Abraham Matthews

Last updated

Abraham Matthews (November 1832- 1 April 1899) was a Welsh Independent (Congregationalist) minister and one of the founders of the Welsh settlement in Patagonia. [1]

Contents

Early life

He was born at Llanidloes, Montgomeryshire, in November 1832. [1] His parents were John Matthews, a weaver, and Ann Jones, but Abraham was raised by relatives who were farmers. [1] He had little formal education but eventually went to Bala College in his twenties, where he was influenced by Michael D. Jones.

Ministry in the Aberdare Valley

He was ordained at Horeb, Llwydcoed and Elim, Cwmdare in 1859 and remained there until 1865. [1] In that year he gave up his pastorate in order to join the first group of migrants to Patagonia. He was presented with a testimonial at Horeb although some of the members expressed doubts about the venture. [2]

Abraham Matthews in Patagonia

In May 1865, Matthews sailed from Liverpool on the Mimosa and was a member of the first party of Welsh settlers to leave for Patagonia. [1] The ship arrived in South America on 28 July 1865 and the settlers landed at what later became known as Porth Madryn. [1] The settlers had very few resources and Matthews was struck by a serious illness while crossing the prairie between Porth Madryn and the Camwy valley. [1] He was instrumental in persuading the settlers to remain in Patagonia when several of their number sought to abandon the enterprise. [1] For many years he was the leading figure in the Welsh settlement and was known as Esgob y Wladfa (the Bishop of the settlement). [1]

He remained in Patagonia for the rest of his life, although paying several visits to Wales. He died in April 1899. [3] He left a widow, Gwenllian, whom he had married in 1862. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Y Wladfa</span> Former Welsh settlement in Argentina

Y Wladfa, also occasionally Y Wladychfa Gymreig, refers to the establishment of settlements by Welsh immigrants in Patagonia, beginning in 1865, mainly along the coast of the lower Chubut Valley. In 1881, the area became part of the Chubut National Territory of Argentina which, in 1955, became Chubut Province.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rawson, Chubut</span> City in Chubut, Argentina

Rawson is the capital of the Argentine province of Chubut, in Patagonia. It has 24,616 inhabitants in 2010, and it is the chief town of the Rawson Department.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Porth</span> Human settlement in Wales

Porth is a town and a community in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, within the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan, Wales. Lying in the Rhondda Valley, it is regarded as the gateway connecting the Rhondda Fawr and Rhondda Fach valleys due to both valleys meeting at Porth. The Welsh word "porth" means "gate". Porth is a predominantly English-speaking community.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trelew</span> City in Chubut, Argentina

Trelew is a city in the eastern part of the Chubut Province of Argentina. Located in Patagonia, the city is the largest and most populous in the low valley of the Chubut River, with 97,915 inhabitants as of 2010. The Trelew municipality is part of the Rawson Department, whose capital, Rawson, is also the provincial capital.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Puerto Madryn</span> City in Chubut, Argentina

Puerto Madryn, also known as Madryn, is a city in the province of Chubut in Argentine Patagonia. It is the capital of the Viedma Department, and has about 93,995 inhabitants according to the last census in 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael D. Jones</span> Welsh minister, college principal and founder of Y Wladfa

Michael Daniel Jones was a Welsh Congregationalist minister and principal of a theological college, but is best remembered as a founder of the Welsh settlement in Patagonia known as Y Wladfa and as one of the fathers of modern Welsh nationalism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Llwydcoed</span> Human settlement in Wales

Llwydcoed is a small village and community north of the Cwm Cynon, near the town of Aberdare, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, with a population of 1,302 as of 2011 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sir Love Jones-Parry, 1st Baronet</span> British landowner and politician

Sir Thomas Duncombe Love Jones-Parry, 1st Baronet was a Welsh landowner and Liberal politician. He was one of the founders of the Y Wladfa settlement in Patagonia, South America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lewis Jones (Patagonia)</span> One of the founders of the Welsh settlement in Patagonia

Lewis Jones was one of the founders of the Welsh settlement in Patagonia. The city of Trelew was named after him.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Welsh settlement in the Americas</span> Attempts by the Welsh to colonise the Americas

Welsh settlement in the Americas was the result of several individual initiatives to found distinctively Welsh settlements in the New World. It can be seen as part of the more general British colonization of the Americas.

<i>Mimosa</i> (ship) British clipper ship

Mimosa was a clipper ship best known for carrying the first Welsh emigrants to South America in 1865.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patagonian Welsh</span> Dialect of Welsh

Patagonian Welsh is a variety of the Welsh language spoken in Y Wladfa, the Welsh settlement in Patagonia, Chubut Province, Argentina. The decimal numeral system used in Modern Welsh originated in Patagonia in the 1870s, and was subsequently adopted in Wales in the 1940s as a simpler counterpart to the traditional vigesimal system, which still survives in Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eluned Morgan (author)</span> Argentine writer

Eluned Morgan, was a Welsh-language author from Patagonia. She was raised in Y Wladfa, a Welsh colony in Patagonia, and was taught to speak both Welsh and Spanish. Her father eventually enrolled her in Dr Williams' School in Wales, where she had to learn the English language. She led student protests against the school's English-only policy, which prohibited the use of Welsh by its students.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central Chubut Railway</span> Former railway company in Argentina (1888–1958)

The Central Chubut Railway was a British-owned company that built and operated a 1,000 mmmetre gauge railway line in the Argentine province of Chubut in the Patagonia region at the end of the 19th. century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Argentina–United Kingdom relations</span> Bilateral relations

Foreign relations between the Argentine Republic and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland have existed for over a century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edwyn Cynrig Roberts</span> Welsh pioneer of Patagonia

Edwyn Cynrig Roberts, sometimes Edwin Cynrig Roberts was one of the pioneers of the Welsh settlement in Patagonia, Argentina.

In June 2006, the Wales national rugby union team travelled to Argentina for a two-test series against the Argentina national team. The first test was playedon 11 June in Puerto Madryn, a city in the heart of the former Welsh colony in Patagonia, founded by Welsh settlers in 1865. The second test was played in Buenos Aires a week later. They were Wales' first matches under the management of new head coach Gareth Jenkins, who had been appointed to replace Mike Ruddock in April 2006. The test series was thrown into doubt earlier in the year after 60 Argentine players threatened to retire from international duty due to a dispute with the Argentine Rugby Union (UAR), but this was resolved at the end of May 2006.

Horeb, Llwydcoed is an Independent (Congregationalist) chapel in Llwydcoed, Aberdare, Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elim Chapel, Cwmdare</span> Former chapel in Cwmdare, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales

Elim, Cwmdare was an Independent (Congregationalist) chapel in Cwmdare, Aberdare, Wales.

The Patagonian Bones is a 2015 Argentine film written and directed by Ricardo Preve. With a telefilm format, The Patagonian Bones is based on the true-life story of Catherine Roberts, the first Welsh woman to die in Patagonia in 1865, and on the 20-year work of three Argentine scientists to identify her remains. The film had a successful run at international festivals, winning awards and nominations.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Davies, David Leslie. "Abraham Matthews". Dictionary of Welsh Biography . National Library of Wales . Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  2. ↑ "Cyflwyno Tysteb i'r Parch A. Mathews, Llwydcoed". Gwladgarwr. 6 May 1865. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  3. ↑ "Death of a Patagonian Minister". Cardiff Times. 13 May 1899. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.