|
Book Search:
Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: CONTACT: Melanie Roth, Marketing Coordinator melanie.roth@wisconsinhistory.org, 608-264-6465 Welsh in Wisconsin: Revised and Expanded Edition The Wisconsin Historical Society Press is pleased to announce the publication of "Welsh in Wisconsin: Revised and Expanded Edition" (Pub. Date: June 2006; Paperback $9.95 ISBN 0-87020-356-8) by Phillips G. Davies. This new edition presents an intimate glimpse into the life of Welsh immigrants who, while pursuing a better life, enriched Wisconsin with the language, religion and lifestyle they maintained once they arrived.
Life in Wales in the mid-19th century proved grim for many farmers. With large landowners controlling most of the arable land and Corn Laws, which prohibited importation of cheap food, domestic food prices increased dramatically and left the typical tenant-farming family with fields full of grain but empty cupboards. Between 1840 and 1890, many Welsh looked to Wisconsin for relief where they could purchase inexpensive, productive land. The newcomers kept to themselves, maintained their native language and national traditions and worshipped together in close-knit communities. This new edition to the People of Wisconsin series features letters from the Owen family and Private John Jones, who served in the Union army in the Civil War. The late Phillips G. Davies, part Welsh himself, graduated from Marquette University in 1946 and held advanced degrees from Northwestern University. He taught in the English department at Iowa State University. Although he published some articles on literary subjects, his later publications were translations of accounts about Welsh settlements, mostly in the Middle West. These appeared in the journals of several state historical societies. # # # # #
|
