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One reason that people move to different countries is to find work. An area just a few miles away from the site of the Royal Mint in South Wales became known as America Fach (Little America) because so many people moved themselves and their families to America, and then back to South Wales, in order to find jobs. Perhaps there are communities near where you live where people came because of work?

America Fach

In the early 1800s many Welsh farmers set off for America in search of a better life for themselves and their families. In the 1840s Welsh miners became attracted to following in their footsteps, hearing tales of high wages and plenty of work in the American coalfields.

Miners loading a mine car in a coal mine in America. Courtesy of Mary Evans Library of Congress

 

People from around the world made this journey for the same reasons; one Welsh miner in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, wrote home that ‘‘competition is strong and the companies are taking advantage of this to employ foreigners unused to that kind of work and in this way making the old workmen idle.”. As the competition for work got greater, so too did the work get harder. As more coal was extracted, the coal seams became more difficult to work with, and it began to take longer to fill the coal drams required for workers to get paid.

Miners at mine entrance, Pittsburgh, USA. Courtesy of Mary Evans Pharcide

 

Everything changed in the 1860s, when the Welsh coal industry became recognised as producing the best coal for steam-powered engines. Trials in the 1840s showed that South Wales coal was of the best quality, which was confirmed in a report in 1851. From this point, the South Wales coal industry rapidly expanded into the 1860s. W. S. Jevons, an English Economist, said in 1865, “coal stands in truth not beside but entirely above other commodities. It is the material energy of the country. The universal aid and a factor in everything we do.” Coal became known as ‘black diamonds’, and many miners that had left their friends and family behind in Wales decided to return. One area, not far from the site of The Royal Mint, has a particularly interesting story to tell.

Two middle aged miners with their lamps, at a colliery in South Wales. Courtesy of Mary Evans Roger Worsley Archive

America Fach (Welsh for “Little America”) is just outside the modern town of Porth. It is an area of terraced housing built in part by the local colliery owner, George Insole. When it was built it had three chapels and a school and was situated just northeast of the farm that became modern day Porth. Originally the village was called Ystradyfodwy, but in the later part of the 1800s many Welsh families who had left for America decided to come back, and it took on the local name of America Fach. There are lots of examples of families there who had some of their children born in Wales and some in America.

The 1891 census give us lots of information about the people who lived in America Fach at the time. At 33 Hafod Road lived John and Elizabeth Evans, at 30 and 29 years old. John was a coal miner, and the couple had two children. Evan, aged 5, was born in Hafod, Glamorgan, and Emlyn, aged 3, was born in Oliphant, America. At 123 Maerdy Road lived Abram and Martha Charles, aged 24 and 23, who were born in Maesteg. The oldest of their two children, David, was born in Scranton, America, and their baby, Mary, was born in Maerdy.

Some families at this time took in lodgers, some of whom had travelled far. At 55 Miskin Road lived a boarder by the name of Charley Shepherd, who was 26 years old and worked as a collier (miner). He is shown on the record as a “British Subject of America”, and he came to Wales to be a miner instead of working in the American mines. Some families also brought people back to Wales with them. At 27 Ystrad Road lived Morris Lorie, a Polish-born man of 48, who met and married his wife Sarah, who was born in Troy, Rensselaer, New York. The 1891 census shows them having one daughter, Rebecca Rachel, who was 22 but born in Ystrad, in Wales.

Welsh miner in coal mine pushing truck. Courtesy of Mary Evans Roger Worsley Archive

Some large families left for America, which meant that children went to school in their American communities as well as children being born there. Many of the children would have brought their American accents back to Wales with them. At 15, Troedhopkin lived John and Margaret Thomas with their seven children. Before their middle child, William, was born in Ohio in approximately 1869, John and Margaret had three other sons, Watkin, David and Evan, who would have all gone to live in Ohio. Sometime within six years after William was born, the family returned to Ystradyfodwy, Little America, and three more sisters came along for the boys: Mary, Lizzie and Sarah. It was a similar story for Thos (short for Thomas) and Elvira Williams, both born in the Ystradyfodwy area, who lived at 88 Lower Trafagar. They left for America just with their one daughter, Sarah, then her brother, Thos, was born in Canada. Within 9 years of the younger Thos being born, the family of four returned to Little America and five more siblings, William, Edward, Sidney, Cath and Edith were all born in Wales.

If you would like to find out more about the miners in South Wales you can watch the video below and visit Rhondda Heritage Park - A Welsh Coal Mining Experience