John ap John
17th century religious pioneer, originally from Cefn Mawr, who was jailed several times for his beliefs.
- Born:
-
1625
- Died:
-
1697
- Place of Birth:
- Cefn Mawr
- Famous For:
- First person to become a Quaker in Wales.
- Biography:
-
Local historian Howard Paddock writes about the religious pioneer from Cefn.
It is generally accepted that John ap John was born about 1625 at a freehold property called Pen y Cefn in the county of Denbighshire. The son of a yeoman farmer, he became one of the country's leading dissenters. It was John ap John who first brought Quakerism into Wales and because of this he is commonly called 'The First Apostle of Welsh Quakerism.' The very first Quaker Meeting in Wales was held at his home in Cefn Mawr, an area which was then known as Cristionydd Kenrick, a township within the Parish of Ruabon.
John ap John was educated at Wrexham where he possibly came under the influence of Walter Craddock, a leading Puritan preacher. During the Civil War it is thought that John ap John served as a Chaplain with the Parliamentarian Army at Beaumaris, Anglesey. After the war, he joined Morgan Llwyd's Church at Wrexham, where he soon became a leading member and travelling preacher.
It was through Morgan Llwyd that he met George Fox, the founder Of the Society of Friends. In 1653, John ap John stayed at Fox's headquarters in Swarthmore, Lancashire where he learned about the philosophy of 'The Inner Light' and the teachings of George Fox. When John ap John was convinced of the truth he became the very first Welsh Quaker.
To say simply that he spent the greater part of his life tramping through Wales preaching the Quaker message would be to ignore the bravery of this man. For these were the days of religious intolerance, when heretics were condemned to death and the Law Courts threatened to burn Quakers. He spent a life-time being persecuted and was incarcerated because of his beliefs in the jails of Cardiff, Usk, Tenby, Swansea, Welshpool and possibly Carmarthen. He was gaoled for such offences as refusing to remove his hat in the presence of a social superior and fined for holding religious services inside his own home.
In 1681, John ap John met William Penn in London and was instrumental in persuading Penn to allocate 30,000 acres of his American land to Welsh Quakers.
John ap John died in 1697 at the home of son in law, John Mellor of Ipstones, Staffordshire, and was buried in nearby Basford. He lies in an unmarked grave in what today simply looks like a field.
In sharp contrast, John ap John's geat, great, great, great granddaughter, Penelope Boothby, lies some 20 miles away in Ashbourne Church (Derbyshire). She died aged six and her tragically short life is commemorated in a monument of white curras marble. Carved by master sculptor, Thomas Banks, she is shown lying asleep. Shortly before her death Penelope was the subject of a painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds which is commonly called the Mob Cap.
your comments
David Larsson from Philadelphia
Dear Howard, Thanks for your response. There is a 1919 article from _Cymru_ by Rev. Thomas Shankland, written in Welsh, that bears review. I am, alas, very limited to my command of that ancient and formidable language, but Rev. Shankland seems to (a) criticize some of Mr. Palmer's conclusions, and (b) suggest 3 separate places in which John ap John lived: namely, Trevor; Rhyddallt; and the house in Cefn Mawr on the Newbridge Road that's next to the old (but not quite so old) baptist chapel - when I visited a few years ago, this last building was being used as a stable. I have the article and am happy to share it with you; I'm not hard to track down, there aren't very many "ss" Larssons practicing law in Philadelphia. My particular interest is that I'm trying to find out from whence John ap John sprang. There are 19th century sources in the USA (see, e.g., History of Ware, NH) that speculate that John ap John was originally from Monmouthshire, and that his father (unsurprisingly named "John") was the sole surviving son of an Edmund/Edmond (and his other sons) who drowned "in the river at Ponty Pool" in 1600. [As an aside, I imagine that, if such an accident actually occurred, it could have been in January 1606-07, when the Severn's springtime tidal bore, combined with what some people think was a major storm and other think might have been a tsunami, touched off a flood that killed thousands of people and destroyed paper records throughout Gloucestershire, Somersetshire, Devonshire, Monmouthshire, Glamorganshire, and the Gower Peninsula]. As the story goes, this surviving "John" had two (and, in other versions of the story, three) children: John, who stayed in Wales and adopted the Welsh patronymic; Edmund/Edmond, who emigrated to America (from London) in 1635 on the ship "James" and became a founding settler of Hampton, New Hampshire (and, in other versions of this story, a daughter, Mary, who wedded Joseph Peaslee of Gloucestershire, and became founding settlers of Newbury and Amesbury, Massachusetts, and, ultimately, Newton, New Hampshire). Edmund/Edmond is my 10th g-grandfather. Mary and Joseph were direct ancestors of the Quaker poet John Greenleaf Whittier. The Johnson family of Danvers, Massachusetts, with whom Whittier spent most of his time during his years of declining health, are one of the main sources (perhaps the only source) of this family story. So, I've been trying to prove -- or disprove -- this theory since 1996, to no avail. I thought for a while that story might have confused the pioneering Welsh Quaker "John ap John" with the pioneering "John ap John" of Aberystruth parish, who is mentioned by "The Prophet" Edmond Jones, in his history of that parish, as "a very holy man" who was a founder of the independent congregation at Gelli'r Grug, but there are details in that book that lead me to believe that this is not the same person. In all events, it has been great fun to chase after this little puzzle, and it has afforded me two wonderful opportunities to visit the Vale of Llangollen and enjoy your beautiful land. Cheers, Dave Larsson
Wed Apr 25 08:56:44 2007
Howard Paddock
Dear David. I thank you for your response to my article and would wish to say that I am mindful that there is a strong indication that John ap John and his wife Kathryn may have lived at the property you describe and which A N Palmer called 'Plas Ifa' or 'Plas Evan'. However, there is other evidence which suggests that after their marriage in 1663 and until the marriage of Richard Davies to Ann Barnes, of Warrington, in 1681 that John ap John and his wife, Kathryn Edwards, and her son, Richard Davies, probably lived together at a property known as Tyddyn y Rhyddallt (also called Rhyddallt Issa). This is partly substantiated by A N Palmer for on page 30 of his book ' A History of the Parish of Ruabon' he writes: ' In 1663, Kathryn Edwards of Trevor was presented as a Quaker by the grand jury of County Denbigh, and her son maintained 'a meeting' at his house in Rhyddallt.' On page 100 of his autobiography, Richard Davies of Welshpool (not to be confused with Richard Davies of Rhyddallt) writes in 1675: 'From thence we went to John ap John's near Wrexham, in Denbighshire, and visited friends there….' This description fits 'Tyddyn y Rhyddallt' better than 'Plas Ifa' as the latter would probably have been described as 'near Llangollen'. The opening statement of a document held at the Denbighshire Records Office (reference DD/DM/1096) reads: 'Article of Agreement hath made and sustained upon this 29th day of December 1679, between John ap John of Rhyddallt in the Parish of Ruabon and county of Denbigh, yeoman, Kathryn, his wife, and Richard Davies, son and heir apparent of the said Kathryn, of the one part........................' This document is signed: John ap John Ka. Edds Richard Davies Kindest regards Howard Paddock
Thu Nov 9 16:54:01 2006
David Larsson from Philadelphia
I have seen the deed from William Penn to John ap John and Thomas Wynne that granted to them thousands of acres in what is now suburban Philadelphia (e.g., Merion, Haverford, Bryn Mawr, Bala Cynwyd, Tredyffrin Township). I visited Cefn Mawr a few years ago, and saw the stable building -- that A. Palmer believed to be John ap John's home -- still standing, along with the house of his wife, Catherine, on the hillside near the Trevor Sun Tavern. Thanks for this entry.
Thu Nov 9 09:20:16 2006
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