This site consists of genealogies, biographies, historical excerpts, and other
source information for a group of the Welsh settlers who made their homes in Johnson, Iowa and Louisa counties.
These families include the surnames Williams, Tudor, Baxter, Pugh and Evans. They were
among the earlest settlers of these counties.
If your Welsh ancestors settled here, and you would
like to add information about them to this site, drop me a line.
- Steve Williams
An outline of the Welsh settlers mentioned on these pages of
their first journeys in America.
Tudor, Williams, Baxter, Pryce from Pennsylvania to Iowa; Evans, Pugh,
Simon from Ohio to Iowa. Welsh immigrants, like so many others
who first came to America, stuck together.
The initial families outlined here were Welsh Congregationalists. Marriage
within the Welsh Congregational Church, especially among first generation Welsh
Americans, was strong. This was a testament to the ideology that made them "Independents" and
the desire to maintain their culture. What follows is a tree showing some interesting
marriage connections between some of the people mentioned on this site.
Richard Williams wrote a letter (in Welsh) on May 29th, 1860 to an unnamed
brother. In it he mentions another brother, William,
in America and possibly nearby, and two sisters, living in the
old country!
Read the letter >>
And now the brother, John Jones—who Richard wrote to—responds after Richard's death. Read the letter >>
Unidentified Evans or Jones?
Taken in Des Moines, Iowa. Thomas J. Evans lived here once. An Evans relation? Or perhaps this is John Jones or John Jones Jr.
More unidentified
people: Help ID Thomas Family Relatives or Friends
