"A Time to Remember" Article, July 24, 1985

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A Time to Remember
Excerpts from a July 4 column in the Cape Cod Times will be of in­terest to local Welsh folks, for some of them may be descendants of the emigrants mentioned.
Title of the piece is "Over My Shoulder," sub-titled "A time to remember the settlers." Its author is Bunny Mason, whose husband, "The Skipper," is directly descended from Edward Bebb, named below.
Gist of the column is that on the Fourth of July, our country's birth­day, we should take a 'deja vu' and remember those who laid the foundation for our democratic tradition: the Pilgrims of New England, the Welsh, Scots, Irish, Swedes, English, the Middle Atlantic and southern seaboards, French, Spanish.
Here is Mrs. Mason's story, condensed:
In 1795, in Wales, these Welsh countrymen planned to emigrate to America: George Roberts and his wife; David and Mary Frances; the Rev. Rees Lloyd with his wife and children, and two unmarried men, Edward Bebb and Ezekiel Hughes.
Their plan was to take a sailboat on Cardigan Bay to Bristol, there to board the ship Maria and a rendevous with like-minded friends.
But, since Britain and France were at war, able-bodied men were often 'impressed' to serve, and so it was decided that the women and children would board the sailboat with the luggage, while the men would walk the 60 miles to Bristol.
After some frightening delays, however, they all reached the Maria, and, after a rough voyage, eventually disembarked at the port of Philadelphia. The Robertses and Lloyds headed for Ebensburg and relatives; the Francises remained near Philadelphia, and Bebb and Hughes, bachelors, began a west­ward journey to Ohio.
But land grants there were almost exhausted, and it was not until 1801 that they secured farms. Both had left-sweethearts in Wales, and, after settling in, they began the long journey back to their homeland to claim their brides.
Presumably, though the emigrants were thought dead by those in Wales, and Margaret Roberts, Bebb's betrothed, was urged by her family to forget Edward Bebb and marry the Rev. Mr. Owens. That accomplished, the couple accompanied Margaret's sister Grace, her husband, and two children on another journey to America.
Unfortunately, both husbands and the children died aboard ship, supposedly from bad water. The widows became suspicious, however, escaped at the dock by a rope, and eventually made their way to Ebensburg, where their brother George sent back to Philadelphia for their belongings.
Two days ·after their arrival, Edward Bebb walked in unex­pectedly, claimed Margaret and married her. Destination, of their wedding trip was Pittsburgh, where they bought a flatboat and sailed for Cincinnati, there to set up housekeeping.
On Dec. 8, 1802, a son William Bebb was born who grew up to become governor of Ohio in 1846. One of his sons, Michael Sh11ck Bebb, became a well-known botanist and also the grandfather of Mrs. Mason's "Skipper."
(Editor's Note: "The foregoing is a real-life story that surely must be a precious part of a family's ar­chives. Now that it's twice-told, perhaps reading it will prompt others to set down their own remembrances and record them for prosperity. They're just what descendants are looking for.)