Tracing Ancestry from Wales

Wales and the American Dream is a new book by
Robert Llewellyn Tyler and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2015. And it is amazing. Recall that I am 3/4 Welsh background, so I watch for anything Welsh.

Here are some of the amazing things to be found in this book:
1. Numerous men born to Irish parents in Wales! Tyler suggests that there is “no substitute for close scrutiny of the census schedules.” Comparison of entries and schedules can show the same person born in Wales and born in England. He also suggests how to overcome the discrepancy.

2. Settlement patterns from Wales to this country show that the Welsh came to work–
Missouri: Bevier, Macon County–Coal.
Pennsylvania: Sharon, Mercer County–Steel.
Ohio: Youngstown–Steel.
New York: Utica, Oneida County–Building, Construction
Vermont: Pulteney, Rutland County–Slate.
Kansas: Emporia, Lyon County–Mercantile Shops.
See New Lives in the Valley: Slate Quarries and Quarry Villages in North Wales, New York, and Vermont, 1850-1920.”  Gwilyn R. Roberts (Portland Me: Maine Printing Company, 1998); and “Some Aspects of Cultural Change in an American Welsh Community [Utica New York],” Transactions of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorian (1952): 15-41.

3.  Welshmen stick together; they cluster around their church (Calvinistic Methodism–Welsh Presbyterians), their family celebrations, their matriarchs. Watch for photographic evidence. See “Welsh Emigration to the USA during the Mid-Nineteenth Century,” Welsh Historical Review 15 (1991) written by William E. VanVugt.

If I were to add the Welsh who followed the Mormon Migration into Utah (which I am a part), they settled in mining areas, became employed in the steel industry, and became farmers of sheep, cattle, and grain in Northern Utah and Southern Idaho.

I suggest that you add this new title to your Summer Reading List (it is just about summer, in spite of the late start), especially is you, like me, have Welsh ancestry. Your favorite genealogist, Arlene Eakle. http://arleneeakle.com   

PS Be patient with me–my email ceased to work with this last bit of Windows Updates–but if they protect me from Malware attacks, it is worth the inconvenience until I can learn how to adjust the settings.

PPS I am going to join Holly Hansen and Ruth Maness to attend the International German Conference in Minneapolis at the end of July with book fairs in North Platte Nebraska and Billings Montana. Check out the schedule and registration information at http://familyhistoryexpos.com 

 

 

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