Rowland Ellis (1650 – September 1731) was a

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

Quaker leader. He was the owner of the farm of Bryn Mawr near

Dolgellau Dolgellau () is a town and community in Gwynedd, north-west Wales, lying on the River Wnion, a tributary of the River Mawddach. It was the traditional county town of the historic county of Merionethshire ( cy, Meirionnydd, Sir Feirionnydd) un ...

. He became a

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

, along with a number of other inhabitants of Dolgellau, after a visit to the town by

George Fox George Fox (July 1624 – 13 January 1691) was an English Dissenter, who was a founder of the Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as the Quakers or Friends. The son of a Leicestershire weaver, he lived in times of social upheaval and ...

in 1657. As a result of

religious persecution Religious persecution is the systematic mistreatment of an individual or a group of individuals as a response to their religion, religious beliefs or affiliations or their irreligion, lack thereof. The tendency of societies or groups within soc ...

, he and others emigrated to

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

in 1686. The town of Bryn Mawr there is named after Ellis's farm. In 1688 he briefly returned to Wales to set his affairs in order, but went back to Pennsylvania, where in 1700 he was elected to represent Philadelphia in the

provincial assembly Provincial may refer to: Government & Administration * Provincial capitals, an administrative sub-national capital of a country * Provincial city (disambiguation) * Provincial minister (disambiguation) * Provincial Secretary, a position in Can ...

.T. A. Glenn, Merion in the Welsh Tract with sketches of the townships of Haverford and Radnor : historical and genealogical collections concerning the Welsh barony in the province of Pennsylvania, settled by the Cymric Quakers in 1682; published 1896. In 1969

Marion Eames Marion Eames (born Gwladys Marion Griffith Eames, 5 February 1921 – 3 April 2007)Dictionary of Welsh BiographRetrieved 29 September 2018./ref> was a Welsh novelist writing mainly in Welsh. She was also a talented musician. Biography Marion was ...

, a Welsh writer who lived in Dolgellau, published a semi-fictional account of the events leading up to the emigration under the title ''Y Stafell Ddirgel'', since translated into

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

as "

The Secret Room ''Y Stafell Ddirgel'' (in English, ''The Secret Room'') is a novel by Marion Eames written in the Welsh language and first published in 1969. An English translation was published in 1975 under the title ''The Secret Room''. In 2001 a highly s ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ellis, Rowland 1650 births 1731 deaths Converts to Quakerism Members of the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly Welsh Quakers Welsh emigrants to the United States