MR. EDWARD F. FOULKE. GWYNEDD, MONTGOMERY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
He was one of the original settlers of what is today Gwynedd Township in Montgomery County; he had purchased 700 acres to farm.In 1702, he wrote an account of his emigration from Wales and of his genealogy. He traced his ancestry to the twelfth century Welsh chieftain Rhirid Flaidd, of Penllyn.
The account, written in Welsh, was later translated into English by a grandson. Many of modern Gwynedd Township's placenames are related to Foulke's roots.
He was the husband of Eleanor Hugh Cadwalader.
Find a Grave.
MR. EDWARD F. FOULKE. GWYNEDD, MONTGOMERY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
EDWARD FOULKE the emigrant, born in Wales, 13th May 1664 and died in Pennsylvania, November 8th, 1741; resided at Coed y Foel, Rhiwlas, Merionethshire; he left there for Liverpool, February 3rd, 1698, and sailed thence with his wife and nine children, on the 17th of the same month, in the ship Robert and Elizabeth, Ralph Williams, Master.They arrived at Philadelphia May 17th, 1698, at Gwynedd, Pennsylvania, where he purchased 712 acres.
He married Eleanor of the Parish of Spytn, Denbighshire. She was the daughter of Hugh ap Cadwalader ap Rhys. She died January 16th, 1733.
Issue :
1. Thomas b. 7th August, 1685, in Merionethshire, Wales; d. 1762; m. 27th June 1706, at Gwynedd Meeting House, GWEN EVANS, eldest daughter David Evans of Radnor, Pennsylvania.
2. Hugh b. 1685.
3. Cadwalader b. 1691
4. Evan
5. Gwen
6. Grace
7. Jane b. Wales, 10th January, 1683-1684
8. Catherine
9. Margaret b. in Wales; d. 1717; m. Nicholas Roberts, son of Robert Cadwalader of Gwynedd.
Colonial Families of the United States.
MR. EDWARD F. FOULKE. GWYNEDD, MONTGOMERY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
In 1698, Edward Foulke left Coed y Foel, a farm on the river Treweryn, not far from Bala in Wales, and accompanied by his wife and nine children, journeyed to Liverpool, where they arrived two days later, on the fifth of April. They all set sail for America on the ship Robert and Elizabeth, touching first at Dublin. On board were among others Hugh Griffith and family, and John Hugh and family, also from Wales.Edward Foulke left a graphic account of the voyage. They landed at Philadelphia the 17th of July, 1698, some three months after leaving the little home in Wales, and all settled in Gwynedd township, Philadelphia County (now Berks), (Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Volume 8, page 174-183).
An autobiography of Edward Foulke who came to America in 1698 with wife Eleanor, can be found in "Welsh Settlements of Pennsylvania," by Charles H. Browning, p. 596. The same book states (p. 302) that Edward Foulke was a direct descendant of Edward I. of England, and refers to Burke's "Royal Families," Vol. II; Dwnn's (od Dwin's) "Welsh Pedigrees" or "Visitations," and Dugdale's "Baronage of England."
North America, Family Histories, 1500-2000.
MR. EDWARD F. FOULKE. GWYNEDD, MONTGOMERY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
The writer of the following sketch died in 1741, aged eighty-eight years and five months, and was buried at Gwynedd. His descendants, of various names, are numerous in Chester County :"I, Edward Foulke, was the son of Foulke Thomas, the son of Evan, the son of Robert, the son of David Lloyd, the son of David, the son of Evan Vaughan, the son of Griffith, the son of Madock, the son of Iorwerth, the son of Maddock, the son of Ririd Blaidd of the Poole, who was Lord of Penllyn, one of the northern divisions of Wales.
"My mother's name was Lowry, the daughter of Edward the son of David, the son of Ellis, the son of Robert of the Parish of Llanvor, in Merionethshire."
"I was born on the 13th day of the fifth month, Anno Domini 1651, and when arrived to mature age, I married Eleanor, the daughter of Hugh, the son of Cadwallader, the son of Rees od the Parish of Spyter, in Denbighshire. Her mother's name was Gwen, the daughter of Ellis, the son of William, the son of Hugh, the son of Thomas, the son of David, the son of Maddock, the son of Evan, the son of Cott, the son of Evan, the son of Griffith, the son of Maddock, the son of Enion, the son of Meredith of Cawvadock; and was born in the same Parish and shire with her husband.
"I had by my said wife, nine children, to wit : four sons and five daughters; - whose names were as followeth, viz. : Thomas, Hugh, Cadwallader and Evan; Gwen, Grace, Jane Catherine and Margaret."
"We lived at a place called Coedyfoel; a farm belonging to Roger Price, Esq., of Rhiwlas in Merionethshire aforesaid. But in process of time, I had an inclination to remove thence with my family, to the province of Pennsylvania, and in order thereto we set out on the 3rd day of the 2nd month (April) Annoque Domini, 1698, and came in two days to Liverpool where, with divers others who intended to go the voyage, we took shipping the 17th of the same month, on board the 'Robert and Elizabeth;' and the next day set sail for Ireland, where we arrived and stayed, until the 1st of the 3rd Month (May), and thence again sailed for Pennsylvania, and were about eleven weeks at sea, and the sore distemper of the bloody flux broke out in the vessel, of which died five and forty persons in our passage.
The distemper was so mortal that two or three corpse were cast over every day while it lasted. But through the favor and mercy of Divine Providence, I with my wife and nine children, escaped that sore mortality; and arrived safe at Philadelphia, about the 17th of the 5th month (July); where we were kindly received and entertained by our Friends and old aquaintances, until I purchased a tract of about seven hundred acres of land about sixteen miles from Philadelphia, on a part of which I settled.
And divers others of our company who came oversee together, settled near me about the same time; which was the beginning of November, 1698, aforesaid; and the township was named Gwynedd or North Wales."
This account was written the 14th of 11th Month, (January) A.D. 1702, by Edward Foulke."