ABSTRACT
In 1869 Isaac Smucker wrote Welsh Settlements in Licking County, Ohio. Excerpts are included in this volume because it is an excellent, rare history of Welsh immigration and culture, and a collection of their letters, from 1787 to 1815. This remarkable document is not just about one Ohio county. This chapter includes details of the background to an extensive Welsh migration, their voyage and arrival in Philadelphia, the nature of chain migration from Carmarthenshire, land purchases, pioneering in the American wilderness, the establishment of Welsh communities, the assimilation of Welsh immigrants and their children, their confrontation with slavery issues, and details about their highly religious culture. In short, this piece is a comprehensive account of early Welsh migration that illuminates the entire subject in insightful ways. The early time Welsh immigrants to Licking county, with but few, if any exceptions, had but a limited knowledge of the English language.
