Chronological Sketch (from "Historical Collections of Gwynedd" by H. M. Jenkins (1897) and "A Book of Historical Facts of Gwynedd Meeting" by Eliza Ambler Foulke (1969), with additions by the Historian)

• before 1698, The last of the remaining "William Penn" oaks on the Meeting-House grounds sprouts. Gwynedd is occasionally visited by the Lenni Lenape.
• 1698, March, the Township purchased for the Welsh Company. The emigrants are almost all from the valley of the Afon_Tryweryn in Gwynedd, Wales.
• 1698, April, the Welsh Company sails from Liverpool; 45 die of dysentery at sea.
• 1698, July, they reach Philadelphia
• 1698, November (?), the settlers occupy their land. See Map. Note: Gwynedd Friends also are earliest settlers in Towamencin and Montgomery townships about this time. Friends in Whitpain township also worship at Gwynedd (settled a little later).
• 1699, Meetings for worship held in the home of John Hugh and John Humphrey.
• 1700, The first Meeting-House built [of logs]. The meeting is under the care of Haverford Meeting.
• 1700-01 (?), William Penn visits Gwynedd. Other Welsh families in Gwynedd join the Friends.
• 1701-02, Re-surveys and Commisioner's patents for the lands
• 1702, Quakers in Plymouth twp., begin to meet
• 1710, Richland (Great Swamp) Meeting begins under the care of Gwynnedd Monthly Meeting.
• 1712, The second Meeting-House built [of stone]
• 1714, Gwynedd Friends' Monthly Meeting established. Includes Gwynedd and Plymouth and is called Gwynedd Monthly Meeting.
• 1714, The earliest marked grave at the Meeting-House (Martha Bates). Previous graves were unmarked which continues for at least 25 years.
• 1715, First marriage (previous marriages in the Meeting-House were recorded at Haverford MM) on August 25 when Sarah Evans marries Edward Jones and Anne Evans marries William Roberts.
• 1715-1717: Providence Meeting established under the care of Gwynedd Monthly Meeting.
• 1719, Montgomery Baptist Chuch organized.
• 1720, September 23, Squire Boone marries Sarah Morgan (Daniel Boone's parents)
• 1731, Baptist Church of stone, at Montgomery
• 1734, Arrival of the Schwenkfelders.
• 1737, Friends from today's Berks County (many members of Gwynedd) meet at Gwynedd and establish Oley Monthly Meeting (later called Exeter Monthly Meeting). Friends had been living in the Oley Valley since at least the early 1720s and met under the care of Gwynedd Monthly Meeting.
• 1740, Boehm's Church (German Reformed, Whitpain), built
• 1742, Richland Meeting separates from Gwynedd, establishing their own Monthly Meeting. Note: Many of the Gwynedd families immigrated to Richland, Providence (now Upper Providence) and Exeter Meetings including about all of the Hughes and Hanks families to Exeter and many of the Foulkes to Richland.
• 1745, Malignant and Fatal epidemic
• 1748 (10 mo.) - indulged Meetings begin in Towamencin (home of John Edwards) and Pikes Land (home of John Gomery)
• 1758 - John Woolman the famous antislavery advocate and journal writer visits Gwynedd
• 1769, St. John's Church (Lutheran, Whitpain), built (probably).
• 1772-76, St. Peter's Lutheran and Reformed Church established (in Gwynedd)
• 1777, October, The American troops in the township; march to and retreat from Germantown
• 1777-78, The Meeting-House was used as a Hospital after the Battle of Germantown. Worship was held in the home of John Evans.
• 1777, November, Movement of the troops to Whitemarsh.
• 1777, December, their movement to Valley Forge.
• 1778, June, Movement of the army from Valley Forge to New Jersey.
• 1780, First written evidence of existence of Plymouth Friends School
• 1784, Montgomery County erected.
• 1786, Abington Quarterly Meeting established from Philadelphia Quarterly Meeting.
• about 1819 George Lukens becomes a conductor on the Underground Railroad in Towamencin twp.
• 1822, Carriage sheds built (still partially standing and used for storage)
• 1823, The present Meeting-House built
• 1827, Orthodox Friends split from Gwynedd and meet in the "Orthodox Cottage" on Pennlyn Pike. The Orthodox Meeting was laid down in 1856, and the graveyard is in the care of Gwynedd Meeting.
• 1833 The Plymouth Meeting Antislavery Society is founded.
• 1840, Public School system in the township adapted.
• 1852, Friends burial ground in Whitemarsh township established.
• 1856, North Pennsylvania Railroad completed to Gwynedd.
• 1857, School House at Gwynedd built.
• 1860, Norristown Preparative Meeting set up and joins Gwynedd Monthly Meeting.
• 1868, Providence Preparative Meeting is laid down. The property is now under the care of Norristown Meeting.
• 1869, Borough of North Wales incorporated
• 1872, Borough of Lansdale incorporated
• 1874, Stony Creek Railroad completed.
• 1890-1900. Membership at Gwynedd Meeting at its lowest point.
• 1918-20, An oak arboretum of sorts is planted on the meeting grounds by William Hallowell.
• 1924-26, Trees planted by the Camp Fire Girls, including the large beech tree.
• 1936, Graveyard enlarged.
• 1936, Gwynedd, Plymouth and Norristown set up independent Monthly Meetings. Gwynedd Monthly Meeting now includes only the former Gwynedd Preparative Meeting.
• 1943, Gwynedd kindegarten established. This later becomes Gwynedd Preschool after local public schools expand their kindegarten programs.
• 1945, Charles Beaumont donates the Foulkeways property to Gwynedd Meeting.
• 1948, Addition to the Meeting-House (presently the library and class rooms)
• 1960 Membership at Gwynedd hits an all time high (>400).
• 1964, Foulkeways established. First residents in 1967.
• 1998, School Rooms and large common room added to the Meeting-House. 300th Anniversary of Gwynedd Meeting.
• 2000, Gwynedd kindegarten begins again in the old 1857 School House.
• 2001, Purchase of the adjacent Hilltop property doubling the acreage under the care of Gwynedd Meeting.

Meeting History and Genealogy

Robert Evans 1716 farmhouse - pictorial article from 1927

Gwynedd Genealogy Page

New History of Gwynedd Friends Meeting (2005)

Historical Collections of Gwynedd (1897)

Gwynedd Monthly Meeting Men's Minutes (1714-18)

Gwynedd Monthly Meeting Women's Minutes (1717-21)

Gwynedd Monthly Meeting Women's Minutes (1722-29)

Gwynedd Monthly Meeting Women's Minutes (1730-40)

Gwynedd Monthly Meeting Women's Minutes (1741-49)

Gwynedd MM Men's Minutes (1745)

Gwynedd MM Men's Minutes (1752)

Gwynedd Monthly Meeting Men's Minutes (1776-78)

Marriages and deaths (partial list from Howard Jenkins)

Burial Records 1715-1749 (epidemic of 1745)

Plymouth Meeting History (by Elwood Roberts via Jane Devlin)

Eliza Foulke (on Foulke Family Assoc. Web site)

History of the Hilltop (Avalon) Property

Gwynedd Post Office

Gwynedd School list and lessons, 1807.

Census data and tax lists (more in 1897 History above)

1734 Phila Co. land survey by township (at Rootsweb.com)

1769 Phila Co. tax lists near Gwynedd Meeting

1776 Gwynedd tax list

1779 Philadelphia County (includes Gwynedd MM area)

Montgomery County 1790 US Census (on USGenWeb)(Gwynedd middle of page 17)

1850 Gwynedd township Federal Census

1850 Towamencin township Federal Census

1850 Whitpain township Federal Census

1848-9 Map of Gwynedd, Montgomery and Whitpain

Burial Grounds

Gwynedd meeting-house Burial Ground

Exeter Friends Meeting burial ground

Richland Meeting burial ground

Merion Friends Meeting

Biographies

An abstract of the Life of George Fox

An abstract of the Life of Margaret Fell

An Abstract of the Life of William Penn

An Abstract of the Life of James Logan

An Abstract of The Journal of John Woolman

An Abstract of the Life of Anthony Benezet

An Abstract of the Life of Lucretia Mott

Essays

Devotional Reading for the Young in Years and Young in Heart

(by Eliza Ambler Foulke)

Friends Early Use of the Bible

The End of the Holy Experiment

The Quaker Economist

Famous Bible Verses and where to find them

Quaker Links

Gwynedd Meeting Home Page

Friends Historical Library at Swarthmore College

Quaker Pages

George Amoss' Quaker web site

Quaker History in the 1927 Book of Discipline

Digital Library at Earlham College

Genealogy Links (all free)

Quaker Roots (www.rootsweb.com)

Quaker Genforum (www.genealogy.com)

Philadelphia County Will Abstracts 1685 - 1825 (US Genweb, included Montgomery County until 1784)

Montgomery County Will Abstracts (USGenWeb)

Bucks County Will Abstracts (USGenWeb)

Chester County Will Abstracts (USGenWeb)

Chester County tax lists (Chester Co. Archives)

Worldconnect Quaker Records Database (by Suzanne Johnston)

Worldconnect (searchable database >500 million names)

Familysearch.org (searchable, includes 1880 US census)

Quaker Arrivals 1682-1751 (from Jane Devlin's site)

Historical Society of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania

Google Books (searchable) (for instance, Charles Browning's Welsh Settlement of Pennsylvania is on-line)

History of Montgomery County Pennsylvania, Illustrated 1884(Rootsweb.com)

USGenWeb archives for Montgomery County

The Underground Railroad by William Still