Case Studies in British Immigration

Abstract

Historians, sociologists and other social scientists have for some time virtually ignored many small, scattered immigrant groups in this country. Researchers have also tended to ignore certain British immi? grants, concentrating their efforts solely on the English, Irish and Scot? tish groups. In an effort to overcome both of these research deficiencies, one session of the American Historical Association's meetings this year was dedicated to Case Studies in British Immigration. Chaired by Prof. Rowland Berthoff, of Washington University, this session presented dis? cussions of Cornish and Welsh immigrations to the United States. first of the afternoon's two papers was entitled, The Cornish in America, by Prof. A. L. Rowse, of All Souls College, Oxford Uni? versity. Prof. Rowse described the Cornish immigrants to the American colonies as a group which, despite its own unique culture, was often confused with the English by the Americans and other immigrants. Early in their movement, they tended to come as individuals or families who settled in New England and, more significantly, in Pennsylvania. They were a clanish people who preserved family ties, but nonetheless became geographically mobile. They were visible in states as far apart as Virginia and Illinois, and were pioneers in the founding of Kentucky. During the period 1830-1859, and especially during the 1840s, the Cornish im? migration was characterized primarily by a mass movement of miners and only secondarily by small, would-be colonies of independent farm? ers. people were drawn to the coal fields of Pennsylvania and the slate quarries of New Jersey. They left soft-rock mining to the Welsh and turned almost exclusively to hard-rock mining. Cornish became prominent as miners and mining superintendents wherever there were