Rhees, Morgan J. (Morgan John), 1760-1804

BIOGHIST REQUIRED Abolitionist, Welsh republican radical, publisher, Baptist minister, pioneer and adventurer Morgan J. Rhees fled to the United States in 1794 faced with arrest for his political work in Wales. Between 1793 and 1794 Rhees published Cylchgrawn Cynmraeg, the first political magazine in the Welsh language. Rhees traveled throughout the United States and its western territories on horseback 1794-1795, preaching emancipation and republican ideals while searching for a suitable settlement for Welsh immigrants. In 1797 he and his wife Ann Loxley Rhees founded the town of Beula in western Pennsylvania with land purchased from Benjamin Rush. The settlement was a failure; the land was ceded back to Rush in 1802. Rhees remained active in republican politics and encouraged Welsh emigration. Rhees was the great grandfather of Nicholas Murray Butler, President of Columbia University.

From the guide to the Morgan J. Rhees Papers, 1794-1968., (Columbia University. Rare Book and Manuscript Library)

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