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Welsh Americans Americanwyr Cymreig
Notable Welsh Americans: 'Jack Daniel' 'Abraham Lincoln' 'Thomas Jefferson'
Total population
Welsh 1,753,794 Americans 0.6% of the US population
Regions with significant populations
Throughout the entire United States
Language(s)
American English
Religion(s)
Predominantly Christian Protestant Mormon
Related ethnic groups
British Americans (Scottish Americans, Scots-Irish Americans, English Americans), Irish Americans

Welsh Americans, Welsh: Americanwyr Cymreig are citizens of the United States whose ancestry originates in the northwest European nation of Wales (which is part of the United Kingdom).

Contents 1 Number of Welsh Americans 2 Welsh emigration to the United States 3 Welsh culture in the United States 4 Notables 5 External links 6 See also 7 Further Reading

In the 2000 Census, 1.8 million Americans reported Welsh ancestry, 0.6% of the total US population. This compares with a population of 2.9 million in Wales.

However, the name Jones, which is often considered distinctively Welsh, is the fourth most-common surname in America, accounting for over 0.6% of Americans [1], which when taken with others reporting typically Welsh surnames such as Jenkins, Williams, Davies, Morgan, Edwards and Evans, suggests a higher rate of Welsh ancestry than indicated by self-identification. However, caution must be taken given that a large proportion of the African American population have Welsh names due to the creation of surnames from fathers' forenames (e.g. John ==> Jones) in a similar style to the Welsh, and some use of former slave owners' last names following emancipation.

The legend of voyages to America and settlement there in the twelfth century led by Madog, son of Owain Gwynedd, prince of Gwynedd, is not now generally considered to have a historical basis.

However, John Cabot an Italian navigator who was one of the earliest people to visit North America from Europe did have Welsh crew members, whom he took on board at Bristol. Many people believe that America was discovered by, and takes its name from, Amerigo Vespucci. However, this is unlikely as newly-discovered lands were normally named after their discoverer's surname. Therefore, had America been discovered by Vespucci, it would more likely have been called "Vespuccia" or something of that ilk. It is much more likely that America was named after a Welshman named Richard Amerike, whose surname was "derived from ap Meuric, Welsh for the son of Maurice".

In the late seventeenth century, there was a large emigration of Welsh Quakers to Pennsylvania, 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.

On a plaque mounted on the east façade of the imposing Philadelphia City Hall, 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 Penn, 1644-1718, proclaimed freedom of religion and planned New Wales later named Pennsylvania. Thomas Jefferson, 1743-1826, third President of the United States, composed the Declaration of Independence. Robert Morris, 1734-1806, foremost financier of the American Revolution and signer of the Declaration of Independence. Governor Morris, 1752-1816, wrote the final draft of the Constitution of the United States. John Marshall, 1755-1835, Chief Justice of the United States and father of American constitutional law.

Mass emigration from Wales to the United States got under way in the nineteenth century with Ohio being a particularly popular destination. It is also said that around 20% of the population of Utah are of Welsh descent.

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 State.

By the mid-nineteenth century, Malad City, 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 [2].

One area with a strong Welsh influence is an area in Jackson and Gallia Counties, Ohio, often known as "Little Cardiganshire". The Madog Center for Welsh Studies is located at the University of Rio Grande here.

Main article: List of Welsh Americans

See also: :Category:Welsh-Americans

• Cardiff Centre for Welsh American Studies
• 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

• List of Welsh Americans
• Celtic music in the United States
• Welsh Tract
• British-American
• English American
• Scottish American
• Scots-Irish American
• Maps of American ancestries
• Welsh colonization of the Americas

Edward G. Hartmann, Ph.D., Americans from Wales,Octagon Books, New York, copyright 1983.

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