Gordon, Most Americans, including myself for a while, seem to be oblivious about their Welsh ancestry or even know much about Wales (except the Prince of Wales who is not Welsh) or its history. For most of us who have ancestors who lived in the southern part of the U.S,, it was always assumed these surnames were English or Scots-Irish. (Of course, most people don't know about the Scots-Irish history either, eh?) There were a ton of Scots-Irish people who migrated to the south. And, many of these people intermarried with people who came from Wales. Why don't we know about our Welsh history? One reason is the majority of the people from the South were poor (and continued to be so until after WWII). The majority also could not read or write (very few free schools until the 1870s) so few families had the luxury of having written histories about where their ancestors came from. Another reason, our history was based mainly on the English experience. Ireland, Scotland and Wales were "lumped" into what was then Great Britain. (Unfortunately, most Americans are also oblivious to the modern "United Kingdom" history, or for that matter, general World History.) And the last reason, although we have many major cultural celebrations in the U.S. and Canada: Irish, Italian, Czech, German, Spanish (and/or Mexican or Cuban), Scots, etc., I haven't heard of one, so far, for the Welsh. When I first started my genealogical research many years ago, I didn't know about some of these things or how they could help or give me clues to finding additional sources on my lines. That is why this list and my membership in the Pace Society has always been so beneficial. People submit possible suggestions or links to more resources, plus I learn about my ancestor's history. For example, a few years ago, who would have guessed about the Welsh ancestry of some of our Paces! Kim -----Original Message----- From: pace-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:pace-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of gtp3066@nexicom.net Sent: Saturday, October 24, 2009 7:21 AM To: pace@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [PACE] The Welsh Tract of Pennsylvania - Pace lines with Welsh ancestry Kim Stracener Zapalac wrote: > FYI: > Family Tree Magazine's Newsletter just mentioned several places where a > person might find more information on ancestors with Welsh ancestry, Thanks Kim, I read the article, surprised to see author's name. The Maddock/Maddox Welsh list. I wrote a few times about the Welsh names of Shropshire, showing up in colonial Virginia. She was very interested and others, but some were not. The list seemed to fold up after she left running it. People wanted to shut out previous history, European origins, only interested in US. Descended to just two lines that went to Carolinas, a UK Maddock said. They had settled in a place where PACE was. I'd prepared a report but shelved it after much nastiness came about on that list, and now all but died. For sure, the Welsh spirit will not die out. Gord Pace ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to PACE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message