Welsh in Wisconsin

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Phillips G. Davies

Welsh immigrants first arrived in Wisconsin during the early days of statehood; collected here are anecdotes, photographs, and sources that explore their transition to a new homeland.

80 pages, 6 x 9, 34 b&w photos, 1 map
Paperback: $9.95 | ISBN: 978-0-87020-356-5
Ebook: $4.99 | ISBN: 978-0-87020-625-2
Publication Date: 6/5/2006

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Description

The Welsh came to Wisconsin in substantial numbers between 1840 and 1890. Most were small farmers in search of arable land on which to raise their crops and families. Others arrived and worked in the lead mines of southwestern Wisconsin. Unlike most other immigrant groups, the Welsh settled together and dreamed of a Welsh state of exclusively Welsh communities in the New World. They tended to worship in their own churches and hold onto their language and customs. They were alone among the people of the British Isles in that they did not speak English as a mother tongue. Welsh in Wisconsin is a concise history of the Welsh immigrant experience in the state, and offers photographs and a detailed history of Welsh churches in Wisconsin.

Part of the People of Wisconsin series, this book helps to illuminate the many ways that immigrants have shaped our state. Learn about the values and ideas the Welsh people brought with them from Europe and explore their myriad contributions to the culture, economy, and politics of their new home.

Author Bio

Phillips G. Davies

Phillips G. Davies was a third-generation Welsh-American who graduated from Marquette University and earned advanced degrees from Northwestern. He was a longtime professor of English at Iowa State University. His publications include studies of Thackeray, Shelley, and Hemingway and translations of accounts of Welsh settlements, mostly in the Midwest.