30th August 1682 - The first group of Welsh settlers, including Thomas Wynne, personal physician of William Penn, set sail for Pennsylvania.
In the late seventeenth century, it was the persecution of the Quakers that led to their search for a new land and when William Penn was given a grant of land in Philadelphia by Charles II in 1681 (pictured), there was a large emigration of Welsh Quakers to Pennsylvania, where a Welsh Tract was established in the region immed...iately west of Philadelphia. By 1700, the Welsh accounted for about one-third of the colony’s estimated population of twenty thousand, seen by the 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.
In the late seventeenth century, it was the persecution of the Quakers that led to their search for a new land and when William Penn was given a grant of land in Philadelphia by Charles II in 1681 (pictured), there was a large emigration of Welsh Quakers to Pennsylvania, where a Welsh Tract was established in the region immed...iately west of Philadelphia. By 1700, the Welsh accounted for about one-third of the colony’s estimated population of twenty thousand, seen by the 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.
The Welsh were especially numerous and politically active in colonial Pennsylvania, where they elected 9% of the legislature. In the 19th century thousands of Welsh coal miners emigrated to the anthracite and bituminous mines of Pennsylvania, many becoming mine managers and executives. The miners brought organizational skills, exemplified in theUnited Mine Workers labor union, and its most famous leader John L. Lewis, who was born in a Welsh settlement in Iowa. Pennsylvania has the largest number of Welsh-Americans, approximately 200,000; they are primarily concentrated in the Western and Northeastern (Coal Region) regions of the state.
Map shows Welsh ancestry' in the USA -Dark red and brown colors indicate a higher density.
See MoreMap shows Welsh ancestry' in the USA -Dark red and brown colors indicate a higher density.
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