User:Deisenbe/sandbox/Everett

Robert Everett (   -     ) was a Welsh Congregational minister who came to the United States in 1823. Already an abolitionist in Wales, he began preaching against slavery upon his arrival. He started his career in Utica NY at what now is the Plymouth Bethesda Church. His early years were not peaceful since people felt the abolitionist’s cause was too extreme. He was often threatened and harassed. He was attacked by people throwing eggs and hymnals while preaching, his carriage damaged, horse injured, and even his house burned down with all of his possessions.

He was described by Millard Roberts as “in advance of his age…on the question of slavery…in the beginning he stood almost alone.”

He started his monthly newsletter Y Cenhadwr Americanaidd (The American Missionary) in 1840; it was distributed to all of the Welsh-American settlements in the United States until 1875. His goal was to persuade the new immigrants to become citizens and voters so they could support the abolition movement. He was an early supporter of both the Liberty and Republican parties, realizing that supporting either the Whigs or Democrats was a wasted vote. The Welsh clustered in their own settlements and retained their own language so he uniquely could reach them. He felt that a united Welsh community could become a difference-maker regarding the abolition of slavery. He received permission from Frederick Douglass and Harriet Beecher Stowe to translate their works into Welsh and was referred to as "our Welsh friend" by Frederick Douglass.

​He moved past just writing and preaching and became active in the Underground Railroad with his congregation (Capel Ucha). He evolved from pacifism over time and encouraged the Welsh to join the Union Army. In large part, Everett's work made the Civil War a moral crusade for the Welsh, who were by nature pacifists. In the diaries and letters of the soldiers they revealed the moral importance of their war sacrifices as opposed to just preserving the Union. The Welsh Americans joined almost exclusively the Union army and made many contributions to the war effort. There were many regiments from New Yotk, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania that had Welsh speakers. There were virtually no first or second-generation Welsh affiliated with the Confederate cause and it is believed that over 75% of immigrants from Wales became citizens.

Everett’s oldest son John went to Kansas and became involved in John Brown’s “Free Soil” efforts. One daughter (Cynthia) later became a teacher in a school for freed slaves. Another daughter (Elizabeth) was educated at and became a teacher and principal at an integrated school in the early 1840’s. His sons were students at the Oneida Institute, which was the first integrated college, and the whole family was involved with publishing Cenhadwr, which from its first issue opposed slavery.