In 1872, The American Historical Record reprinted an article
that first appeared in Gentleman’s Magazine in March 1740, containing an
account of Rev. Morgan Jones’ fortuitous encounter with English-speaking Doeg
Indians in 1660.
The following paper is copied from the "Gentleman's
Magazine" for March, 1740 and added explanatory footnotes:
ENGLAND'S TITLE TO AMERICA.
That the vast Continent of America was first discovered by
Britons above three hundred years before the Spaniards had any footing there;
and that the descendants of that first colony of Britons who then seated
themselves there, are still a distinct people, and retain their original
language, is a matter of fact, which may be indisputably proved by the
concurrent account of several writers and travellers. I shall first quote a letter
of Mr. Morgan Jones, Chaplain to the Plantations of South Carolina, sent to Dr.
Thomas Lloyd of Pennsylvania,1 by whom it was transmitted to Charles Lloyd of
Dol-y-fran in Montgomeryshire, Esq. and afterwards communicated to Dr. Robert
Plot,2 by the hands of Mr. Edward Lloyd, M. M. keeper of the
Ashmolaan Museum in Oxford. It is as follows:
"These presents may certify all persons whatsoever,
that in the Year 1660,1 being an Inhabitant in Virginia, and Chaplain to Major
General Bennet of Nanseman [Namemond] County, the said Major Bennet and Sir
William Berkeley3 sent two ships to Port Royal, now called South
Carolina, which is sixty leagues to the Southward of Cape Fair, | Fear] and I
was sent therewith to be their Minister. Upon the eighth of April we set out
from Virginia, and arriv'd at the harbour's mouth of Port Royal4 the
nineteenth of the same month, where we waited for the rest of the fleet that
was to sail from Barbadoes and Bermuda with one M. West,5 who was to
be Deputy Governor of the said place. As soon as the Fleet came in, the small
Vessels that were with us, sailed up the River to a Place called the Oyster
Point.
There I continued about eight months; all of which time
being almost starved for want of provisions, I and five more travell'd thro'
the wilderness, till we came to the Tuscarora Country.6 There the
Tuscarora Indians7 took us prisoners because we told them we were
bound for Roanoake. That night they carried us into their town and shut us up
close by ourselves, to our no small dread. The next day they entered into a
consultation about us; which after it was over, their interpreter told us, that
we must prepare ourselves to die the next morning.
Whereupon being very much
dejected, and speaking to this effect in the British tongue, "Have I
escaped so many dangers, and must I now be knocked on the head like a
dog?" Then presently an Indian came to me, which afterwards appeared to be
a war captain belonging to the Sachem of the Doegs (whose original I find must
needs be from the Old Britons) and took me up by the middle and told me in the
British tongue, I should not die: and thereupon went to the Emperor of
Tuscarora, and agreed for my ransom and the men that were with me.
They then
welcomed us to their town, and entertained us very civilly and cordially four
months; during which time, I had the opportunity of conversing with them
familiarly in the British language; and did preach to them three times a week
in the same Language; and they would usually confer with me about anything that
was difficult therein; and at our departure they abundantly supply'd us with
whatsoever was necessary to our support and well-being. Pontigo River, not far
from Cape Atros. This is a brief recital of my travels among the Doeg Indians.
"Morgan Jones the son of John Jones, of Basaly, near
New Port, in the County of Monmouth. "New York, March, 1685-6. "P. S.
I am ready to conduct any Welshman or others to the Country."
I shall next make some remarks on the above letter.It
appears by this narrative, that the author, Mr. Morgan Jones, was probably
unacquainted with the history of his own country. He was surpriz'd (and well he
might) to hear the Doeg Indians talk the British language; and concludes (and
indeed very justly) that they must be descended from the Old Britons;' but when
and how, our author seems to be at a loss. But the Welsh history (first wrote
by Caradoc, Abbot of Llancarvan, and since published by Dr. Powell) sets the
whole matter in a clear light, and unravels the mystery.8 For it
informs us, that in the year 1170, Madoc of Owen Gwynneth (to avoid the
calamities and distractions of a civil war at home) took a resolution to go in
quest of some remote country to live in peace,9 and so having
directed his course due west he landed in some place of that vast continent of
America.
There being charmed with the fertility of the soil (after having built
some slight fortifications for the security of his people) he returns home to
North Wales, leaving one hundred and twenty men behind. There reciting his
successful Voyage, and describing the fruitful" and pleasant land he found
out, he prevailed with many of his countrymen, both men and women, to return
with him to enjoy that tranquility in a remote country, which they could not in
their own.
The brave adventurers put out to sea in ten barges, laden
with all manner of necessaries, and by God's providence landed safely in the
same harbour they arrived at before. It is very probable it was about Mexico,10
since there Prince Madoc was bury'd, as his Epitaph since found there, does
make evident beyond all contradiction. Madoc wyf mwydic ei wedd Fawn geuan Owen
Gwynedd; Ny fynnwn dir fy awydd oedd Na aa mawr endy Moroedd 11
It is indeed the common opinion, that in the course of a few
generations, Madoc and his men incorporated with the natives and made one
people with them; whence proceed the various British words that the Europeans
found among the Mexico Indians such as Fengwyn, Groeso, Gwenddwr, Bara, Tad,
Mam, Buwch, Cligiar, Llwynoc, Coch-y-dwr, with many more recited in Sir Thomas
Herbert's Travels, p. 222.
But by this narrative it is evident, that they keep as yet a
distinct people, at least in the year 1660, when our author was amongst them.
For Mr. Jones says, he not only conversed with them about the ordinary affairs
of life, but preached to them three times a week in the British tongue; and
that they usually consulted him when any thing appeared difficult in the same
Language, which evidently demonstrates, that they still preserve their original
language, and are still a colony or people unmixed.
Now if a premier discovery confers a right (as it seems it
is a maxim in politics) then the Crown of England has an indisputable right to
the sovereignty of those countrys in America; for the Spaniards had no footing
there 'till the year 1492, 322 years since the first discovery by Prince Madoc.
Some Statesmen indeed would fain have persuaded Q. Elizabeth to insist on this
title (as is mentioned by Dr. Heylin, p. 190, Ed. 3, of his Geography.) But
they had only an obscure tradition then, that was thought that would not bear
proof. But this narrative sets off the whole matter beyond dispute; wherein our
author writes with such simplicity and unaffected style, and without any
studied
Eloquence as 'tis plain he had nothing in view but to state the naked
truth. And since this is a matter of fact, so well attested, backed with such a
variety of incidents, let not the proud Dons any more assume the glory of this
noble discovery; but let our most puissant Monarch of Great Britain claim his
most just rights.
Britons strike home.
Theophilus Evans, Vicar of St. David's in Brecon.
1 Thomas Lloyd came to America with William Penn and was
deputy-governor of that Province after the Proprietor returned to England. He
was a native of Dol-y-fran, Montgomeryshire, Wales, where he was born in 1649.
He was a minister among the Friends or Quakers. He suffered persecution because
of that ministry, and was much reviled by the "miserable apostate,"
George Keith —[editor.]
2 Robert Plot was an English naturalist and antiquary, and
flourished during the last half of the seventeenth century. He became Professor
of Chemistry at Oxford, in 1684, and historiographer-royal, in 1688. He
published histories of Oxfordshire and Staffordshire, and died in
1696.—[editor.]
3 Sir William Berkeley was governor of Virginia from 1641 to
1677. He was unpopular with the planters who were imbued with republicanism,
and had to contend with civil war fur a time, brought about by what is known as
Bacon's Rebellion.—[editor. ]
4 There, upon Beaufort Island, in Port Royal Sound, some
Huguenots or French Protestants chose a spot for their home, built a fort, and
named it Carolina, in honor of their king. That was in the year 1562. The
settlement was not permanent. Another settlement there, was attempted by the
English in 1670. but the plan was abandoned.—[editor. J
5 Joseph West was an associate of William Sayle in leading
emigrants in three ships to make a settlement at Beaufort. There Sayle died in
1671, when the spot was abandoned, and the settlers went to Oyster Point, at
the junction of Ashley and Cooper Rivers, where the city of Charleston now
stands. —[editor.]
6 The Tuscaroras inhabiting the region of the Cape Fear
River.in North Carolina, were related, in language, to the Five Nations in New
York. They were broken up by the European settlers in North Carolina, in 1712,
and going Northward joined their kindred in New York, in 1714, when the
Confederacy became known as the Six Nations.-[editor. J
7 The Tuscaroras were a lighter color than the rest of the
Indians, and were sometimes mentioned as “White Indians." A hundred years
or more ago there were remains of Welsh words heard among some of our Indians;
and the Mandrans in the far West, are so light colored that they are supposed
to have inherited some of the blood of Madoc and his men. —[editor. ]
8 In the abbeys of Conway and Strat Flur, are old Welsh
annals which were used by Humphrey I.lwoyd (Lloydt in his translation and
continuation of Caradoe’s "History of Wales." That continuation
extends from the year A. D. 1157 to 1270.—[editor. I
9 In the preserved works of several Welsh bards who sang
before the time of Columbus, this emigration of Prince Madoc is mentioned.
Hakluyt had an account of it from the bard Guttun Owen, who mentioned the fact
that Northmen had found a continent to the westward. As they had visited
America more than one hundred and fifty years before Madoc's emigration, he was
doubtless well acquainted with the fact that such a continent existed.—[editor.]
10 The general
impression has been that Madoc landed on the coast of the Carolinas if anywhere
in America. The whole story is sometimes regarded as a myth, but if the account
given by Mr. Jones be true (and his veracity has never been impeached, nor has
it been verified), it certainty gives an air at truth to the narrative. It was
in North Carolina that Jones found the British speaking Indians, and preached
intelligently to them. He makes no mention, however, of any information which
he obtained from them respecting the origin of that language among them. He
gave other accounts of his travels among them, but only the letter above quoted
has been preserved. – [editor.]
11 In the "Gentleman's Magazine" for April 1749.
appeared the following: "Since our last, we have found the following
translation of the British Epitaph iSee page 105) on Pnnce Madoc. It is printed
in Herbert's Travels, who saw the monument:
"Madoc Ap Owen was I called, Strong, tall and comely,
not enthralled with homebred pleasure, but for fame Through land and sea I
sought the same."
Sir Thomas Herbert above mentioned did not travel in America
but in the East, and his work published on his return in 1634, gives an account
of his “Travels in Africa and the Greater Asia,” and he could not have seen the
monument if it was in Mexico, as the vicar of St. David's observes.
Some scholar in the " Gloucester (England) Journal thus
translated it, at the same time:
"Madoc my name, oft soaked in billows dire, Owen, the
Prince of North Wales was my sire, My sole ambition was to scour the main
Despising native honors, wealth and fame."
Another translation was given by one who is described as
"a young lady, who is excellently accomplished in all the amiable Beauties
of mind, person and conversation—the Graces, the Muses, and the Virtues are her
own"—as follows:
"Here lies the mighty Owen's Heir
In glorious deeds as well as birth:
I scom'd of Lands the menial care
And sought through seas a foreign Earth."
Our classical readers may be gratified by a perusal of a
Latin translation of the Epitaph which appeared in the Gentleman s Magazine,
Volume x, page 519.
That the Welsh Prince Madoc, son of Owen King of Wales, went
with a colony from that country to America, and left there traces of his
language, seems probable. All accounts of him afterwards are doubtless fables
and conjectures.— [editor.]