Unearthing Welsh History

The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 4-1-2006 | Jonny Beardsall

[Myrddin]

Aberystwyth, my home town. "Croeso" to my fellow Taffy's. Nice to know there are many out there who are Freepers too.

My great grandfather was born in Ysbty Ystwyth in 1842. He emigrated to the U.S. in 1863. He married a Welsh young lady from Aberystwyth when he returned to Pittsburgh, PA in 1865 after serving in the Union Army.

On the trip where I found the guardianship papers, I also found a microfilm record of the marriage of John Edwards and Jane Rowlands in 1833 at Llanfihangel y Creuddyn. That afforded me a chance to correct my family records with respect the the exact date and place of their marriage. Jane's family house is still standing on the road just north of Ystrad Meurig.

[Myrddin]

Just an interesting question: why do Americans differentiate between Welsh, English, Scots, Scots-Irish ancestries? From my conversations with native British born friends, they (most NZers are from Britain in ancestry) consider themselves simply British in heritage.

How many of them were booted from Britain to the penal colony? It may be that they have lost the details of their heritage, thus are left with just a general notion of their own history. My wife's paternal grandmother was a Cherokee indian. She lost her parents in the Trail of Tears march. That line of research is pretty limited.

My paternal grandmother was a very diligent researcher. Her side of the family arrived on the Mayflower. My paternal grandfather traces his family through his father's arrival in 1865 from Wales. My maternal grandfather traces his roots back to Jamestown. John Alden and Priscilla Mullins are in his direct lineage. At one point his family held title to what is now Norfolk. The grant from the King titled the area 'Fanshaw's bottom'. There are still streets with the family name in Norfolk.

[NZerFromHK]

They were actually pretty much voluntary migrants from the lower to mainstream middle class in Victorian Britain as NZ was never a penal colony. But from what I found at museums and government archives, it seems most migrants were either the Cornwall area, Oxfordshire, or northern England's industrial towns, and with some loewland Scots added into the mix.

[Myrddin]

That might explain the ultimate demise of Cornish as a living Brythonic language. It also explains the sense of British heritage instead of any focus on English or Scottish background.

[NZerFromHK]

It also seems that most New Zealanders' ancestors migrated from Britain in the mid 19th century right up to 1920s, with significant numbers still coming later from the "10-pound Pommies" days after WWII up until Britain's accession to the EEC in 1973. By the time of the Industrial Revolution, the notion of British nation (either the state of Great Britain or the British Empire) had become the vogue and England, Scotland, and Wales became more like "internal regions" in conception.

http://www.teara.govt.nz/NewZealanders/NewZealandPeoples/English/en

http://www.teara.govt.nz/NewZealanders/NewZealandPeoples/Welsh/en

http://www.teara.govt.nz/NewZealanders/NewZealandPeoples/Scots/en

http://www.teara.govt.nz/NewZealanders/NewZealandPeoples/Irish/en

In contrast, British migrants to America were from the Mayflower days or 17th to 18th centuries. IMHO the idea of Britain as a united country were less strong in those days.

[Myrddin]

Nice write up on the Welsh in New Zealand. I had always wondered whether the preference for singing in parts had any influence in America. It turns out the most of the village of Merthyr Tydfil joined the LDS church. When they came to America, they missed singing in parts as they headed to work in the mines. They solved that problem by forming the Mormon Tabernacle choir. The director has been Welsh from the beginning. Most of the choir members today still have Welsh roots.

[yarddog]

I don't think I have any Welsh ancestors but have admired them ever since learning the defenders at Roark's Drift were Welsh Engineers.

[Ciexyz]

btt

[eyespysomething]

ping

[rdl6989]

I'd love to visit Wales someday.

[Ciexyz]

I'd love top visit Wales someday.

I second that emotion.

[thundrey]

Pff. Most of the Rorke's Drift defenders were in fact English.

http://www.rorkesdriftvc.com/myths/myths.htm

Recruiting mainly from Warwickshire. The 24th did not become a Welsh regiment until 1881. So this crap about them singing 'Men of Harlech' in the film 'Zulu!' is rubbish...