Welsh American
Encyclopedia
Welsh Americans are citizens of the United States whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in Wales
. In the 2008 U.S. Census community survey, an estimated 1.98 million Americans had Welsh ancestry
, 0.6% of the total U.S. population. This compares with a population of 3 million in Wales. However, 3.8% of Americans bear a Welsh surname. Moreover, a particularly large proportion of the African American population have Welsh names. History shows that there is little evidence that the Welsh were among the slave-owning classes at this time, as most immigrants were poor.
There have been at least eight U.S. Presidents with Welsh ancestry including Thomas Jefferson
, Abraham Lincoln
, John Adams
, John Quincy Adams
, James Garfield
and Barack Obama
. Confederate President Jefferson Davis
was also of Welsh extraction.
The proportion of the population with a name of Welsh origin ranges from 9.5% in South Carolina to 1.1% in North Dakota. Typically names of Welsh origin are concentrated in the mid Atlantic states, the Carolinas, Georgia and Alabama and in Appalachia, West Virginia and Tennessee. By contrast there are relatively fewer Welsh names in New England, the northern mid West, and the South West.
, the following inscription is found:
The legend
of voyages to America, and settlement there in the twelfth century, led by Madog
, son of Owain Gwynedd
, prince of Gwynedd
, are now considered to lack historical basis.
The first arrivals came from Wales after 1640.
, where a Welsh Tract
was established. By 1700, the Welsh accounted for about one-third of the colony’s estimated population of twenty thousand. There are a number of Welsh place names in this area. There was a second wave of immigration in the late eighteenth century, notably a Welsh colony named Cambria
established by Morgan John Rhys
in what is now Cambria County, Pennsylvania.
The Welsh were especially numerous and politically active in colonial Pennsylvania, where they elected 9% of the legislature. In the 19th century thousands of Welsh coal miners emigrated to the anthracite and bituminous mines of Pennsylvania, many becoming mine managers and executives. The miners brought organizational skills, exemplified in the United Mine Workers
labor union, and its most famous leader John L. Lewis
, who was born in a Welsh settlement in Iowa.
and southern Pennsylvania were constructed between 1850 and 1942 to house Welsh quarry workers producing Peach Bottom
slate. During this period the towns retained a Welsh ethnic identity, although their architecture evolved from the traditional Welsh cottage form to contemporary American. Two of the towns in Harford County
now form the Whiteford-Cardiff Historic District
.
, 104 Welsh immigrant families moved from the Welsh Barony
in Pennsylvania to East Tennessee
. These Welsh families settled in an area now known as Mechanicsville
, and part of the city of Knoxville. These families were recruited by the brothers Joseph and David Richards to work in a rolling mill then co-owned by John H. Jones.
The Richards brothers co-founded the Knoxville Iron Works beside the L&N Railroad, later to be used as the site for the World's Fair 1982. Of the original buildings of the Iron Works where Welsh immigrants worked at, only the structure housing the restaurant 'The Foundry' remains. In 1982 World's Fair the building was known as the Strohause.
Having first met at donated space at the Second Presbyterian Church, the immigrant Welsh built their own Congregational Church with the Reverend Thomas Thomas serving as the first pastor in 1870. However, by 1899 the church property was sold.
The Welsh immigrant families became successful and established other businesses in Knoxville, which included a company that built coal cars, several slate roofing companies, a marble company, and several furniture companies. By 1930 many Welsh dispersed into other sections of the city and neighboring counties such as Sevier County
. Today, more than 250 families in greater Knoxville can trace their ancestry directly to these original immigrants. The Welsh tradition in Knoxville is remembered with Welsh descendants celebrating St. David's Day.
became the cultural center of the American-Welsh community in the 19th century. Suffering from poor harvests in 1789 and 1802 and dreaming of land ownership, the initial settlement of five Welsh families soon attracted other agricultural migrants, settling Steuben, Utica and Remsen townships. The first Welsh settlers arrived in the 1790s. By 1855, there were four thousand Welshmen in Oneida. With the Civil War, many Welshmen began moving west, especially to Michigan and Wisconsin. They operated small farms and clung to their historic traditions. The church was the center of Welsh community life, and a vigorous Welsh-language press kept ethnic consciousness strong. Strongly Republican, the Welsh gradually assimilated into the larger society without totally abandoning their own ethnic cultural patterns.
cities and towns such as Canal Dover, Niles and Gloucester being particularly popular destinations.
In the early nineteenth century most of the Welsh settlers were farmers, but later on there was emigration by coal miners to the coalfields of Ohio and Pennsylvania and by slate quarrymen
from North Wales
to the "Slate Valley" region of Vermont and New York.
There was a large concentration of Welsh people in the Applachian section of Southeast Ohio, such as Jackson County, Ohio
and was nicknamed "Little Wales". The Welsh language was commonly spoken there for generations until the 1950s when its use began to subside.
during the Gold Rush (1849–51), as well the Pacific Northwest
and Rocky Mountain States since the 1850s. Large-scale Welsh settlement in Northern California
esp. the Sierra Nevada and Sacramento Valley
was noted, and one county: Amador County, California
finds a quarter of local residents have Welsh ancestry.
, Idaho
was established. It began largely as a Welsh Mormon
settlement and lays claim to having more people of Welsh descent per capita than anywhere outside of Wales. This may be around 20%.
of 1890 raised the duty on tinplate that year, and in response many entrepreneurs and skilled workers emigrated to the U.S., especially to the Pittsburgh region. The built extensive occupational networks and a transnational niche community.
and Gallia
counties, Ohio, often known as "Little Cardiganshire". The Madog Center for Welsh Studies is located at the University of Rio Grande
.
The National Welsh Gymanfa Ganu Association holds the National Festival of Wales yearly in various locations around the country, offering seminars on various cultural items, a marketplace for Welsh goods, and the traditional Welsh hymn singing gathering (the gymanfa ganu). The West Coast Eisteddfod: Welsh Festival of Arts, held in Los Angeles in 2011, celebrates Welsh heritage through art competitions, performance, and outdoor marketplace. On a smaller scale, many states across the country hold regular Welsh Society meetings.
The American daytime soap opera One Life to Live
takes place in a fictional Pennsylvania town outside of Philadelphia known as Llanview, Welsh for "Church View". (View in Welsh is actually "golygfa") The fictional Llanview is losely based on the Welsh settlements located in the Welsh Barony, or Welsh Tract
, located north west of Philadelphia, PA.
) have formed societies all across the country, including the Chicago Tafia
(a play on "Mafia
" and "Taffy
"), and AmeriCymru.
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
. In the 2008 U.S. Census community survey, an estimated 1.98 million Americans had Welsh ancestry
Welsh people
The Welsh people are an ethnic group and nation associated with Wales and the Welsh language.John Davies argues that the origin of the "Welsh nation" can be traced to the late 4th and early 5th centuries, following the Roman departure from Britain, although Brythonic Celtic languages seem to have...
, 0.6% of the total U.S. population. This compares with a population of 3 million in Wales. However, 3.8% of Americans bear a Welsh surname. Moreover, a particularly large proportion of the African American population have Welsh names. History shows that there is little evidence that the Welsh were among the slave-owning classes at this time, as most immigrants were poor.
There have been at least eight U.S. Presidents with Welsh ancestry including Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
, Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
, John Adams
John Adams
John Adams was an American lawyer, statesman, diplomat and political theorist. A leading champion of independence in 1776, he was the second President of the United States...
, John Quincy Adams
John Quincy Adams
John Quincy Adams was the sixth President of the United States . He served as an American diplomat, Senator, and Congressional representative. He was a member of the Federalist, Democratic-Republican, National Republican, and later Anti-Masonic and Whig parties. Adams was the son of former...
, James Garfield
James Garfield
James Abram Garfield served as the 20th President of the United States, after completing nine consecutive terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. Garfield's accomplishments as President included a controversial resurgence of Presidential authority above Senatorial courtesy in executive...
and Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
. Confederate President Jefferson Davis
Jefferson Davis
Jefferson Finis Davis , also known as Jeff Davis, was an American statesman and leader of the Confederacy during the American Civil War, serving as President for its entire history. He was born in Kentucky to Samuel and Jane Davis...
was also of Welsh extraction.
The proportion of the population with a name of Welsh origin ranges from 9.5% in South Carolina to 1.1% in North Dakota. Typically names of Welsh origin are concentrated in the mid Atlantic states, the Carolinas, Georgia and Alabama and in Appalachia, West Virginia and Tennessee. By contrast there are relatively fewer Welsh names in New England, the northern mid West, and the South West.
Famous sons
On a plaque mounted on the east façade of the imposing Philadelphia City HallPhiladelphia City Hall
Philadelphia City Hall is the house of government for the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At , including the statue, it is the world's second-tallest masonry building, only shorter than Mole Antonelliana in Turin...
, the following inscription is found:
- Perpetuating the Welsh heritage, and commemorating the vision and virtue of the following Welsh patriots in the founding of the City, Commonwealth, and Nation: William PennWilliam PennWilliam Penn was an English real estate entrepreneur, philosopher, and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, the English North American colony and the future Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He was an early champion of democracy and religious freedom, notable for his good relations and successful...
, 1644-1718, proclaimed freedom of religion and planned New Wales later named Pennsylvania. Thomas JeffersonThomas JeffersonThomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
, 1743-1826, third President of the United States, composed the Declaration of Independence. Robert Morris, 1734-1806, foremost financier of the American RevolutionAmerican RevolutionThe American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
and signer of the Declaration of IndependenceDeclaration of independenceA declaration of independence is an assertion of the independence of an aspiring state or states. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the territory of another nation or failed nation, or are breakaway territories from within the larger state...
. Governor Morris, 1752-1816, wrote the final draft of the Constitution of the United States. John MarshallJohn MarshallJohn Marshall was the Chief Justice of the United States whose court opinions helped lay the basis for American constitutional law and made the Supreme Court of the United States a coequal branch of government along with the legislative and executive branches...
, 1755-1835, Chief Justice of the United States and father of American constitutional law.
Welsh emigration to the United States
The legend
Legend
A legend is a narrative of human actions that are perceived both by teller and listeners to take place within human history and to possess certain qualities that give the tale verisimilitude...
of voyages to America, and settlement there in the twelfth century, led by Madog
Madoc
Madoc or Madog ab Owain Gwynedd was, according to folklore, a Welsh prince who sailed to America in 1170, over three hundred years before Christopher Columbus's voyage in 1492. According to the story, he was a son of Owain Gwynedd who took to the sea to flee internecine violence at home...
, son of Owain Gwynedd
Owain Gwynedd
Owain Gwynedd ap Gruffydd , in English also known as Owen the Great, was King of Gwynedd from 1137 until his death in 1170. He is occasionally referred to as "Owain I of Gwynedd"; and as "Owain I of Wales" on account of his claim to be King of Wales. He is considered to be the most successful of...
, prince of Gwynedd
Kingdom of Gwynedd
Gwynedd was one petty kingdom of several Welsh successor states which emerged in 5th-century post-Roman Britain in the Early Middle Ages, and later evolved into a principality during the High Middle Ages. It was based on the former Brythonic tribal lands of the Ordovices, Gangani, and the...
, are now considered to lack historical basis.
The first arrivals came from Wales after 1640.
Pennsylvania
In the late seventeenth century, there was a large emigration of Welsh Quakers to PennsylvaniaPennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, where a Welsh Tract
Welsh Tract
The Welsh Tract, also called the Welsh Barony, was a portion of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania settled largely by Welsh-speaking Quakers. It covers 40,000 acres to the west of Philadelphia...
was established. By 1700, the Welsh accounted for about one-third of the colony’s estimated population of twenty thousand. There are a number of Welsh place names in this area. There was a second wave of immigration in the late eighteenth century, notably a Welsh colony named Cambria
Cambria, Pennsylvania
Cambria was a Welsh colony in Pennsylvania, founded during the 18th century and given a Latin name meaning "Wales"....
established by Morgan John Rhys
Morgan John Rhys
Morgan John Rhys was a Baptist minister who preached the principles of the French Revolution, against slavery, and in favour of the reform of parliament....
in what is now Cambria County, Pennsylvania.
The Welsh were especially numerous and politically active in colonial Pennsylvania, where they elected 9% of the legislature. In the 19th century thousands of Welsh coal miners emigrated to the anthracite and bituminous mines of Pennsylvania, many becoming mine managers and executives. The miners brought organizational skills, exemplified in the United Mine Workers
United Mine Workers
The United Mine Workers of America is a North American labor union best known for representing coal miners and coal technicians. Today, the Union also represents health care workers, truck drivers, manufacturing workers and public employees in the United States and Canada...
labor union, and its most famous leader John L. Lewis
John L. Lewis
John Llewellyn Lewis was an American leader of organized labor who served as president of the United Mine Workers of America from 1920 to 1960...
, who was born in a Welsh settlement in Iowa.
Maryland
Five towns in northern MarylandMaryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
and southern Pennsylvania were constructed between 1850 and 1942 to house Welsh quarry workers producing Peach Bottom
Peach Bottom, Pennsylvania
Peach Bottom, Pennsylvania is an unincorporated village in Fulton Township, Lancaster County, in the state of Pennsylvania in the United States. It lies on the east bank of the Susquehanna River, at ....
slate. During this period the towns retained a Welsh ethnic identity, although their architecture evolved from the traditional Welsh cottage form to contemporary American. Two of the towns in Harford County
Harford County, Maryland
Harford County is a county in the U.S. state of Maryland. In 2010, its population was 244,826. Its county seat is Bel Air. Harford County forms part of the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area.-History:...
now form the Whiteford-Cardiff Historic District
Whiteford-Cardiff Historic District
Whiteford-Cardiff Historic District is a national historic district at Cardiff and Whiteford, Harford County, Maryland, United States. It encompasses portions of two communities in northern Harford County that were historically associated with slate production during the late 19th and early 20th...
.
Tennessee
Following the American Civil WarAmerican Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, 104 Welsh immigrant families moved from the Welsh Barony
Welsh Tract
The Welsh Tract, also called the Welsh Barony, was a portion of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania settled largely by Welsh-speaking Quakers. It covers 40,000 acres to the west of Philadelphia...
in Pennsylvania to East Tennessee
East Tennessee
East Tennessee is a name given to approximately the eastern third of the U.S. state of Tennessee, one of the three Grand Divisions of Tennessee defined in state law. East Tennessee consists of 33 counties, 30 located within the Eastern Time Zone and three counties in the Central Time Zone, namely...
. These Welsh families settled in an area now known as Mechanicsville
Mechanicsville, Knoxville
Mechanicsville is a neighborhood in Knoxville, Tennessee, located northwest of the city's downtown area. One of the city's oldest neighborhoods, Mechanicsville was established in the late 1860s for skilled laborers working in the many factories that sprang up along Knoxville's periphery...
, and part of the city of Knoxville. These families were recruited by the brothers Joseph and David Richards to work in a rolling mill then co-owned by John H. Jones.
The Richards brothers co-founded the Knoxville Iron Works beside the L&N Railroad, later to be used as the site for the World's Fair 1982. Of the original buildings of the Iron Works where Welsh immigrants worked at, only the structure housing the restaurant 'The Foundry' remains. In 1982 World's Fair the building was known as the Strohause.
Having first met at donated space at the Second Presbyterian Church, the immigrant Welsh built their own Congregational Church with the Reverend Thomas Thomas serving as the first pastor in 1870. However, by 1899 the church property was sold.
The Welsh immigrant families became successful and established other businesses in Knoxville, which included a company that built coal cars, several slate roofing companies, a marble company, and several furniture companies. By 1930 many Welsh dispersed into other sections of the city and neighboring counties such as Sevier County
Sevier County, Tennessee
Sevier County is a county of the state of Tennessee, United States. Its population was 71,170 at the 2000 United States Census. It is included in the Sevierville, Tennessee, Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is included in the Knoxville-Sevierville-La Follette, TN Combined Statistical Area. The...
. Today, more than 250 families in greater Knoxville can trace their ancestry directly to these original immigrants. The Welsh tradition in Knoxville is remembered with Welsh descendants celebrating St. David's Day.
New York
Oneida County and Utica, New YorkUtica, New York
Utica is a city in and the county seat of Oneida County, New York, United States. The population was 62,235 at the 2010 census, an increase of 2.6% from the 2000 census....
became the cultural center of the American-Welsh community in the 19th century. Suffering from poor harvests in 1789 and 1802 and dreaming of land ownership, the initial settlement of five Welsh families soon attracted other agricultural migrants, settling Steuben, Utica and Remsen townships. The first Welsh settlers arrived in the 1790s. By 1855, there were four thousand Welshmen in Oneida. With the Civil War, many Welshmen began moving west, especially to Michigan and Wisconsin. They operated small farms and clung to their historic traditions. The church was the center of Welsh community life, and a vigorous Welsh-language press kept ethnic consciousness strong. Strongly Republican, the Welsh gradually assimilated into the larger society without totally abandoning their own ethnic cultural patterns.
Ohio
Mass emigration from Wales to the United States got under way in the nineteenth century with OhioOhio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
cities and towns such as Canal Dover, Niles and Gloucester being particularly popular destinations.
In the early nineteenth century most of the Welsh settlers were farmers, but later on there was emigration by coal miners to the coalfields of Ohio and Pennsylvania and by slate quarrymen
Slate industry in Wales
The slate industry in Wales began during the Roman period when slate was used to roof the fort at Segontium, now Caernarfon. The slate industry grew slowly until the early 18th century, then expanded rapidly until the late 19th century, at which time the most important slate producing areas were in...
from North Wales
North Wales
North Wales is the northernmost unofficial region of Wales. It is bordered to the south by the counties of Ceredigion and Powys in Mid Wales and to the east by the counties of Shropshire in the West Midlands and Cheshire in North West England...
to the "Slate Valley" region of Vermont and New York.
There was a large concentration of Welsh people in the Applachian section of Southeast Ohio, such as Jackson County, Ohio
Jackson County, Ohio
Jackson County is a county located in the state of Ohio, United States. As of 2010, the population was 33,225. Its county seat is Jackson and is named for Andrew Jackson, a hero of the War of 1812 who was subsequently elected President of the United States....
and was nicknamed "Little Wales". The Welsh language was commonly spoken there for generations until the 1950s when its use began to subside.
Indiana
In the years surrounding the turn of the Twentieth Century, the towns of Elwood, Anderson and Gas City in Grant and Madison Counties, located northeast of Indianapolis, attracted scores of Welsh Immigrants, including many large families and young industrial workers.Minnesota
After 1855 Minnesota's rich farmlands became a magnet, especially Blue Earth and Le Sueur counties. By the 1880s between 2,500 and 3,000 people of Welsh background were contributing to the life of some 17 churches and 22 chapels.Kansas
Some 2,000 immigrants from Wales, and another nearly 6,000 second-generation Welsh, became farmers in Kansas, favoring areas close to the towns of Arvonia, Emporia, and Bala. Features of their historic culture survived longest when their church services retained Welsh sermons.Western US
Welsh miners, shepherds and shop merchants arrived in CaliforniaCalifornia
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
during the Gold Rush (1849–51), as well the Pacific Northwest
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...
and Rocky Mountain States since the 1850s. Large-scale Welsh settlement in Northern California
Northern California
Northern California is the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. The San Francisco Bay Area , and Sacramento as well as its metropolitan area are the main population centers...
esp. the Sierra Nevada and Sacramento Valley
Sacramento Valley
The Sacramento Valley is the portion of the California Central Valley that lies to the north of the San Joaquin-Sacramento Delta in the U.S. state of California. It encompasses all or parts of ten counties.-Geography:...
was noted, and one county: Amador County, California
Amador County, California
Amador County is a county located in the Sierra Nevada of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2010 census, the population was 38,091. The county seat is Jackson.Amador County bills itself as "The Heart of the Mother Lode" and lies within the Gold Country...
finds a quarter of local residents have Welsh ancestry.
Mormons
Mormon missionaries in Wales in the 1840s and 1850s proved persuasive, and many converts emigrated to Utah. By the mid-nineteenth century, Malad CityMalad City, Idaho
For the Mumbai, India Suburb, see Malad .Malad City is the only city in and the county seat of Oneida County, Idaho, United States. Its population was 2,158 at the 2000 census....
, Idaho
Idaho
Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....
was established. It began largely as a Welsh Mormon
Mormon
The term Mormon most commonly denotes an adherent, practitioner, follower, or constituent of Mormonism, which is the largest branch of the Latter Day Saint movement in restorationist Christianity...
settlement and lays claim to having more people of Welsh descent per capita than anywhere outside of Wales. This may be around 20%.
Tin workers
Before 1890, Wales was the world's leading producer of tinplate, especially as used for canned foods. The U.S. was the primary customer. The McKinley tariffMcKinley Tariff
The Tariff Act of 1890, commonly called the McKinley Tariff, was an act framed by Representative William McKinley that became law on October 1, 1890. The tariff raised the average duty on imports to almost fifty percent, an act designed to protect domestic industries from foreign competition...
of 1890 raised the duty on tinplate that year, and in response many entrepreneurs and skilled workers emigrated to the U.S., especially to the Pittsburgh region. The built extensive occupational networks and a transnational niche community.
Welsh culture in the United States
One area with a strong Welsh influence is an area in JacksonJackson County, Ohio
Jackson County is a county located in the state of Ohio, United States. As of 2010, the population was 33,225. Its county seat is Jackson and is named for Andrew Jackson, a hero of the War of 1812 who was subsequently elected President of the United States....
and Gallia
Gallia County, Ohio
As of the census of 2000, there were 31,069 people, 12,060 households, and 8,586 families residing in the county. The population density was 66 people per square mile . There were 13,498 housing units at an average density of 29 per square mile...
counties, Ohio, often known as "Little Cardiganshire". The Madog Center for Welsh Studies is located at the University of Rio Grande
University of Rio Grande
The University of Rio Grande and Rio Grande Community College are twin colleges in Rio Grande, Ohio, United States....
.
The National Welsh Gymanfa Ganu Association holds the National Festival of Wales yearly in various locations around the country, offering seminars on various cultural items, a marketplace for Welsh goods, and the traditional Welsh hymn singing gathering (the gymanfa ganu). The West Coast Eisteddfod: Welsh Festival of Arts, held in Los Angeles in 2011, celebrates Welsh heritage through art competitions, performance, and outdoor marketplace. On a smaller scale, many states across the country hold regular Welsh Society meetings.
The American daytime soap opera One Life to Live
One Life to Live
One Life to Live is an American soap opera which debuted on July 15, 1968 and has been broadcast on the ABC television network. Created by Agnes Nixon, the series was the first daytime drama to primarily feature racially and socioeconomically diverse characters and consistently emphasize social...
takes place in a fictional Pennsylvania town outside of Philadelphia known as Llanview, Welsh for "Church View". (View in Welsh is actually "golygfa") The fictional Llanview is losely based on the Welsh settlements located in the Welsh Barony, or Welsh Tract
Welsh Tract
The Welsh Tract, also called the Welsh Barony, was a portion of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania settled largely by Welsh-speaking Quakers. It covers 40,000 acres to the west of Philadelphia...
, located north west of Philadelphia, PA.
Current Immigrants
While most Welsh immigrants came to the US before the 20th century, immigration has by no means stopped. Current expatriates (a recent notable example being Anthony HopkinsAnthony Hopkins
Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins, KBE , best known as Anthony Hopkins, is a Welsh actor of film, stage and television...
) have formed societies all across the country, including the Chicago Tafia
Chicago Tafia
- The Chicago Tafia Welsh Society :The Tafia is an expatriate Welsh group that was formed in Chicago in 1999. As one of the youngest and consequently the most contemporary Welsh groups in North America, they are well-known to provide a real link to the present culture of Wales to the Chicago...
(a play on "Mafia
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
" and "Taffy
Taffy
Taffy can refer to any of the following:* Taffy , a type of chewy, often colored, candy* Taffy is a sometimes pejorative term for a Welsh person or thing...
"), and AmeriCymru.
See also
- List of Welsh Americans
- Canadians of Welsh descent
- Celtic music in the United StatesCeltic music in the United StatesIrish, Scottish music and Welsh Music have long been a major part of American music, at least as far back as the 18th century. Beginning in the 1960s, performers like the Clancy Brothers became stars in the Irish music scene, which dates back to at least the colonial era, when many Irish...
- Maps of American ancestriesMaps of American ancestriesThe ancestry of the people of the United States is widely varied and includes descendants of populations from around the world, some presumably extinct elsewhere...
- Welsh settlement in the Americas
- Welsh History in ChicagoWelsh history in ChicagoOver the years Chicago has been called home by many immigrant groups and cultures, the Welsh included.-The Welsh in the early history of Chicago:Thomas Jefferson Vance Owen, whose grandparents were from Wales, is considered “The True Founder of Chicago”. He became the first president of the town...
- Chicago Welsh SocietiesChicago Welsh Societies- Chicago's Welsh Societies :The Welsh have a long and proud history in the state of Illinois, so in many ways it is unsurprising that Chicago is home to three separate Welsh societies that cater to various aspects of Welsh culture past and present:...
- Chicago TafiaChicago Tafia- The Chicago Tafia Welsh Society :The Tafia is an expatriate Welsh group that was formed in Chicago in 1999. As one of the youngest and consequently the most contemporary Welsh groups in North America, they are well-known to provide a real link to the present culture of Wales to the Chicago...
Further reading
- Berthoff, Rowland. British Immigrants In Industrial America (1953)
- Hartmann, Edward G. Americans from Wales, Octagon Books, 1983.
- Lewis, Ronald L. Welsh Americans: A History of Assimilation in the Coalfields (2008) excerpt and text search
- Schlenther, Boyd Stanley. "'The English is Swallowing up Their Language': Welsh Ethnic Ambivalence in Colonial Pennsylvania and the Experience of David Evans," Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Volume 114, Number 2 (April 1990), pp 201–228 online edition
External links
- A timeline of the history of Wales and details of some of the communities in the U.S. where Welsh influence is most important
- Patterns of Welsh settlement in the United States in the first half of the 20th century
- Madog Center for Welsh Studies, University of Rio Grande
- The Welsh in Pennsylvania
- BBC Wales: Welsh Comings and Goings: The history of migration in and out of Wales
- data-wales.co.uk: Emigration from Wales to America
- data-wales.co.uk: Why do so many Black Americans have Welsh names?
- Ninnau The North American Welsh Newspaper/Papur Cymry Gogledd America