Welsh Journals

Welsh emigrant population remains something of a mystery, while their demographic features have been all but ignored. Certainly, the main obstacle to answering these fundamental questions has been the notorious lack of adequate American and British statistics. Not until 1875 and 1908 did the American and British officials, respectively, begin to differentiate between Welsh and English migrants.? Furthermore, compared to the statistics for continental migration, those for the British generally reveal little about the migrants' backgrounds and motivations. Something can be learned of the Welsh by turning to the American passenger lists (or 'ship lists'), which since 1820 all ships' captains were required by law to submit to the collector of customs at the American port of arrival.9 These lists, their accuracy sworn to by the ships' captains, record each passenger's name, sex, age, family relationship, occupation, nationality, and country of destination. Some captains also recorded the emigrants' city or county of last residence and city or state of intended destination. Information about the ships themselves is recorded at the top of each list. For the study of Welsh migration, these lists pose two problems. As with the published statistics, some of the lists lump the Welsh with the English and Scots under the general term 'British'. Also, even with the aid of the computer, the task of listing and coding the voluminous data can be overwhelming. These problems can be overcome, however, by utilizing sampling methods which eliminate the lists that are imprecise and reduce the over-abundant data. The result is a reliable one-in-ten sample of all the lists for ships carrying six or more British immigrants to American ports. 10 7 For a good overview of the available Welsh migration statistics, see David Williams, 'Some figures relating to Emigration from Wales', Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies, Vol. 7 (May 1935), pp. 396-415. See also Thomas, 'Wales and the Atlantic Economy'. 8 For a convenient summary of the shortcomings of British statistics, see Jones, 'The Background to Emigration from Great Britain', pp. 21-25. 9 Other historical works based on these ship lists include Joel Mokyr, Why Ireland Starved: a Quantitative and Analytical History of the Irish Economy, 1780-1850 (London, 1983); David Jeremy, Transatlantic Industrial Revolution: The Diffusion of Technologies Between Britain and America, 1790-1830s (Oxford, 1981); R. P. Swierenga, 'Dutch Immigrant Demography, 1820-1880', Journal of Family History, Vol. 5 (1980), pp. 390-405; C. J. Erickson, 'Who Were the English and Scots Immigrants to the United States in the late-Nineteenth Century?', in D. V. Glass and R. Revelle (eds.), Population and Social Change (New York, 1972), pp. 347-81; idem, 'Emigration from the British Isles to the U.S.A. in 1831', Population Studies, Vol. 35 (July 1981), pp. 175-97. 10 The method used here is based on a study conducted by Professor Charlotte Erickson that determined the best sampling methods for the study of emigration from the United Kingdom. See Erickson, 'The Uses of Passenger Lists for the Study of British and Irish Emigration', in I. Glazier and L. De Rosa (eds.), Migration across TIme and Nations: Population Mobility in Historical Contexts (New York, 1986), PP- 318-35. Statistical tests on four variables indicate that the sample accurately reflects the entire body of ship lists for 1851. For complete details, see W. Van Vugt, 'British Emigration during the early 1850s, with Special Reference to Emigration to the U.S.A.' (unpublished University of London Ph.D. Thesis, 1986), Appendix A (hereafter 'British Emigation').