I love hearing the stories of North Wales. My great grandfather, Rice Jones, was a quarryman before he immigrated to the US in 1887. My great aunt, his daughter, Elizabeth Winifred, used to tell me about him going off to work. She loved where she lived in North Wales and I think until the day she died in 1969 she would have gone back if she could. When her father came to America, he was an anthracite coal man. She hated the way he came home every night with a black face and hands. She hated the choking and coughing of first shaking and then washing the coal dust out of his clothes. I guess some of the quarrymen who left Caernarfonshire didn't fair much better in the United States. Gayle Thorpe Baar Irving, TX with roots in PA, NY, MA, CT & Great Britain http://hometown.aol.com/gtbaar/myhomepage/profile.html