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You can track the majority immigration rates pretty well through places like the major US immigration centers such as Ellis Island or SF, and the rates of outgoing immigration from countries such as Wales, Ireland, and Scotland. Chicago and Illinois heritage systems such as Soundex gives you a pretty good idea of the national origin of many people who went to the midwest, also. Most older Census records, if they exist, tell national origin info.
Hugh Rodham, Hillary's Welsh dad, was from Scranton. Also lots of Welsh in the mining areas of MI's Upper Penninsula and MN's iron ranges. Also lots in SE Iowa but those guys are farmers, not miners.
I am a quarter Welsh, and my grandmother's family came from the Wilkes-Barre and Nanticoke areas of Pennsylvania. Northeastern PA and central New York seem to have high concentrations of Welsh ancestry.
Wikipedia says there are 1.8 million reporting Welsh ancestryin the US. It also says "Today about 350,365 Canadians identify themselves as having some Welsh descent, with 28,445 of these identifying as exclusively Welsh."
Also lots in SE Iowa but those guys are farmers, not miners.
True, but they were miners as well. Iowa isn't a big coal state anymore, although it used to be. The quality of the coal isn't so hot, but there is/was a lot of it. Parts of the South Side of Des Moines were coal mines and a good portion of the people who settled there were mining folks (Italians, Croatians, Welsh, etc). I recall seeing your SN around, but I don't remember if you're from Iowa or not. If you are, there's actually a pretty cool exhibit at the state historical building about coal mining in the area.
To answer the original question, +1 on Welsh-Americans. My Dad's side is Welsh and I believe his grandpa came here as a miner. I'm a Llewellyn (although it's spelled differently... They changed the spelling when my Grandpa went into the Army. I don't think he was literate enough to know). Several years ago my dad was in Florida on union business and there was a rugby tournament. He ended up in the same bar as the Welsh rugby team. When they found out he was a Llewellyn, the drinks were on them all night.
I hope to visit Wales with in the next year or so. I'm very proud of that part of my heritage and it would be nice to see the "land of my fathers".
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