Pennsylvania History a journal of mid-a lan ic s udies Pvolume 79, numberH 1 · win er 2012 This issue is dedicated to the memory of Hilary Lloyd Yewlett. Articles Early Modern Migration from the Mid-Wales County of Radnorshire to Southeastern ennsylvania, with Special Reference to Three Meredith Families Hilary Lloyd Yewlett 1 “Your etitioners Are in Need”: leasant Hills as a Case Study in Borough Incorporation Richard L. Lind erg 33 Saving the Birthplace of the American Revolution, with Introductory Remarks by atrick Spero and Nathan Kozuskanich Karen Rams urg 49 review essAys Review of the National Museum of American Jewish History, hiladelphia De orah Waxman 65 Beyond the Furnace: Concrete, Conservation, and Community in ostindustrial ittsburgh Alan Dieterich-Ward 76 This content downloaded from 128.118.152.206 on Wed, 14 Mar 2018 15:22:27 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms BOOK reviews Mark A ot Stern, David Franks: Colonial Merchant. Reviewed by Benjamin G. Scharff 83 Judith Ridner. A Town In-Between: Carlisle, ennsylvania, and the Early Mid-Atlantic Interior. Reviewed by Larry A. Skillin 86 Joe W. Trotter and Jared N. Day. Race and Renaissance: African Americans in ittsburgh since World War II. Reviewed by Gregory Wood 88 Scott Ga riel Knowles, ed. Imagining hiladelphia: Edmund Bacon and the Future of the City. Reviewed by Nicole Maurantonio 92 cOntriButOrs 95 AnnOuncements 97 index 99 This content downloaded from 128.118.152.206 on Wed, 14 Mar 2018 15:22:27 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms PAH 79.1_FM.indd 2 10/03/12 10:01 AM submission informa ion Pennsylvania History publishes documents previously unpublished and of interest to scholars of the Middle Atlantic region. The Journal also reviews books, exhibits, and other media dealing primarily with ennsylvania history or that shed significant light on the state’s past. The editors invite the submission of articles dealing with the history of ennsylvania and the Middle Atlantic region, regardless of their specialty. rospective authors should review past issues of Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies, where they will note articles in social, intellectual, economic, environmental, political, and cultural history, from the distant and recent past. Articles may investigate new areas of research or they may reflect on past scholarship. Material that is primarily of an antiquarian or genealogical nature will not be considered. lease conform to the Chicago Manual of Style in preparing your manuscript. Send article submissions and suggestions for special issues to Editor William encak, by email [email protected] (preferred) or by mail, .O. Box 132, Coburn, A 16832. Send books for review and announcements to atrick Spero, Dept. of olitical Science, Schapiro Hall, Williams College, Williamstown, MA 01267. impor an no ices Pennsylvania History (ISSN 0031-4528; E-ISSN 2153-2109) is published quarterly by the ennsylvania Historical Association and the ennsylvania State University ress. Annual member subscription rates: $30 for students, and $40 for individuals ($55 if outside U.S.). ayments should be directed to Business Secretary Karen Guenther, 216 inecrest Hall, Mansfield University, Mansfield, A 16933. Address changes should also be directed to Karen Guenther. eriodicals postage paid at Mansfield, and additional mailing offices. Claims for missing or damaged issues should be directed to Karen Guenther. This content downloaded from 128.118.152.206 on Wed, 14 Mar 2018 15:22:27 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms PAH 79.1_FM.indd 3 10/03/12 10:01 AM edi or William encak, Emeritus, The ennsylvania State University and Susquehanna University associa e edi ors Laura Keenan-Spero atrick Spero, Williams College edi orial board Michael Barton, enn State-Harrisburg Susan Branson, Syracuse eter Carmichael, Gettysburg College Ileen DeVault, Cornell University Aaron Fogelman, Northern Illinois University Jane Merritt, Old Dominion University Richard S. Newman, Rochester Institute of Technology Simon Newman, University of Glasgow Liam Riordan, University of Maine Steve Rosswurm, Lake Forest College Andrew M. Schocket, Bowling Green State University Thomas G. Smith, Nichols College Joe Trotter, Carnegie-Mellon University Elizabeth Varon, University of Virginia Julie Winch, University of Massachusetts, Boston This content downloaded from 128.118.152.206 on Wed, 14 Mar 2018 15:22:27 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms PAH 79.1_FM.indd 4 10/03/12 10:01 AM Publication of Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies is made possible by deeply appreciated support from the ennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission and the Department of History, the ennsylvania State University. We thank Karen Guenther for keeping our mem ership lists in order. officers of he pennsylvania his orical associa ion resident, Janet Moore Lindman, Rowan University [email protected] Immediate ast resident, Marion Roydhouse, hiladelphia University [email protected] Vice- resident, Kenneth C. Wolensky [email protected] Business Secretary, Karen Guenther, Mansfield University [email protected] Treasurer, Tina Hyduke, enn State Federal Credit Union [email protected] Secretary, Rachel Batch, Widener University [email protected] Editor, William encak, Emeritus, The ennsylvania State University and Susquehanna University [email protected] he pennsylvania his orical associa ion The ennsylvania Historical Association endeavors to stimulate scholarly activity and arouse popular interest in the Commonwealth’s history. It sponsors Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies, a publication series, and annual meetings held successively throughout the state. www.pa-history.org On the cover: Smith house before demolition. hoto courtesy of Chris Witmer. This content downloaded from 128.118.152.206 on Wed, 14 Mar 2018 15:22:27 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms PAH 79.1_FM.indd 5 10/03/12 10:01 AM Early ModErn Migration froM thE Mid-WalEs County of radnorshirE to southEastErn PEnnsylvania, With sPECial rEfErEnCE to thrEE MErEdith faMiliEs Hilary Lloyd Yewlett n 1971 the Honorable Thomas M. Rees of California observed that “very little has been written of what the Welsh have con- Itributed in all walks of life to the shaping of American history.”1 In 1979 historian David Galenson maintained that “the issue of the composition of America’s early immigrants is an impor- tant one and will continue to receive considerable attention from historians who seek to understand the social and economic history of colonial America.” However, Douglas Greenburg’s examination of the historiography of the middle colonies revealed that Pennsylvania, which witnessed the immigration of many early modern Welsh Quaker migrants, has not attracted as much attention from researchers as has its neighboring states. In 1992, twenty-one years after Rees’s observations, Aaron Fogelman noted, “there is little literature on Welsh immigra- tion in eighteenth-century America and quantitative estimates pennsylvania history: a journal of mid-atlantic studies, vol. 79, no. 1, 2012. Copyright © 2012 The Pennsylvania Historical Association This content downloaded from 128.118.152.206 on Wed, 14 Mar 2018 15:25:31 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms PAH 79.1_01_Yewlett.indd 1 10/03/12 9:57 AM pennsylvania history are virtually non-existent.” In 1994 Wayne Bodle showed that, during the preceding fifteen years, the William and Mary Quarterly had “published fewer articles with specific Middle Colonies themes than had been published in the previous fifteen years.” Bodle highlighted Barry Levy’s study of Quakers in the Delaware Valley. Levy undermined his argument by conflating north Wales and Cheshire, thereby ignoring their cultural and linguistic differ- ences. Boyd Stanley Schlenther too asserted that no adequate account of set- tlement of the Welsh in colonial Pennsylvania exists. James T. Lemon later declared that while many studies on early Pennsylvania have appeared since the 1970s, much remains to be written about the contribution made by emi- grants from Wales to the development of the colony.2 Among Welsh historians of the period, John Davies pointed to the distinc- tive local identity embraced by many Welshmen. He observed, “to be Welsh in America was to be from Wales; to be Welsh in Wales was to be from Carmarthenshire or Anglesey or Glamorgan or Denbighshire.” Studies by Arthur H. Dodd, J. Gwynn Williams, and Geraint H. Jenkins are examples of this localism.3 Their research concentrated on Quaker migration from the counties of Merioneth and Montgomeryshire. While the majority of the early modern Welsh who migrated to southeast Pennsylvania did come from these two counties, a number also migrated from Radnorshire. The Radnorshire local historian, Frank Noble, briefly addressed the issue of eighteenth-century Radnorshire-Pennsylvania emigration fifty years ago. In expanding on Noble’s work, I observe Geraint Jenkins’s warning that for this period in Welsh history “there is a woeful lack of either primary sources or secondary material on topics such as demography, size of households, social structure, foreign trade and much else besides.”4 In the eighteenth century, Radnorshire (now part of the larger county of Powys) was the second smallest county in Wales, measuring twenty-eight miles from north to south and twenty-seven miles from east to west. With 16,270 inhabitants, it also had the second-smallest population.5