The last one named was attached to Governor Carver's household. So the Welsh have a share in the celebration of the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers. What must have been the thoughts of that band of forty-one men (one hundred and one souls in all) as they stood on Plymouth Rock and looked into the vast forests before them, so soon by their sturdy energy and that of their descendants to be transformed into fruitful farms and splendid cities and towns!
Roger Williams was born in Wales in 1599. He was a relative of the Protector, Oliver Cromwell. Banished from Massachusetts in 1635, he penetrated the forests in mid-winter till he came to the country of the Narragansets,—where the chief sachem, Canonicus, gave him a grant of land, which, in token of "God's merciful providence to him in his distress," he called Providence. Here he established a pure democracy, all equally sharing the dignity and privileges of the government. He was so kind in his treatment of the surrounding Indians that he was much beloved by them, and it was by his great power over them that he saved his white persecutors from destruction. Yet his enemies did not revoke his sentence of banishment. The city government of Providence is honoring his memory by the erection of a bronze statue.
Of that immortal band of men who composed the Continental Congress, and were signers of the Declaration of Independence, eighteen were Welshmen:
Notwithstanding abler pens have sketched them all, it may not be uninteresting to touch upon a few facts in the biography of the above list. Commencing with New England, where so many of Welsh blood came after the Restoration, having been the followers of Cromwell, it will be in order to notice John and Samuel Adams.
John Adams was born at Quincy, Massachusetts, in 1735. His services were distinguished in the American Revolution; he was a member of the committee which made the draft of the Declaration, and a signer of the document. He was President and Vice-President of the United States. He died at the age of ninety-one, in 1826, just half a century after the Declaration.
Samuel Adams was born in Boston, in 1722. He was a fearless patriot and a stirring orator. He was educated for the ministry at Harvard College, but became so engrossed in politics that he relinquished that profession. He was in the Continental Congress, was Governor of Massachusetts, and left the impress of his power on the Constitution of his State, which he helped to frame. He died at the age of eighty-one, in 1803.
Stephen Hopkins was born in Providence, and was a self-taught man. He wrote and acted against the oppression of the colonies by the home-government long prior to the Revolution. He filled important offices in his State, became a member of the Continental Congress, and signed the Declaration. He died in July, 1785.
From Connecticut came William Williams. He graduated at Harvard College, at the age of twenty, in 1751. He became a lawyer, but afterwards chose the profession of arms, and was aide to his brother who fell at Fort George in 1755. He died at the age of eighty-one, in 1811.