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Archiver > PA-OLD-CHESTER > 2004-11 > 1099366568


From: "Marjorie B. W inter" <>
Subject: RE: PROTHERO Family near London Grove?
Date: Mon, 1 Nov 2004 22:36:08 -0500
In-Reply-To: <54AB5331.16A3DBC7.0C4E6E2E@aol.com>


Fred et al:

We list Philiip Rhytherrach (Rhydderch) or Prothroe in our ancestral
line. The following is from Welsh Founders of Pennsylvania, by Thomas
Allen Glenn, Vol. 1, p. 206:

"Philip Rhytherrach (Rhydderch), or Prothroe, b. County Carm. 1627-28.
Removed to Penna., 1690.....aged 102 yrs. Benjamin Franklin, in the
"Pennsylvania Gazette" of Sept. 1730, gives the following account of
him: 'Sunday last, died of a flux, at Newtown in Chester County, Philip
Rhyddarch in the 102 year of his age. He was born in Caermarthenshire
in South Wales, and came into Pennsylvania about 40 years ago. He was a
man of a peaceable disposition, very religious, and remarkable for his
temperance, having never been overcome with drink during his whole
life.' ... was ancestor to General Anthony Wayne, the Hunter, and
VanLeer (von Lohr), families, and George H. Earle, Jr."

The only VanLeer family known to be in Pennsylvania in 1730 was that of
John George VonLöehr, his wife Mary Philips (dau of Philip Rhytherrach)
and his son, Dr. Bernardus VanL:eer. Dr. Bernardus' first marriage to
Mary Branson, of Philadelphia, produced a son, Captain Samuel VanLeer
who married Hannah Wayne, sister of "Mad" Anthony Wayne. The Hunter and
Earle lines came from that marriage. Philip Rhytherrach's children,
Margaret, Elizabeth Mary, and Lewis, took the surname Philips, rather
than ap Philip. Margaret married Richard Iddings and they were
grandparents to Hannah and Anthony Wayne. Elizabeth married William
Thomas and they had a son, Rees Thomas III. The Thomas and Rees
families were part of the Quaker settlement of Merion in the Welsh
Tract, under John Bevan. Mary, we believe, was wife to John George
VanLeer and mother to Dr. Bernardus. We do not have a wife or family
for Lewis .

Caemarthen is immediately West of Glamorganshire, the Welsh home of
John Bevan, the Welsh leader in PA.

Prothroe apparently came from the adaptation of the welsh ap
Rhytherrach/Rhydderch. Another adaptation is Rothrock. Marj in NC


> ----------
> From: [SMTP:]
> Sent: Monday, November 01, 2004 3:00 PM
> To:
> Subject: PROTHERO Family near London Grove?
>
> I discovered some interesting information while studying the 1914
> book: "Two-Hundredth Anniversary, London Grove Meeting: 1714-1914"
> which I'm thinking relates to the PROTHERO family. This took a liitle
> sleuthing, and included digging into our list archives and other
> RootsWeb resources.
> The book includes an article entitled "The Record of an Early Settler
> in America," by Emma Taylor Lamborn of Kennett Square. She tells a
> romantic story about her immigrant ancestors Robert Lamborn and Sarah
> Swayne, as related by their grandson, Robert Lamborn III in a document
> written in 1814. To make a long story short, RL3 reports that his
> grandfather, RL1, came to Pennsylvania in 1713 from England looking
> for Sarah, who had previously come with her parents. They married and
> settled a half mile west of London Grove meetinghouse. According to
> RL3, RL1 "knew" that he himself was the westernmost white inhabitant
> in America, with one exception [I guess he didn't know about the 1710
> Pequea Settlement of Mennonites in what was to become Lancaster
> County]. The one exception that he allowed was about four miles west
> of his own land, where there lived a man by the name of PANTHRO, on
> the land since known and occupied by Joseph Pennock and son Levis.
> I'm betting that PANTHRO was really PROTHRO (both are unusual, but
> PROTHRO can be found in the records, while PANTHRO cannot). In our
> list archives is the information that an Evan Prothero was on the tax
> list for Radnor in 1693, and that an Owen Prothoroo "witnessed a deed
> on 10 July 1690 in Newtown Township" [it's possible that this was
> really Evan].
> Anyhow, another RootsWeb site, that for Lousiana, gives detailed
> information about Evan Prothero, who was originally from Wales, and
> originally known as "Evan Prydderch". See:
> http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/la/winn/history/pro601.txt. Here
> is a short quote from that posting:
> "The Prothro family of St. Maurice [Louisiana] were descendants of the
> Great Lord of Blancuck of West South Wales. The Lord of Blancuck was
> known as Cadivor, who lived at the old seat of the Prothro family,
> Dolwilym Castle. There are accounts of several of the Prothro
> ancestral families living there later, especially the pedigree of
> James Prydderch, who is 1579 married Frances the Charming.
> The last family to live in the castle before it was torn down was that
> of Evan Prydderch, who requested the name of Prydderch be changed to
> Protheroe. Thus, through the years, the name of Prothro has undergone
> many changes-Prytherch, Prydderch, Protheroe, and finally Prothro.
> Evan Protheroe, Jr., professing to be a Quaker, was persecuted for his
> beliefs like other Quakers of that day in Wales and England, and to
> Evan, escape to America was the only relief.
> Evan Protheroe and his wife, Elizabeth Morgan, along with their two
> sons, John and Lewis, left West South Wales in 1683 and settled in
> Pennsylvania. Following a yellow fever epidemic, John, the eldest son
> of Evan and Elizabeth,took his wife and two young children and planned
> to go back to Wales where they were born. But delayed in waiting for
> a boat, the family decided to settle permanently in America."
> This all leads me to believe that the PANTHRO mentioned by RL1 as
> residing 4 miles west of London Grove was either Evan PROTHERO or his
> son John. Yellow fever was prevalent along the waterfront in
> Philadelphia, but I've never heard of it thriving out "in the
> country," so the experience with the disease may have prompted the
> migration to Chester County.
> The LDS site has a pedigree of Evan Prydderch and his descendants, and
> has the added locational information that Dolwilym Castle was in
> Carmarthenshire, Wales.
> I'd be interested in any comments...
>
> Fred Kelso
>
> ______________________________
>

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