ABSTRACT
The Hungry Forties produced that mighty boom in emigration which ended by peopling the open spaces of the United States from the Mississippi to the Pacific. The attractions of the New World, however strongly felt in later years, left Wales al-most unmoved for three-quarters of a century after the first batch of emigrants settled at Jamestown. The Welsh had long been prized as servants in the gentle and noble households of England, whether as stewards and secretaries or in more menial capacities, and they were equally in demand in the New World. The myth of the Welsh Indians was revived and became a sort of contemporary counterpart of the Prester John motif of the early explorers. New York city, credited with only five Welsh inhabitants in 1793, had enough to hold an occasional Welsh service two years later, and to support a Welsh chapel early in the next century.
