GRIFFITHS
,
THOMAS
(
1645
-
1725
),
first minister of the Welsh Tract Baptist church
in the present state of
Delaware
,
U.S.A.
He was born at
Llanfyrnach, Pembs.
, in
1645
, but is described with
Elizabeth
, his wife, as ‘of
Melinau
’ in the roll of members of
Rhydwilym church
in
1689
. There is no evidence in the church register either that he was baptized there, as some reports say, in
1677
, or that he became one of the ordained assistants of
William
Jones
(d.
c.
1700
) (q.v.)
, but it is known that it was he who led the small group of church members who emigrated to
America
in
1701
, settling first at
Penepek
,
Pennsylvania
, and in
1703
at
Welsh Tract
. He d.
25 July 1725
, aged eighty, and was buried, according to some writers, at
Penepek
, but according to others (more probably) at
Pencader
,
Delaware
. He was the father-in-law of
Abel
Morgan
(q.v.)
.
Bibliography:
-
Hanes y Bedyddwyr ymhlith y Cymry
,
1885
, 355-6;
-
Hanes y Bedyddwyr yn Nghymru
,
1893–1907
, iii, 108;
- Rhydwilym church register (in N.L.W.);
-
National Library of Wales Manuscript
9258;
-
Y Cenhadwr Americanaidd sef cylchgrawn
gwybodaeth fuddiol a dyddorawl i Gymry America / The
American messenger
, Utica, New York, 1840-1901
,
1880
, 324-5;
-
The Cambrian
,
1881
, 188-190.
Author:
Benjamin George Owens, M.A., Aberystwyth
