EIF-B_Where We Come From

and vegetables called lobsgows, cookies
and cakes. Traditional songs ring out, and
people meet new friends or reconnect with
old ones.
Welsh immigrants came to the Eastern
Iowa area in the early to mid-1800s, often
driven by hunger, a desire for freedom of
religion and a search for economic opportunities.
In Louisa County, they populated
the area north and south of Long Creek,
between Cotter and Wyman. Many of the
farms are still owned and operated by their
descendants.
Patterson’s ancestors – the Davis, Evans,
Griffith, and Reese families – began
immigrating to the area in 1838. While her
family and others became farmers, some
people took up trades or opened businesses
eventually.
“People came from Wales for different
reasons. One of the big ones was similar to
the potato famine in Ireland. It was a devastating
time in Wales in terms of food and
jobs. Mining was a popular occupation, and
WHERE WE COME FROM
the mining companies were closing down,”
she said.
“People would have to make a decision –
if I’m not going to be able to feed my family,
I’m going to have to do something,”
she said. That something was leaving their
homeland for greener pastures.
“In Wales they have what they call hill
farmers. It’s a very hilly country. Some of
them came here with farming experience,
and some came with no experience. The
ones with experience would teach the
newcomers,” Patterson said. “There was no
A Melting Pot
In 1850, some 192,214 people
lived in Iowa with nearly 90 percent
of the population comprised of
settlers from Ohio, Indiana and
Pennsylvania. About 21,000 people
living in Iowa were immigrants
from another country. The number
of immigrants peaked at 324,669 in
1890, as settlers had families and
their children were born in the United
States. In 1890, the top 10 countries
that had the most immigrants
in Iowa were German (127,246),
Sweden (30,276), Ireland (27,353),
Norway (27,078), England
(26,205), Denmark (15,519),
Canada (17,465), Austria (13,118),
Bohemia, which is now the Czech
Republic and Slovakia (10,928),
and the Netherlands (7,941).
Source: State Historical Society of Iowa,
U.S. census reports and “History of
Iowa” by Dorothy Schwieder.
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