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Founded 1971 and located in the Old Welsh Congregational
Church, 412 East Main Street, Oak Hill, Ohio. |
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| Objectives: |
- To foster family ties throughout the world
- To collect and preserve records, relics, heirlooms and
traditions
- To preserve for all time as a heritage museum possession
the old welsh church in Oak Hill, Ohio.
- To permit civic minded organizations use of edifice
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| A GLIMPSE OF THE
PAST |
| In 1818, six families from the Cilcennin area set
sail from Aberaeron, Wales to the United States. After a long
and wretched journey across the atlantic, they hired covered
wagons for another long and hazardous trek across the mountains
to Pittsburg. There they placed their meager possessions on crude
rafts and journeyed down the Ohio River - their destination was
to have been the frontier town of Paddy's Run. After traveling
250 miles they ran out of provisions and tied up their rafts
near the French settlement of Gallipolis where they were made
welcome for the night. Whether it was the storm or the travel
- weary women who cut loose the ropes that night, no one knows,
but the travelers never reached their destination. Some of the
men become involved in building roads near Thurman and then on
to Oak Hill. The area reminded them so much of their native Cilcennin
that they decided to settle there. |
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| In 1839, hundreds gathered at Aberaeron Harbour
as friends and relatives said their last goodbyes to 175 who
were emigrating to the United States, there was considerable
wailing and weeping as the boats sailed out of the harbor. Four
young men led the singing of a hymn at the quayside, "Bydd
Melys glanio draw Nol'n Bod o Don I Don, a mi Rol ffarwel maes
draw ir ddaear hon." |
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| CONTINUING TIES WITH
WALES |
 The museum not only strives to keep welsh traditions
alive but continues to be a link with the land of the Red Dragon
with visits and programs between people here and people in Wales. |
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| News of the happenings at the museum are printed
in the Welsh Newsletter, Ninnau, that is read in both Wales and
the United States. |
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| The museum is a living museum - a place where people
can come and feel the very essence of our heritage: a heritage
that links us with the land of Wales with every welsh hymn we
sing and every welsh oriented event we attend. |
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| For information contact: Jeanne Jones Jindra
Director, Madog Center for Welsh Studies
PO Box 500 University of Roi Grande/Rio Grande Community College
Rio Grande, Ohio 45674
800-282-7201 ext 7186
740-245-7187 fax
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