Meigs County, Ohio

Meigs County, Ohio

Pomeroy, Minersville and Syracause

According to an article by W. G. Morgan published in Y Drych on 8 October 1908, the first Welsh people to move to the Jefferson and Pomeroy area were Thomas Edwards and his family who came originally from Denbigh in north-east Wales. They arrived in the area in 1839 and during the following decade, more and more of the Welsh were drawn to Pomeroy by the work opportunities offered by the coal mines. The California Gold Fever was apparently very dominant in the town in the beginning of the fifties, and letters sent home by one family from Wales testify to that fever. Hannah Morgan mentioned in a

letter to John William, Rhymni, that her husband had gone to California and in

another letter she says that they intend to move there as a family.

Meigs County

The

Calvinistic Methodists and the

Congregationalists built a chapel in Pomeroy in 1847 and the following year another chapel was built by the

Baptists.

The Welsh settled in Minersville and Syracuse as well, as there were many coal mines and salt works there.

See the notes written by R. D. Thomas ('Iorthryn Gwynedd') >>

W. G. Morgan noted that nearly all the Welsh had moved away from this area by the beginning of the twentieth century.

Digitized Materials

The Acrefair papers - the letters of Hannah Morgan, Coalport, Meigs County and the letters of the Rev. John Williams, Pomeroy, Meigs County

A short description of Pomeroy, Minersville and Syracause can be found in:

R. D. Thomas, Hanes Cymry America (the History of the Welsh in America) (Utica, 1872), pp. 124 - 127.

General Bibliography

W. G. Morgan, 'Pomeroy 50 mlynedd yn ol a heddyw' (Pomeroy 50 years ago and today), Y Drych (8 October 1908)