List Members, I had some great replies to my posting asking for help for the U.K. researcher. I tried to thank everyone who responded and a "Thank You" to the rest of the members who might have received duplicate copies of that message. I got six :) Several asked that I post the information to the list, so since some did contain genealogy information and area history, I have copied and pasted the information, sender's first name and email address in case anyone should want to contact them for further information. Again, Thank you, one and all Barb CA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I do not know the reason behind the name of the mountains, but in Lancaster County PA there is a place known as the Welsh Mountains. It is located near New Holland and Blue Ball PA. There must have been a number of Welsh families settle there over the years. It was also the home of descendents of run away slaves up until the mid 1980's when housing development came into the area. Built along the mountains there use to be many wooden shacks/houses that the blacks use to live in. They were very poor people. They had been there for several hundred years. As far as I know there is only one shack remaining there to this day. If you or the person from the UK contacts the Lancaster County Historical Society or maybe even the New Holland Historical Society you may be able to get more information. I think the route numbered road that runs through the Welsh Mountains is Rt. 257. If you find New Holland and Blue Ball and Rt. 23 on a map of Pa., you should be able to find Rt 257. I am sure there is a Lancaster County Historical Society but I am not sure if one does exist in New Holland. Hope this is of some help Sharon - Shadonkd35@aol.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ My great grandfather, John Harry O'Neal, from Bedford County, Pa married an Elizabeth Jane Thomas, born in 1883. Elizabeth's parents, Joseph Thomas and Hannah Jenkins were from Wales and immigrated to Terra Haute, Indiana. Perhaps, Terra Haute was a welsh settlement? My information is on-line at http://www.lor.net/johndortco/ John - johndortco@lor.net ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is from pg. 295 (lower right corner) of the biography book we're transcribing: Cambria county owes its name, and, in a great measure, its prosperity, to emigrants from Wales and their patriotic descendants. The first Welsh colony settled in what is now Cambria township, one hundred years ago (1796), and gave to their settlement the name Cambria, in memory of their old home in the mountainous part of Wales, the ancient Cymbria. Lynne - landd@accnorwalk.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I have a Thomas Thomas who I believe was probably from Wales. He was in Delaware and then moved to what is today Taylor Co, WV. There are several good books on Welsh Research, which can be found at www.heritagebooks.com. You might try that. Meg - Gagliardi_Margaret@bah.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There's a Welsh Run in Franklin Co. I can't tell you anything about it except that my ancestors (Pensyvania Dutch) settled there when they left Lancaster Co. Don - kc0wj@earthlink.net ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I can help with a good deal of those in the Philadelphia area: Tredyffrin, Bryn Mawr, Bala Cynwyd, Llanarch, St. David's, Berwyn, Haverford, Radnor, Uwchlan, North Wales, Gwynedd, Wynnewood, are the ones the jump out of memory quickly. There are more, I'm sure. The explanation behind many of these is quite simple: many Welsh Quakers came with William Penn in the hopes of founding a Welsh Barony where they could practice the old laws and the language would be Welsh. Once they got here, they found that the Swedes (the nationality, not the vegetable!) and Germans had already divvied things up in a way that made it near impossible to have their Welsh Barony. All of the above are placenmaes except for Wynnewood which is named after William Penn's physician, Thomas Wynne who was a Welshman. There are townships in Berks County named Cumru, Caernarvon. Again, I think it was Welsh immigrants/settlers although I don't know if they were ones that came with Billy Penn or descendents of those settlers. As to Cambria County, Ebensburg is named after the son of the man who settled there. He was a Welshman and grieved deeply for the son who had died. The son's name was Evan. You might want to check out Edward Hartmann's books, probably all out of print, but about Welsh-Americans. Also checking with Welsh societies throughout the US would help as would contacting the National Welsh-American Foundation. I am on the Board of Directors but there are others who would also be able to help. There are two Welsh-American newspapers and I'm sure that would help as well. Let me know if you want their contact information. Hope this gives a start to the state of Pennsylvania. Hwyl fawr, Beth - http://home.earthlink.net/~philipsbrown ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There is a town in Cambria County, PA called Nanty Glo. I believe there is also a place in Wales by that name. I don't know how the PA town got it's name, but I do know there were many Welsh coal miners living in that area around 1870-1880. I have also heard that Welsh was spoken in some parts of the county. Valerie - 2xtaylor@intelos.net ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ <A HREF="http://www.nantyglo.com/index3.htm">Click here: The Nanty Glo Home Page</A> A Welsh Community in PA (http://www.nantyglo.com/index3.htm) Mama Gub@aol.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Just off the top of my head: In Pennsylvania: Bala Cynwyd Bryn Athyn Bryn Mawr Jonestown Nanty Glo There might be others, with less obvious Welsh names. Nanty Glo in Cambria County, originally Nant-y-glo, was named by Welsh miners. I believe it translates roughly as "river of fire." --Debra Orner - DOrner1065 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For starters, there is Nany-Glo in Cambria County - it is Welsh for running streams of coal. Beulah was a Welsh settlement in Cambria County. Cambria itself has welsh roots in the name. DR - dpaul7@gte.net Johnstown, PA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A great lot of Welsh settled in the Georges Creek Coal Basin of Allegany County, Maryland - Western Maryland. No Welsh town names but we did have one coal mine named BLAENAVON. I think someone named Lewis owned it. Connie - cbeachy@mail2.gcnet.net ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I looked in an old history book of Pennsylvania I have since I have the name Thomas and Lewis in my family and they came from eastern Pennsylvania..... "An Illustrated History of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania" by Wm. Egle 1876 Delaware County - Haverford twp. was known in the early colonial days as the "Welsh Tract" the first settlement being in 1684. Newtown twp organised in 1686 original settlers were Welsh. Radnor, emigrants from Radnorshire, Wales about 1683. I'm not sure what county Bryn Mawr is in but I know that also was a Welsh settlement. The Welsh seemed to disperse into all communities more than some of the other nationalities and not keeping to themselves. My Grandmother was born in Brecon, Wales and came to Salem, South Dakota in 1907, There were other Welsh families in that area. Sally - Sieve Sal@aol.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Actually, I'd be interested if she would later respond to the list with her findings. Pattee - jrussell@mcoe.merced.k12.ca.us ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The town of Nanty Glo in Cambria County Pennsylvania and the town of Nanty Coke in Eastern Pennsylvania are both Welsh names. Nanty Coke is hard coal area and Nanty Glo soft coal. My relatives by marriage the Sherwoods were in the Cambria county area. If you do some research on " The Molly Maguires" either a terriorest group or a group of oppressed Irishmen or both, you will see lots of data on Welsh miners in Pennsylvania, hard coal. Parnell - JParnellC@aol.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There are many towns with Welsh names in the western Philadelphia, PA, suburbs. I'll see what more I can learn, but one source said that it was due to real estate people wanting to make the towns sound appealing. Check out Ardmore, Bryn Mawr, Cynwyd, Narberth, Haverford, Radnor, and, of course, Welsh Valley Middle School. Bill - patterson@computer.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Wow , Sounds like too big of a subject. ! Cambria County itself is named from the Welsh. And many of the towns in it. As far as any Jonesville, could be named for a Welsh town ...or the Welsh man who first settled the area. Myfrekles@aol.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Have you been in touch with Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, PA? See, "The Molly McGuires", published late 60's, early 70's. Also, "Lament for the Molly McGuires", same vintage. The first should be in the Baker library at Dartmouth, because I believe a faculty member wrote it, and you can get the full citation there. Look at all the names West of Philadelphia. Bryn Mawr is just the start. And Mauk Chunk was renamed in the last 40 years. Bala Cynwyd, home of the first Boy Scout troop in the US. Pennryn in Lebanon County (obviously a manufactured name), Gladwyne, Glen Mawr in Lycoming County. The Welsh were all through coal country. How about letting us know the email address of this person? Dick - Dick.Harris@mindspring.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There was a large settlement of Welsh in Susquehanna County in NE Pennsylvania in the 1830s and later. This was stated in the History of the Susquehanna Valley. Bill - grimy_b@swbell.net