Early Welsh Settlers in America - Part 1

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The title of this video is: Early Welsh Settlers in America - Part 1.

The first proposed Welsh colony was established in America and it was planted in what is now Newfoundland, Canada.

This first colony failed after a few years, and because of that, very few actually know about it, so we will give some due credit to these brave pioneers today.

The story of this first Welsh “colony” begins with an idea of a Welsh aristocrat named William Vaughan. He was a Welsh lawyer, scholar and poet who was born in Carmarthenshire, Wales… on the family estate called “Golden Grove.” The Vaughn family was descended from an ancient prince of Powys. Powys was an ancient kingdom within eastern Wales that once included some of the Western Midlands region of England. Deeply concerned about poor economic conditions in Wales, he became interested in overseas colonization. He decided to try and plant a colony in Newfoundland because it was accessible, well known and possessed an established fishery.

Vaughn had the desire to establish a Welsh colony where settlers could maintain their own language and culture. In 1616 he bought a grant of land, the southern Avalon Peninsula (from present day Calvert to Placentia Bay) on the island of Newfoundland. He purchased the grant from the London and Bristol Company. In 1617 he sent Welsh colonists to the fishing town of “Renews” to establish a permanent colony, which he called New Cambriol — "a little Wales" in the New World.

This land was earlier settled by migratory fishermen and then by these colonists. The colony was first proposed in 1610 by the London and Bristol Company, which had previously started an English colony at Cuper's Cove, but settlement was delayed by the presence of the English pirate Peter Easton who raided the coastlands. But by 1615, the territory was sold to William Vaughan who initially sent settlers to Aquaforte which is about 6 miles north of Renews. Geography, this is about (52 mi) south of the present-day city of St. John's.

The colonists were ill-equipped to succeed, and without an experienced leader. The winters were long and brutal, and they spent the winter huddled in cabins previously built by migratory fishermen for summer use. In 1618 Vaughan sent out a second batch of settlers under the command of Richard Whitbourne, whom he appointed governor for the life of the colony. He was originally sent to establish law and order in the colony, but found the colonists to be discouraged and unmotivated due to the climate and constant hardship. Unfortunately, he had to deal with a pirate attack on one of his ships by deserters from Sir Walter Raleigh's Guiana [gee-ahn-na] fleet. In the end only six colonists spent the winter of 1619 at Renews and they abandoned the settlement the following year. So, Whitborne was governor only from 1618 until 1620 when Vaughan began to abandon the colony by selling of portions of the land.

By 1619 Vaughan signed over part of his grant to Henry Cary, an English political friend who served in the House of Commons. Vaughan's brother had also convinced him to also to give up a portion of his tract to George Calvert, also known as Lord Baltimore… another English politician. In this location George Calvert established his Colony of Avalon. Vaughan retained the southern portion of his original tract.

After the return of Whitbourne, Vaughan visited his colony in 1622, and returned to England in 1625, bringing with him two written works ready for publication. Vaughan promoted Newfoundland as a settlement in an unusual, whimsical book entitled, The Golden Fleece published in 1626. In 1628 he transferred his interests to the colony of Virginia. He died at his house in Carmarthenshire, in August 1641.

After the failure of the New Cambriol, another Welshman named John Myles, was suffering religious persecution in Wales and he led a group of Welsh Baptists to Massachusetts in 1662. Though at first, this American colony refused to tolerate these Welsh Baptist, eventually Massachusetts granted them land, where they established the town of Swansea and the First Baptist Church, which stands today as the oldest Welsh church in America.

Two decades after Baptists first arrived, Welsh members of the Society of Friends, or Quakers, would establish another… and much larger Welsh… settlement in America. This is such an interesting and fascinating story I will dedicate part 2 to this historic and significant event. It all happens because of a man named William Penn… another aristocrat… believed to be of Welsh descent… who would establish a Welsh colony like no other in the New World. William Penn was a unique man who in writing to a friend named Robert Turner in 1681 stated that his original intension was to call present day Pennsylvania… New Wales. We will find out why he wanted this name, and why it didn’t happen in part 2.