David Johns, Welsh Baptist in SC
David was a blacksmith and planter. He maintained two homes, one in Georgia and one in Mecklenburg, NC.
His presumed father, Griffith, was a descendant of the Welsh Baptists who came to America from Wales in the early 1700s and established the Welsh Tract Baptist Church in New Castle County, Delaware.
Griffith was among the many Welsh Baptists who were granted the right to settle on a large survey of land granted to the Welsh on the Pee Dee River in South Carolina 1737 and 1738. A portion of this settlement was called Welsh Neck because of a bend in the river. Griffith left all of his land to son David in his will.
It should be noted that some members of the family continued using the name John, others used Johns or Jones.
A community newspaper and a concordance of the bible (owned by a John Jones) in the Welsh language indicate that community members were bilingual, speaking Welsh at church and home into the late 1700s and possibly beyond.