The Welsh and North America

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The Welsh and North America

Welsh and Successful in North America Today

Christian Bale

Charlotte Church

John Belle Kate Burton John Cale Joe CalzagheDame Shirley Bassey

Hillary Clinton

Michael BogdanovActor

Singer

Richard EllisAstronomer

Katherine JenkinsMezzo-Soprano

Martyn JonesArtist

Catrin FinchHarpist

Architect Actor Musician BoxerSinger

Former US Secretary of State

Theatre Director

Duffy Menna ElfynGrahame Davies

GeraintWyn DaviesActor (Playing Dylan Thomas)

Singer PoetAuthor

Sir Harold Evans

Rebecca Evans CerithWyn Evans

Daniel EvansDavid Emanuel Sir Martin Evans

Journalist and Broadcaster

SopranoSinger

ActorFashion DesignerDiscoverer of Stem Cells

Andrew Howard

Rhys Ifans Jem Karl JenkinsSir John Houghton

Jason Howard

ActorActor Singer Composer

ScientistBaritone

Gwyn Hughes Jones

Sir Tom Jones Claire JonesCambridge Jones

Catherine Zeta-Jones

Sion Dale Jones

John Owen Jones

TenorSinger Harpist’

Photographer ActressActor (in Floating)

Singer (musicaltheatre)

Mike YoungAnimation Director

Sir Anthony HopkinsActor

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Helen McCroryActor

Damian LewisActor

Ross Lovegrove

Cerys Matthews

Sir Terry Matthews

Grant Llewellyn

Designer Singer EntrepreneurConductor

Guy MastersonActor

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Photo by Cambridge Jones

Paul WatkinsNovelist

Owen TealeActor

Alexander Talbot RiceArtist Poet

Bryn Terfel Rachel TrezisePeter Thabit Jones

Tim VincentBass-Baritone Author TV Presenter

Roger WilliamsPlaywright

Ian WoosnamIris WilliamsGolfer

Llyr Williams^Pianist Singer

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Dennis O’NeillTenor

John MetcalfComposer

Sir Michael MoritzEntrepreneur

Robert Minhinnick

Christopher Monger

Poet Director and Screenwriter

Jan Morris and Twm Morus

Mali MorrisArtist

author and poet

Lloyd RobsonPoet & Author

Only Men Aloud!Choir

Sian PhillipsActor

Edward Povey Matthew RhysJonathan Pryce Carlo RizziArtist ActorActor Conductor

** * *

Super Furry AnimalsRock Band

Ian RowlandsPlaywright

Owen Sheers Sir Howard Stringer

Stereophonics Sara SugarmanPoet

Former Chairman and CEO of Sony

Rock Band Movie Director

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Michael SheenActor

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David Gray Terry Hands Sylvia Ann Hewlett

Peter Ho Davies

Jasper Fforde Ioan GruffuddSinger Theater Director

Writer and Economist

AuthorNovelist Actor

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Introduction

Doing Business

Airbus A380

Ten Things Made in Wales today

This booklet is a brief history of the Welsh nation and its relationship with North

America. It is the story of the important contribution that the Welsh have made to

North America from the 17th century onwards and how the relationship continues

to flourish today in business, tourism, academia and the arts.

While the Welsh may have come to North America to work in mining and

manufacturing, today there is very little traditional heavy industry left in Wales.

Presently, there are over 150 North American companies in Wales and a growing

number of Welsh companies are investing in North America. Here are just some

areas where Wales now excels, frequently working closely with North American

companies and research centers.

For full details on business sectors and opportunities in Wales today, please contact

the Welsh Government in North America (see details at back).

• Airbus A380 wings • Toyota Auris Hybrid engine• Sony Blu-Ray cameras • Thales Satellite Cover Glass and Cover Slides• Raytheon’s Shadow R Mk1 aircraft • Flexicare Hall Lock System • Faun Trackway Heavy Ground Mobility System • GE Healthcare’s Whatman 903 Specimen

Collection Device• Ford fuel-efficient EcoBoost engine• The Raspberry Pi

25% of the UK’s MRO is carried out in Wales. Major investors include Airbus, BA, GE Aviation, Raytheon, Hawker Beechcraft, and Allied Aerosystems.

5000 people in Wales are employed by 85 opto-electronics companies. The OpTIC Research Centre at Glyndwr University is developing the European Extremely Large Telescope. Cardiff-based IQE is a world leader in the supply of semiconductor wafer products for photonic applications and now has several bases in the USA.

Wales has one of the largest UK clusters of in-vitro diagnostic companies including American giant Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics. RSR specialises in autoimmune thryoid diagnostics while Concateno Trichotech and Cansford Laboratories both carry out drug testing on hair samples. Microvisk will shortly launch a hand-held coagulation testing device for patients on Warfarin.

There are 150 automotive companies in Wales with 16,000 employees and one third of all engines made in the UK are now made in Wales. Major investors include Ford with over 2000 employees.

The BBC is at the center of a growing cluster in South Wales producing film, TV programs, animation and games. The BBC recently opened a 170,000 sq ft studio premises in Cardiff Bay where it produces programs for a worldwide audience. Llanelli-based Tinopolis, the UK’s largest regional independent, recently acquired A. Smith and Co. and BASE Productions in the USA and makes programming for most of the US’s top networks.

Cardiff is ‘the fastest growing British city for financial services jobs’ and ‘an essential near-shoring hub for the City of London’ (FT). The financial sector now accounts for 25% of all jobs in Cardiff. Major investors include Eversheds. Deloitte, ING, Zurich, Conduit, Lloyds, AA, Centrica, Brewin Dolphin, Target, BT, PWC, Admiral, Principality, Serco, Tesco, Legal and General, and Confused.com.

Aircraft Maintenance Repair and Overhaul

Opto-electronics

Diagnostics

Automotive

Creative Media

Financial and Business Services

Raspberry Pi

Wales Millennium Centre


Visiting Wales

For a small country, Wales packs a lot in! It’s a Celtic country, part of the United Kingdom, and is about 250 km (or 180 miles) long and 90 km (or 60 miles) wide. Travelling north to south takes about 4 ½ hours. But of course you also have to account for photo, coffee, and local pub stops. There’s a lot to see: our 641 castles, 3 national parks, 10 great little steam trains, lots of colorful market towns and Cardiff, our capital city.

•Play golf in the shadow of a castle on one of our inspirational links golf courses or The Twenty Ten Ryder Cup Course. •Stay at Dylan’s! Spend the night in

Dylan Thomas’ childhood home in Swansea, now a self catering accommodation. •Put on your walking boots and

explore the 870-mile Wales Coast Path, the world’s first of its kind.

UNESCO World Heritage Sites

The National Botanic Garden of Wales is the first national botanic garden to be created in the UK for over 200 years.

DID YOU KNOW?

THREE WAYS TO VACATION IN WALES

Beaumaris Castle Blaenavon Caernarfon Castle Conwy Castle Harlech Castle Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal

Brecon Beacons National Park Pembrokeshire National Park Snowdonia National Park

Bala Lake Railway Brecon Mountain Railway Llanberis Lake Railway Ffestiniog Railway Snowdon Mountain Railway Talyllyn Railway Vale of Rheidol Railway Welsh Highland Railway Welshpool & Llanfair Railway Welsh Highland Heritage

Big Pit: National Coal Museum National Museum Cardiff National Roman Legion Museum National Slate Museum National Waterfront Museum National Wool Museum St. Fagans: National History Museum

Aberglasney House and Gardens Bodnant Gardens Chirk Castle Dyffryn Gardens Erddig National Botanic Gardens of Wales Penrhyn Castle Plas Newydd Powis Castle and Garden Portmeirion St. Fagans: National History Museum

The Anglesey Coast The Clwydian Range Gower The Llyn Peninsula The Wye Valley

^

National Parks

Great Little Trains of Wales

Sites of the National Museum

Wales’ Top Gardens

Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty


Academia

Welsh Food and Drink

‘Wales is now home to some truly world-class food festivals, restaurants, farmers’ markets and producers – part of the general renaissance of British cuisine combined with an increasing focus on fresh local produce. The country’s natural larder includes freshly caught fish, tender local lamb and a smorgasbord of cheeses. These staple ingredients are used in everything from traditional dishes to fusion creations in some of the cities’ most cosmopolitan restaurants.’ The Rough Guide to Wales.

Now some of these fine Welsh food and drink products are available in stores in the USA. For a printable PDF on how to buy Welsh food and drink in the USA and for some recipes for producing your own Welsh dishes, visithttp://americas.visitwales.com/news-and-features/food-drink

Welsh universities have 30 centers of excellence, 91 departments rated 4-star and above for research, and 66 departments listed as excellent for teaching quality. Welsh universities have many Study Abroad programs and welcome full-time international students from over 120 countries each year onto some 5,500 courses.

For further information on studying in Wales, on university centers of excellence, and on research programs, please visit the respective universities’ websites or visit www.wales.com.study.

Practical information for North American students on visas, scholarships and fees can be found at the British Council’s website http://www.educationuk.org/global

•Aberystwyth University www.aber.ac.uk•Bangor University

www.bangor.ac.uk•Cardiff University

www.cardiff.ac.uk•Cardiff Metropolitan University

www3.cardiffmet.ac.uk•Glyndwr University (Wrexham)

www.glyndwr.ac.uk•Royal Welsh College of Music

and Drama (Cardiff) www.rwcmd.ac.uk•University of South Wales

(Newport, Treforest) www.southwales.ac.uk•Swansea University

www.swansea.ac.uk•University of Wales Trinity St

David’s (Carmarthen, Swansea, Lampeter) www.trinitysaintdavid.ac.uk

Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. Photograph Nick Guttredge

There are nine universities in Wales on 12 campuses:


A Brief History

c.600 BcE

c.440

c.530

c.1179

1662

1801

1953

1959

2003

2003

2004

2004

2005

2009

2011

2010

2012

2013

2014

2009to 2010

2007

2007

2009

2006

1991

2001

1804

1837

1847

1849

1851

1861

1851

1662to 1700

1861 to 1865

1892to 1943

1911

1701

1757

55 BcE

c.400 cE

The Celts Arrive in Britain –– the roots of Welsh civilization

The Anglo-Saxons invade Britain

Saint David, patron saint of Wales, is born

Prince Madog is said to have discovered America

Jon Miles leads Welsh Baptists to America

Thomas Jefferson becomes President of the USA

Dylan Thomas dies in New York

Hugh Griffiths wins Oscar for Ben Hur

Catherine Zeta-Jones wins Oscar for Chicago

Clive Granger and Robert Engle win Nobel Prize for Economics

Sir Harold Evans is knighted for services to journalism

Welsh Assembly Government opens Wales International Center in New York

Sir Howard Stringer is promoted to Chairman and CEO of Sony Corporation

Wales is the featured nation at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington DC

Christian Bale wins Oscar for The Fighter

Wales hosts the Ryder Cup at the Celtic Manor Resort

The Richard Burton Diaries are published in North America

Sir Michael Moritz is knighted

Wales celebrates Dylan Thomas 100 centenary

Turner to Cezanne: Masterpieces from the Davies Collection, National Museum Wales tours the United States

Pentre ifan Burial Chambers, Wales

Welsh scientist Sir John Houghton shares Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore

Sir Martin Evans receives Nobel Prize for Medicine

National Assembly for Wales Celebrates its 10th Birthday

Sir Tom Jones is knighted

Sir Anthony Hopkins wins Oscar for Silence of the Lambs

Sir Terence Matthews is knighted

Lewis and Clark Expedition sets off

John Pierpont Morgan is born

The Welsh Mormons arrive, led by Dan Jones

The Welsh 49ers join the great Gold Rush in California

The New York Times is co-founded by George R. Jones

Jefferson Davis is elected President of Confederate States

First copy of Y Drych is published in New York –– oldest ethnic newspaper in the USA

Welsh Quakers settlein Pennsylvania

Many Welshmen serve in the American Civil War, the majority on the Union side

The Welsh immigrate through Ellis Island

Frank Lloyd Wright builds Taliesin

Yale University is founded ––named after Welsh benefactor Elihu Yale

Morgan Edwards becomes President of what is now Princeton University

The Romans conquer Britain

King Arthur is born

Pennsylvanian Quakers


THE MYTH OF THE ‘WELSH INDIANS’

COLONIALS

THE CAROLINAS

THE BOSTON MANUSCRIPT

Early Welsh Settlers

In around 1179, Prince Madog and his followers are said to have sailed from Wales to today’s Mobile, Alabama, and then established communities in America, intermarrying with the native Americans.

The myth of the ‘Welsh Indians’ grew over time and it was widely believed that there existed tribes of people in

1662 – Jon Miles led Welsh Baptists to Massachusetts where they established the town of Swansea.

1682 – Welsh Quakers settled in Merion, PA.

1764 – Morgan Edwards of Pontypool establisted Brown University in Providence, RI.

1757 – Morgan Edwards became President of the College of New Jersey – now Princeton University

In the 18th Century, Welsh people left Pennsylvania and settled in the Carolinas in what are today Northeastern Cape Fear in Duplin County, North Carolina, and the Upper Pee Dee River Region of Marlboro County, South Carolina. These areas were known as ‘the Welsh Tract.’

The Boston Manuscript is a rare ‘pocket book’ dating to the 14th century and containing the Laws of 10th century Welsh ruler Hywel Dda. The volume disappeared in the 18th century, only to re-appear in the library of the Massachusetts Historical Society in the city of Boston by 1831. The history of its trans-Atlantic crossing is a mystery, although it is probable that it was taken in the luggage of an early settler. In 2012, it was bought by the National Library of Wales and returned, 150 years later, to Wales.

Welsh people looking for cultural and religious freedom from English dominance were among the first to establish colonies in America.

America with fair hair and skin who had a rudimentary knowledge of Christianity, built fortifications and temples, and spoke a form of Welsh.When Thomas Jefferson sent

Lewis and Clark on their overland expedition in 1804, one of their main tasks was to search for the Welsh Indians. They failed to complete this task and the mystery of the ‘Madogwys’ has never been solved.

The Mandan Indians may be the “Welsh Indians”

Mandan Chief

Bryn Mawr College today, Courtesy of Bryn Mawr College

Harriton House near Philadelphia was built in 1704 by Welsh Quaker Rowland Ellis. He named it Bryn Mawr, a name that was later adopted by the nearby ladies college. The house has been restored to its original state and is open for visitors http://www.harritonhouse.org/

DID YOU KNOW?


LEWIS AND CLARK

THE CALIFORNIA GOLD RUSH

WELSH MORMANS IN UTAH

COLORADO GOLD

Going West

Thomas Jefferson sent his Welsh private secretary Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to explore the uncharted territories west of the Mississippi. They used the map

In 1849, after the discovery of gold in California by James Marshall, thousands of Welsh people with mining in their blood joined the

Thousands of Welsh Mormons emigrated to America in the 1840’s and 50’s traveling west to join Brigham young in Utah. At this time, the Welsh

By 1859, ‘Gregory Gulch’ was known as ‘the richest square mile in the world’ and Welsh prospectors came from Dodgeville and Cambria in Wisconsin over the Great Plains to this area of Colorado.

of the young Welsh explorer John Evans. The Lewis and Clark expedition changed world power by opening up the interior of the continent to exploration and colonization by the US.

Gold Rush. Hundreds of thousands of hopeful panners flooded into the area and the output of gold roses from $5 million to $55 million in three years.

Mormon convert Dan Jones established 55 Mormon branches in Wales with 3,603 members. In 1847, he sailed to America with over 2000 Welsh converts.

Today it is estimated that 20% of the population of Utah is of Welsh descent.

Before the railroad was built in 1870, they came in ox-driven covered wagons and the journey took seven months. The final 8-mile journey up the valley to Central City required crossing the river fifty-eight times, back and forth.

Thomas Jefferson

Panning for gold

You can visit the Great Plains Welsh Heritage Project in Wymore, Nebraska, and discover the contribution of Welsh pioneers to the North American prairies. http://www.welshheritage.org/

DID YOU KNOW?


ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK

COLUMBIA, WAUKESHA, IOWA AND WINNEBAGO COUNTIES, WISCONSIN

OHIO: THE STORY OF THE ‘1818 WELSH’

EMPORIA, KANSAS

Farming

A large tide of Welsh immigration took place just before the American Civil War in the mid 1800’s, when Welsh farmers and their families came to populate the new lands and frontiers in the Midwest and beyond.

Oneida Welsh farmers introduced Welsh butter into the New York market. Oneida County also became the center of Welsh-language printing in the USA. Religious books and periodicals were printed here as well as the oldest Welsh-American newspaper Y Drych (today a part of Ninnau and Y Drych).

‘The people lived their life faithfully throughout the week – no drunkenness, murdering, breaking the Sabbath, swearing or cursing. The men were hard working in the fields and wives kept their houses clean and warm, and a hearty welcome was given

On April 1, 1818, six farming families from Tregaron, Wales, were on their way to Paddy’s Run in Butler County, near Cincinnati. They had traveled along the Ohio River in flatboats and stopped overnight in the tiny community of Gallipolis.

‘The Welsh people in Emporia and vicinity probably number several thousand souls; yet there are no Welsh paupers, no Welsh criminals, no Welsh loafers, no Welsh snobs; they are the

to strangers by every family throughout the neighborhood. They were excellent American citizens and strong Prohibitionists to the core.’

Curiously, they never went any further and became known as the ‘1818 Welsh.’ Some say that the women in the party were so tired of traveling that they secretly cut the ropes that tethered their boats during the night.

salt of the earth, it is a better, cleaner, kindlier town because it is the home of these people’

They settled peaceably and were soon a welcome addition to their communities. Many of the Welsh communities they helped to settle continue to celebrate their Welsh traditions:

A typical journey for immigrant Welsh farmers in the 18th century

The Reverend JA. Jones writing in 1856 after a visit to the Welsh community of Proscairon, WI

Emporia Gazette, February 11, 1911


Finding work in American Industries

It is often said that Wales ‘roofed and heated America.’

Before the first slate quarry opened in the USA in 1785, nearly all the slate used for roofing in America was imported from North Wales.

The roof covering on the White House was made in Pontardawe, Wales, in the late 19th century from tenne plate – a product of the tinplate industry.

Welsh coal was imported into the

US and used for heating homes and to drive the railways and steamships.

With the birth of the Gilded Age in America, more skilled craftsmen left Wales and came to America to work in the new coal, slate, iron, tinplate,

and steel industries. They brought with

them their families, customs, and the Welsh language and set up chapels and

cultural institutions and formed choirs.

Many of these centers of Welsh settlement still, today,

feel proud of their Welsh heritage.

The roof of theWhite House comes from Wales

Pit Ponies in a Pennsylvania coal mine

Slate dressing and sizingCopyright: Gwynedd Archive Services

Welsh coalminers and mine engineers went to Scranton and Wilkes Barre in the Lackawanna Valley, known as the ‘anthracite capital of the world.’

From 1850 through the 1920s, thousands of skilled Welsh quarrymen came to work in Slate Valley in New York and Vermont. Their story is depicted today in Slate Valley Museum, Granville, NY:http://www.slatevalleymuseum.org

Welsh slate workers established quarries with names for Welsh places such as Old Bangor Quarry in Bangor, PA, and Snowdon Quarry in Slatford, PA.

Thousands of Welsh steelworkers went to work for the Bethlehem Steel Corporation in Pennsylvania which made I-beams for skyscrapers and other large steel components involved in the building of roads and ships. They settled in the communities of Allentown, Reading, and Bethlehem.

From1840 onwards, skilled quarrymen from North Wales came to work the Peach Bottom Slate quarries stretching from Delta to Cardiff in Southern Pennsylvania. Their history can be traced today on numerous gravestones in Slateville Cemetery and at the Coulsontown Quarrymen’s Cottages, both in Delta, PA. Visit http://www.deltawelshheritage.com

DID YOU KNOW?

PENNSYLVANIA

NEW YORK AND VERMONT

Welsh Steelworkers made components for skyscrapers


The Welsh in the American Civil War

Industrial migrants from Wales to the USA brought with them ideas about Trade Unionism, free speech, and equal rights, which were brewing in the new industrial Wales.

Many of these had also been raised in the Nonconformist tradition and had heard anti-slavery sermons preached from the pulpits of their chapels.

Most of the Welsh who came to work in the new American industries settled in the northern states and became fervent supporters of Abraham Lincoln and the anti-slavery movement.

Welsh soldiers joined many different regiments of the Union Army during the Civil War, notably the 97th Pennsylvania; the 117th and 146th New York; the 9th Minnesota; the 22nd Wisconsin; and the 56th Ohio.

The 48th Pennsylvania contained a large number of Welsh coalminers who were responsible for digging the great mine at the Battle of the Crater at Petersburg, Virginia, on July 30, 1864.

‘When the war broke out in 1861 Gen. Powell was commissioned captain and assigned to a company in the Second regiment of West Virginia Volunteer Cavalry. Promotions for bravery followed rapidly until at the close of the war he held his commission as brevet Major General of United States Volunteers.In a skirmish at Wytheville, Va., he was badly wounded, shot through the body, from which he never fully recovered. He was taken prisoner and carried to Libby prison, in Richmond, and after six months in prison he was passed through the lines in exchange for a son of Gen. Lee.’

‘The District of Columbia, Maryland, Missouri, Tennessee, and Kentucky are free and the Emancipation Proclamation is in force, and President Lincoln was elected with 500,000 majority. Yes, everything is changed. The freed slaves show the virtue of the improvement here. This improvement has been ratified by the legislators in eighteen or twenty states and it is certain that slavery will never again exist in the United States of America.’

Two union generals were born in Wales: General Joshua Owen, from Carmarthen and General William Powell from Pontypwl.

General Joshua Owen,69th Pennsylvania Infantry

Extract from General Powell’s obituary in the Wheeling Daily Intelligencer December 28, 1904

From W.R Jones in Bristol, Wisconsin, to his brother in Wales, April 6, 1865 Source: The Welsh in America: Letters from the Immigrants by Alan Conway

Many of the Zouaves from the 146th New York were Welsh. (National Park Service)

General William Powell

Several Welsh-language versions of the novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe, were printed in America at the time of the Civil War.

DID YOU KNOW?


Ellis IslandBetween 1899 and 1931, 52,848 immigrants of ‘Welsh race or people’ were recorded at Ellis Island in New York.

They were part of a wave of 12 million emigrants who were hoping to

find a new life in America at that time.

WELSH MEMORIES OF ELLIS ISLAND(From Ellis Island Interviews in Their Own Words by Peter Morton Coan)

‘Sometimes the seas were so rough we couldn’t go up on deck, and if they lifted that hatch up, water would pour in. In the dining room, there were long tables, and the dishes would go flying all over the place. I don’t remember seeing the Statue of Liberty. Later, my father told me about it. He had bought postcards that he showed me. When we got to Ellis Island, my father knew somebody who worked on the docks, and he vouched for us and we went through. We didn’t have to stay there. I don’t remember whether we were examined or not. All I remember is walking along with the other passengers and seeing a huge crowd of people off to one side, fenced in, men with handlebar moustaches, a lot of Welsh people, people who were being detained, and I wondered why.’

‘We left from the port of Manchester. I don’t remember how we got there. But I know we left in March of 1912 because father had tried to get passage on the Titanic and it was filled, so we couldn’t get on that... The trip took nine days. My two aunts met us there. My mother’s sisters. At the harbor in New York, my aunts came on board and stayed with us children while my father and mother had to go to be examined on Ellis Island.’Agnes Howerbend, emigrated from Blaenau Ffestiniog on the SS Campania, age 5, in 1912

James Grouse, emigrated from Talysarn on the SS Campania, age 8, in 1913

Ellis Island was named for Samuel Ellis - ‘the little Welshman’ who kept a tavern on the island during the 1700’s and where local fishermen would come to quench their thirst.

DID YOU KNOW?


Putting Down Roots

MAIN AREAS OF WELSH SETTLEMENT IN THE USA

WHERE THE WELSH FOUND WORK AND SETTLED

SOME WELSH PLACE NAMES IN THE USABala Cynwyd, PABangor, ALBangor, MEBangor, MIBangor, NYBangor, PABangor, WIBarry, ILBarry, TXBerwyn, ILBerwyn, PABryn Mawr, PACambria, ALCambria, NYCambria, PACardiff, ALCardiff, CO

Pennsylvania

Coal Tinplate Iron Slate Steel

Ohio

New York

Vermont

Illinois

IndianaTennessee

Alabama

Cardiff, ILCardiff, INCardiff, MDCardiff, NJCardiff, NYCardiff, PACardiff, TNCardiff, TXCardiff by the Sea, CAConway, ARConway, NHConway, SCFlint, MIFloyd, IAGwinnett, GAHaverford, PA

Lower MerionTownship, PAMerion, PAMontgomery, ALMontgomery, TNMorgantown, INMorgantown, KYMorgantown, WVNanty Glo, PANarberth, PANeath, PAPembroke, GAPembroke, KYPembroke, NCPembroke, NHPembroke, VARadnor, PA

St David’s, PASwansea, AZSwansea, CASwansea, ILSwansea, MASwansea, NVSwansea, SCTredyffrinTownship, PAWales, AZWales, KYWales, MAWales, MEWales, MNWales, NDWales, UTWales, WI

The Welsh Scenic Byway in Ohio is a 64 mile tour of Gallia and Jackson counties and includes Welsh settlements, farms, churches and cemeteries. http://www.dot.state.oh.us/OhioByways/Pages/Welsh.aspx

DID YOU KNOW?


The Welsh in New York State

FARMING IN ONEIDA COUNTY

In the late 18th century, a new wave of immigrants began to come to America from Wales, prompted by crop failures, economic depression, and a desire to escape tithing by the Church of England. The newcomers were mainly from rural farms in North Wales.

Some of the first comers bought land in ‘Steuben’s Patent’ in Oneida County and, once there, wrote to friends and family, encouraging them to join them.

By 1850, three-quarters of the inhabitants of the neighboring towns

of Steuben and Remsen were Welsh. They had become the

largest Welsh community in the United States, with 20 Welsh Chapels, a Welsh newspaper (Y Drych), and a Welsh monthly periodical (Y Cenhadwr). They became renowned for their production of excellent butter and

cheese.

‘Utica at present is a large and fine town and

increasing in size very much every year... There are many new

roads and canals being built in every corner of the country giving plenty of work for everyone.’

Capel Cerrig orStone Church, Remsen

From John Lewis in Utica to his nephew in WalesFeb 28, 1832.

William Williams writing home to Wales from UticaAugust 17, 1818.Stone Church, Remsen

From David Richard in Utica to his brother in WalesDecember 11, 1818.

View of the Erie Canal, 1829

However, not all the Welsh were pleased with the area.

‘If it were not for the canal, many of the Welsh would be without work... The land is a desolate wilderness of uncleared timber so that it is not worth the Welsh buying it.’

During the 1830s and 1840s, The Ulster Iron Works at Saugerties actively recruited skilled Welsh iron workers. They also imported the highly efficient Welsh iron industry technology, adapting it to their use.

Welsh people who could not make it on the land and were not skilled enough to work in the iron and slate industries found work building the Erie Canal. As settlers moved west, so it became vital to connect the Atlantic Ocean with the Great Lakes. In 1817, the building of the Erie Canal from Albany to Buffalo was approved which would link the Hudson River with Lake Erie. The project involved building a canal

Company owners and their managers maintained contact with various iron works in Wales including Blaenavon Iron Works, Varteg Iron Works, and Dowlais Iron Works.

363 miles in length with a descent from Lake Erie of 555 feet and the installation of eighty-three locks. The work was carried out using horses, mules, wagons, wheelbarrows, hand tools, and thousands of laborers.

‘Wages on the canal are one dollar a day and thirteen to fourteen dollars a month with food and washing and half a pint of whisky a day.’

IRON WORKING IN THE HUDSON RIVER VALLEY

BUILDING THE ERIE CANAL

Map of Welsh immigration to New York State

CANADA

Lake Erie

Lake Ontario

Rochester

Buffalo AtticaCattaraugus Settlement

1840

Washington Co. Slate Valley1852 - 1920

Oneida County Central New York

Settlements1795

NH

VT

Ulster Co. Iron Area

Elmira

PA

NJ

CT

MA


The Welsh in New York State

SLATE QUARRYING

CATTARAUGUS COUNTY

DR. ROBERT EVERETT

PUBLISHING, POLITICS AND THE CIVIL WAR

Hugh G. Williams in office Granville, NY, 1928Photo courtesy of Slate Valley Museum, Granville, N.Y.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Welsh translation

Dr. Robert Everett

One of these was Hugh G. Williams who, in 1899, left Wales at seventeen years of age, with a grammar school education and slate quarrying skills. He joined other Welsh immigrants who were working in the slate quarries of West Pawlet, VT. He rose to the top, eventually owning and operating eight of his own quarries. He established his business office in Granville, N.Y., where he later became mayor.

In the late 1870s, Welsh settlement was flourishing in rural Cattaraugus County, New York. At this time, a “literary awakening” swept over the Cattaraugus Hills.

Dr. Robert Everett (1791-1875) was editor of ‘Y Cenhadwr.’ He came from Wales to Utica in 1823, and served as pastor of two chapels in Steuben from 1838 until his death. Dr. Everett was a leader of the local

abolitionist movement, and published a Welsh translation of Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1854), as well as the first Welsh-American Hymnal (1846), both of which he printed on his own press.

With the growth of the Welsh population in New York state, a thriving Welsh-language publishing business developed in the area in the second half of the 19th century.

Many of the publications were political in nature. Welsh voters for the most part went over to the new Republican Party and voted overwhelmingly for its 1860 presidential candidate Abraham Lincoln. In 1860, a Welsh-language biography of Lincoln was published in Utica.

Other publications printed in the area included Welsh-language translations of ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’; religious pamphlets; and periodicals and newspapers such as ‘Y Drych’

which still survives today as ‘Ninnau and Y Drych’ and is one of America’s oldest ethnic newspapers.

The Harry F. Jackson Welsh Collection at Utica College today contains the largest

collection of 19th and early 20th century Welsh language imprints of Central New York and one of the most complete collections of the Welsh newspapers Y Drych, Ninnau, Y Cyfaill and Y Cenhadwr Americanaidd.

Each Welsh chapel organized a literary, ethical, and religious society and these societies sponsored competitive literary meetings.

Between 1852 and 1920, thousands of skilled slate workers left Wales and came to work in the Slate Valley of New York and Vermont


Welsh Voices in the Pacific NorthwestMany Welsh moved into Oregon and Washington Territory in the 1880’s. When train travel opened up the west, they found land that was cheap and abundant. Compared with the Great Plains, the land was much more like that of Wales.

“They proved that a coal miner’s life was not for life, they could work successfully at other occupations.”

“Great steamships come to trade [in Portland]. I saw ships from Liverpool, Cardiff, and Swansea...”

Until the arrival of the train to Portland and Tacoma, agriculture clung closely to the waterways. Many industrial side streets in Northwest Portland are still paved with cobblestones that arrived as ballast from Welsh ships coming into port, which left laden with wheat.

Many immigrants arrived speaking only Welsh and so they formed close-knit communities around friendships and their chapels as they tried to assimilate into American society. They continued to retain their customs rich in the bardic tradition of competition, music, and poetry.

The first Seattle Welsh Church, built in 1893, soon proved too small, and a larger one was built in 1907. Unfortunately, this church was also demolished in 1956 along with much of the documentation of the Welsh contributions to the Seattle community.

Those who came had adventurous spirits. Some were lured by the prospect of riches in Yukon gold but they soon found more opportunity in rich virgin forests, farming, fishing, education, retail, construction and got to work building towns and cities to live in and prosper. When a Welshman found work at a mine, mill or dock, he could easily fill more jobs with other Welshmen by writing to Welsh newspapers both in the United States and back home.

William T. Williams, Seattle St. David’s Day Address.March 1989 [1]

Photo of the Portland Cambrian Social Society when they were invited on board a visiting ship anchored in the Williamette River. ca. 1913

David W. Thomas Beavercreek Farm to a friend inAberdare, Wales June 12, 1884 [2]

A Photo of Seattle Welsh Choir 1941“The acoustics in the Old [Seattle] Welsh Church were phenomenal. For our Gymanfa Ganu [singing festival] we’d have visitors from Portland, Tacoma, Vancouver B.C. with buses lined up outside.”Hugh Parry, Center front, recalls. [1]

Photo of a handcrafted chair which was given as first prize at the 1890 Washington State Eisteddfod, a Welsh tournament of the arts that dates back centuries.

BUILDING COMMUNITIES WITHIN CITIES


Welsh Settlements in the Pacific Northwest

BEAVERCREEK OREGONAND BRYN SEION WELSH CHURCH

THE COAL MINING ANDQUARRYING REGIONS OF WASHINGTON

“If ever you come to these states, Oregon City is the best place... Bring every seed that you can think of...”

“A lot of the Welsh were bosses... the people that knew the mining they got the bosses jobs.”

“Around 1885 more than a dozen Welsh families, primarily dairy farmers, grew hay and potatoes on the Marshland flats [near Snohomish, WA].

William Morgan with his son near the Marshland flats WAPhoto courtesy ofDavid Powell

William Morgan and his brother Dave built a water-powered sawmill on Marshland Road that supplied lumber to nearby farms.”

“...I have taken a good deal of interest in Washington Territory for a Welsh

Not far from Oregon City is the village of Beavercreek Oregon. The Welsh began settling here and encouraged friends to come from Wales and other Welsh American communities.

In 1883, the whole town of Nortonville, California moved to Black Diamond, Washington when a better grade of coal was found. The Welsh, who had been mining and cutting stone for centuries, brought their skills to surrounding areas to mine coal and cut sandstone at Wilkeson and Chuckanut, WA, to supply the growing cities.

Many attempts were made to settle self-contained Welsh colonies in the Pacific Northwest, but they proved unsuccessful, largely due to the fact that the Welsh were liked and respected and assimilated easily into American society. One last fruitless attempt to set up a colony was made in the Big Bend section of the Columbia River.

settlement... It is a healthy country, wealthy in its agriculture and mineral resources, the seasons are temperate... It is like the Old Country, with hills and plains and rolling prairies... Only good, diligent, energetic, brave, and determined men should come here. These are sure to succeed; but the lazy, the wastrels, the intemperate, and the sleepyheads had better stay where they are.”

David W. Thomas, Beavercreek Farm, to a friend inAberdare, Wales June 12, 1884 [2]

Photo of Bryn Selon Welsh church. In 1884 a church was erected in Beavercreek to worship in the Welsh language. The oldest remaining Welsh Church on the west coast, it continues to hold these traditions.

Captain John “Jack” Thomas Jones, shown here homesteading on Decatur Island ca. 1894, came to America in 1888 as a young man. He cut stone at the Chuckanut Quarry before turning to fishing in the Puget Sound and Alaska.Photo courtesy of Phyllis Jones

Carl Stelert. [3]

Richard Jones to Editor of Y Drych Welsh newspaperJanuary 16, 1886 [2]

David Powell [1]

BIG BEND WELSH SETTLEMENT

MARSHLAND FLATS


The Welsh in Canada: prominent Welsh-Canadians

DAVID THOMPSON - geographer

LESLIE NEILSEN - actor and comedian

GERAINT WYN DAVIES - actor

Born 1770 in LondonDied 1857 in Montreal

The Thompson River is the largest tributary of the Fraser River flowing through the south-central portion of British Columbia, Canada. It is named for this great Welsh-Canadian land geographer and explorer who mapped over 3.9 million kilometers of North America.

Born in Swansea, Wales 1957Emigrated to Canada in 1964

Welsh actor Geraint Wyn Davies has starred in TV favorites such as Airwolf, Forever Knight and Black Harbour. He is a gifted Shakespearean actor and has performed at the Stratford Festival and the Shaw Festival. Geraint’s stage performances include King Lear and Do Not Go Gentle in New York; Gross Indecency and My Fat Friend in Los Angeles; Cyrano and Richard III in Washington D.C; and Sleuth with Patrick Macnee in Toronto.

1926 - 2010

Leslie Neilsen was born in Regina, Saskatchewan, to a Welsh mother and a Danish father. He appeared in over one hundred films and is particularly well-known for his roles in spoof and parody movies such as Airplane! and The Naked Gun series. He was described as ‘the Olivier of spoofs’ by film critic Roger Ebert. Neilsen was inducted into both the Canada Walk of Fame and the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1957 Canadian stamp featuring David Thompson

Geraint Wyn Davies playing Dylan Thomas in ‘Do Not Go Gentle’ by Welsh-Canadian playwright Leon Pownall


The Welsh in Canada: prominent Welsh-Canadians

SIR TERRY MATTHEWS OBE - entrepreneur

ROBERTSON DAVIES - novelist, playwright, journalist

ROBERT HARRIS - painter

DR. MARGARET OLWEN MACMILLAN- author, historian and international

relations specialist

Born Newport, Wales 1943Lives in Ottawa, Canada

Sir Terry emigrated to Canada in the late 1960’s and went on to become one of Canada’s most successful businessmen, establishing companies such as Mitel, Newbridge Networks, Bridgewater, DragonWave, Wesley Clover, Kanata Research Park, March Networks, Solace Systems, and the Brookstreet Resort. He was Wales’s first billionnaire and owns The Celtic Manor Resort in his hometown of Newport, Wales - host of the 2010 Ryder Cup golf tournament and the 2014 NATO Summit.

Born Ty’n-y-Groes, Wales, 1849Emigrated to PEI in 1856Died 1919

Robert Harris was commissioned to paint his famous work The Fathers of Confederation in 1883 and it established him as the most renowned portrait painter in Canada in his time. More than 300 of his portraits are known to exist today and a collection of his work is housed at the Confederation centre of the Arts in Charlottetown.

Born 1942 in Toronto

Margaret MacMillan is the great-granddaughter of the Welsh Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, David Lloyd George. She is the author of numerous books including the award-winning best-seller Paris 1919: Six Months that Changed the World.

Born 1913 in Thamesville, OntarioDied Orangeville, Ontario in 1995

The award-winning author Robertson Davies published plays and essays and over ten novels, the most famous of which are in the collections that became known as The Deptford Trilogy, The Cornish Trilogy and The Salterton Trilogy.

Of his use of Arthurian legend in his books, Davies said, “The Arthurian legend has been a part of my life since childhood. My father, of course, was Welsh, and the story of Arthur is very dear to the Welsh people.”


Prominent Welsh-Americans

A Dylan Thomas Walking Tour of Greenwich Village, New York can be downloaded from the internet as a printed document. Visit www.DylanThomasWalkingTour.com

DID YOU KNOW?

Elihu Yale(1648 - 1721)was a rich merchant with the East India Company.

Yale University was founded in 1701 as the Collegiate School in Killingworth, Connecticut. In 1716 the school moved to New Haven, and Elihu Yale donated nine bales of goods, 417 books and a portrait and arms of King George I to the school, thus allowing it to continue. In gratitude to Elihu, the school was renamed Yale College in 1718.

Francis Lewis(1713 - 1802)was born in Llandaf, Wales. He made a career representing American mercantile houses in Europe, Africa and Russia. in 1765, he moved to Whitestone, Queens. He was one of four delegates from New York State who signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Francis Lewis died in relative poverty, having given most of his money to support George Washington and the American Revolution.

Richard Burton(1925-1984)Welsh actor Richard Burton became Hollywood’s highest paid actor, one of Britain’s most admired Shakespearean performers and a lifelong lover of Elizabeth Taylor. The Richard Burton Diaries, edited by Professor Chris Williams of Swansea University, was published in 2012 by Yale University Press. Burton’s diaries, written between 1939 and 1983, offer a rare and fresh perspective on his and Elizabeth Taylor’s life and career, and the glamorous world of film, theatre, and celebrity that they inhabited. Available from most bookstores and from the Yale Books website: http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/book.asp?isbn=9780300180107

Frank Lloyd Wright(1867 - 1959)was brought up in Wisconsin by his Welsh grandparents in what was known as “the Valley of the God Almighty Joneses.” Frank Lloyd Wright frequently referred to the Welsh motto “Y Gwir yn Erbyn y Byd” (”The Truth Against the World”), and he used a Welsh bardic three-pronged symbol on many of his buildings and other work. He also named two of his homes and academies after the great Welsh poet Taliesin.

John Pierpont Morgan(1837 - 1913)had Welsh ancestors who established the Massachusetts colony in the early 17th century. After the Civil War, J.P. Morgan built his father’s firm into the biggest banking company in the USA. Morgan’s control over American and public financing was, and still is, without equal. The exquisite Morgan Library in New York City was once home to this illustrious family.

Dylan and Caitlin ThomasCopyright Jeff Towns/Dylan’s Bookstore

The Guggenheim Museum in New Yorkwas designed by Frank Lloyd Wright


Family History and Genealogy

SOME WELSH LAST NAMES IN NORTH AMERICA TODAY

THE WALES-OHIO PROJECT

TRACING YOUR WELSH ANCESTRY IN WALES

There are over ten million people living in North America with Welsh last names. Williams and Jones remain among the top

twenty names in both the USA and Canada.

BeynonBowenCadwalladerDaviesDavisEdwardsEllisEvans

FloydGriffithGriffithsGwilymGwynGwynnGwynne

HarriesHarrisHopkinsHowellHowellsHughesJames

JenkinsJohnJohnsJonesLewisLlewellynLloyd

LlywellynMaddocksMerrickMorganMorrisOwenOwens

ParryPiercePowellPreecePricePritchardProbert

PrycePrydderchPrytherchPughReeceReesRhys

RobertsThomasTudorVaughanWaltersWilliamsWynn

The National Library of Wales

The National Library of Wales is the main repository for family history research in Wales, holding a vast number of records from all over the country. Useful material for the family historian such as printed books paintings, maps and manuscripts can be found at the Library. Census returns, nonconformist records and tithe maps, to name but a few, are useful sources to help all family historians at some point during their research. For more information, visit the Library’s website www.llgc.org.uk.

Family Pedigree of the Gwynne family of Llwyn Hywel, Abergwili, in the county of Carmarthen and Builth Wells in the county of Radnor, mid XVII century. The National Library of Wales.

The Wales-Ohio Project is a digitized collection of Welsh Americana relating to the state of Ohio held at The National Library of Wales.The site displays more than 10,000 images of archive, manuscript and printed material, photographs and maps; the contents of The Cambrian magazine (1880-1919); and sections which chronicle the history and experiences of the Welsh settlers in Ohio in the nineteenth century. The Wales-Ohio Project has been generously funded by Evan E. and Elizabeth F. Davis of Oak Hill, Ohio. Visit http://ohio.llgc.org.uk/

The phrase ‘Keeping up with the Joneses’ was allegedly coined in 19th century New York when the wealthy Jones family from Wales continuously improved their estate while their neighbors tried in vain to keep up with them.

DID YOU KNOW?

Washington D.C.Welsh Government

British Embassy

3100 Massachusetts Avenue, NW

Washington D.C., 20008

New YorkWelsh Government

British Consulate-General

845 Third Avenue

New York, NY 10022

ChicagoWelsh Government


625 N Michigan Avenue, Suite 2200

Chicago, IL 60611

San FranciscoWelsh Government


1 Sansome Street, Suite 850

San Francisco, CA 94101

For all North American enquiries please call: 202 588 6910

or email [email protected]

Welsh Government offices in North America

THANKS

The Welsh Government would like to thank the following for their assistance with this booklet:

•BBC Wales•Carreg Gwalch•Eurig Davies•Ellis Island Immigration Museum•Dr. David Jenkins•Dr. Bill Jones•National Library of Wales•National Museum Wales•Ninnau & Y Drych•William John Parry•The Puget Sound Welsh Assoc.•Robert Roser•Slate Valley Museum, Mary Lou Willits•James W. Thomas•Upstate New York Welsh Heritage, Barbara

Henry•Visit Wales•The Welsh Society of Portland, OR•The St David’s Society of Toronto•Ontario Gymanfa Ganu Association

Credits and Sources

•Emmet Collection, Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations•Robert N. Dennis Collection of

Stereoscopic Views, Miriam & Ira D. Wallach Divisionn of Art, Prints & Photographs, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations.•The Welsh in America. Letters from the

Immigrants’ by Alan Conway•I.N. Phelps Stokes Collection, Miriam

and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenex and Tilden Foundations

SOURCES FOR WELSH VOICES OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST

[1] ‘Notes from the Past: Conversations with the Welsh of Puget Sound’[2] ‘Welsh in America Letters from the Immigrants’ by Alan Conway[3] ‘Black Diamond: Mining the Memories’ Black Diamond Historical Society


The photographs on the front and back covers are of actors and singers

prominent in North America and born in Wales or of Welsh heritage.

The portraits are part of the ‘Talking Pictures’ collection by Welsh

celebrity photographer Cambridge Jones, commissioned by

the Welsh Government.

Edition 3, January 2014

This booklet is published by

the Welsh Government in North America

www.wales.com

Front page

Actors (top to bottom):Damian Lewis

Rhys Ifans

Helen McRory

Michael Sheen

Matthew Rhys

Jonathan Pryce

Back page

Singers (left to right):Bryn Terfel

Bonnie Tyler

Katherine Jenkins

The Welsh and North America

Documents

north americathe welsh

north americawelsh

north american companies

welsh nation

welsh government

wales todaythis booklet

pianist singer

michael sheenactor