The Welsh in Iowa

Cherilyn Walley

Description

"The Welsh in Iowa" is the history of the little known Welsh immigrant communities in the American Midwestern state of Iowa. Dr. Walley's book identifies what made the Welsh unique as immigrants to North America, and as migrants and settlers in a land built on such groups. With research rooted in documentary evidence and supplemented with community and oral histories, "The Welsh in Iowa" preserves and examines Welsh culture as it was expressed in middle America by the farmers and coal miners who settled or passed through the prairie state as it grew to maturity in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This work seeks to not only document the Welsh immigrants who lived in Iowa, but to study the Welsh as a distinct ethnic group in a state known for its ethnic heritage.

Sujets

• Midwest
• Histoire
• USA
• State
• United States
• États-Unis
• History
• Local
• Iowa

Informations

• Publié par: University of Wales Press
• Date de parution: 01 juillet 2009
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780708322413
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 45 Mo

Extrait

T H E W E L S H I N I O WA

THE WELSH IN IOWA

Cherilyn A. Walley

CARDIFF UNIVERSITY OF WALES PRESS 2009

© Cherilyn A. Walley, 2009

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright owner except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London, EC1N 8TS. Applications for the copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the University of Wales Press, 10 Columbus Walk, Brigantine Place, Cardiff, CF10 4UP.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978-0-7083-2222-2 e-ISBN 978-0-7083-2241-3

The right of Cherilyn A. Walley to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77, 78 and 79 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

The publishers wish to acknowledge the financial support of the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales in the publication of this book.

Printed in Great Britain by CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham, Wiltshire

Acknowledgements

This book has been more than a decade in the making and is the result of not only my own efforts, but also the assistance of more people than I could possibly acknowledge here. However, I do need to mention a few people by name. I am in academic debt to my major professor, Dorothy A. Schwieder, without whose support and encouragement I would not have pursued this topic. She unquestioningly accepted my reasoning for choosing to study the Welsh in Iowa – because they were there. As the grande dame of Iowa history, she also laid much of the groundwork for the study. I must also thank the rest of the history professors who guided me through my graduate career at Iowa State University; without their patience and advice, this book would be less than it is in many ways: Doug Hurt, Andrejs Plakans, Amy Bix, George McJimsey, James Whitaker, Christie Farnham Pope and Pamela Riney-Kehrberg. My fellow graduate students also contributed their criticism and encouragement, as well as some much needed laughs in the T.A. office. I especially need to thank ‘Henry’ Peter Hoehnle for his perspective and enthusiasm for Iowa history, as well as his incredible impressions of old movie stars. Thanks also go to the History Department itself, as well as the Graduate College, for providing me with enough assistantships, grants and scholarships to ease my financial way through two advanced degrees. At least as valuable as the financial support was the knowledge and experience I gained first as a teaching assistant and then as an inde- pendent instructor. Though none of them are likely to read this, I would also like to thank the hundreds of ISU undergraduate students I was lucky enough to teach; their willingness to be engaged by history fed my own interest in the past and their insights into their home state were invaluable. The Iowa Welsh Society welcomed me with open arms and treated me as one of their own. I am particularly indebted to Phillips G. Davies for all of his scholarship and translation work on the Welsh in Iowa. On a more personal note, I need to thank my family (Mom, Dad, Glynne, Joanna, Lorien and Taryn, more recently Akiko, Mike and Eric) for their unfailing confidence that I could not only finish my doctorate, but excel at my studies. Though usually unspoken, I knew that they knew that I could do it. I am grateful to my friend Wendy Nielsen for her patient support throughout this whole dissertation/book process. I am also indebted to the ISU Judo Club for providing me a physical and mental outlet during my graduate years. Finally, I have to thank my dogs Reese and Anne for their help; Reese loyally kept me company as I spent hour upon hour at the computer and Anne diligently kept squirrels and geckos from invading the house while I was distracted.

v

Acknowledgements List of Figures List of Tables

Contents

Introduction 1 The Welsh 2 Iowa 3 The Welsh in Iowa 4 Demographic Profile 5 Welsh Coal Miners Conclusion Appendix A. Welsh Agricultural Communities Appendix B. Welsh Mining Communities Appendix C. Iowa Welsh Community Settlement Timeline Appendix D. Iowa Welsh Church Organization Timeline

Bibliography Index

v ix xi 1 10 30 51 81 116 137 142 189 214 215

216 229

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35

Figures

Distribution of the Welsh in the United States, 1890 Iowa, 1856: predominating state of origin for each county Latitudinal migration patterns from eastern states to Iowa Iowa, 1885: ethnic distribution as proportion of foreign born in each county Welsh agricultural communities in order of settlement Distribution of people born in Wales, Iowa, 1856 Distribution of people born in Wales, Iowa, 1885 Distribution of people born in Wales, Iowa, 1890 Distribution of people born in Wales, Iowa, 1900 Distribution of people born in Wales, Iowa, 1905 Distribution of people born in Wales, Iowa, 1910 Distribution of people born in Wales, Iowa, 1915 Distribution of people born in Wales, Iowa, 1920 Distribution of people born in Wales, Iowa, 1925 Distribution of people born in Wales, Iowa, 1930 Old Man’s Creek Welsh community in 1900 Map indicating Welsh land ownership, 1889: Douglas Township, Clay County Age distribution graph, Des Moines County, 1850, Welsh Age distribution graph, Des Moines County, 1850, non-Welsh Age distribution graph, Johnson County, 1860 Age distribution graph, Sharon and Union Townships, 1860, non-Welsh Age distribution graph, Sharon and Union Townships, 1860, Welsh Age distribution graph, Sharon and Union Townships, 1870, non-Welsh Age distribution graph, Sharon and Union Townships, 1870, Welsh Age distribution graph, Sharon and Union Townships, 1880, non-Welsh Age distribution graph, Sharon and Union Townships, 1880, Welsh Age distribution graph, Foreston/Lime Springs Welsh, 1880 Age distribution graph, 1880 Forest City Township non-Welsh native-born Age distribution graph, 1880 Forest City Township non-Welsh foreign Welsh population in Iowa coal-mining counties Coal-mining counties ranked in descending order of Welsh population Welsh-coal mining communities in approximate order of settlement Welsh agricultural communities in order of settlement Map of Johnson County, Iowa, 1875 Map of Union Township, Johnson County, 1870

24 34 35 36 53 53 57 57 58 58 59 59 60 61 61 69

70 84 85 88 90 91 92 93 95 96 110 111 112 120 121 125 142 144 145