Cylchgronau Cymru

The chief events of Pugh's life as recorded in the Account' and the Testimony are as follows. His father died before he was born, and his mother a few days after his birth. At the age of eighteen 'the Lord visited him', and in 1680 he was given a part in the ministry of the gospel of Christ'. In 1686 he and his family (of whom no parti- culars are given) prepared to come over' to Pennsylvania. The ship on which Pugh and many others sailed left Milford Haven on October 8,1 1686, and because of terrible experiences the ship had to put in at Barbados, where it remained for six weeks. It eventually arrived at Philadelphia early in 1687. In 1706 Pugh visited Wales, returning to Pennsylvania in 17o8. Three of his children died shortly after his return. He was in a declining state of bodily health about a year and three months before his death, which occurred on the 3rd day of the tenth month, 1718. Except for a few minor details most authorities accept these facts of Pugh's life, but their agreement ends there. Richard Jones2 states quite categorically that Pugh came from the district of Brithdir, in the parish of Dolgelley, and that he was probably converted at one of the secret meetings arranged by Jane Owen which were addressed by John ap John. T. Mardy Rees,3 in his list of Merioneth migrants states that Ellis Pugh, Brithdir, Dolgelly, yeoman, 1686, married a widow, Sina, who had nine children'. Mr. John Lloyd, Headmaster of the Grammar School, Dolgelley, who examined the registers of the Dolgelley Parish Church, found the following records 1679 Matrimonium celebratum fuit inter Eliceum ap Hugh et Catharinam veh Hugh decimo sexto die Julij. 1691 Matrimonium celebrat. fuit inter Elissum Pugh et Mariam vch Eliss hujus p[ar]ochiae vicessimo quinto die Maij. 1699 Matrimonium celebratum fuit inter Eliseum Pugh et Gras Elis hujus par[o]chiae 130 die February. 1 T. A. Glenn: Merion in the Welsh Tract (Norristown, 1896), gives the date as October 16. Richard Jones Crynwyr Bore Cymru, 1653-1 699 (Barmouth, 1931). 3 T. Mardy Rees A History of the Quakers in Wales and their Emigration to North America (Carmarthen, 1925).