Welsh immigrants, like the Irish, were the most easily identifiable British immigrant group in Wisconsin. The Welsh made a conscious effort to settle in rural enclaves apart from other English and American settlers. Welsh immigration occurred primarily between 1840 and 1890 with the peak years between 1850 and 1860. The earliest known Welsh settlers in Wisconsin arrived in Genessee in Waukesha county in 1840. Most Welsh became farmers and settled in the southeastern counties. The largest groupings were in the eastern half of Columbia county, western Dodge county, and southern Green Lake and Marquette counties. – wisconsinhistory.org

I find it interesting and just a bit coincidental that large numbers of people from Cornwall and Wales came to our part of Wisconsin. Even my own heritage needs only go back a couple generations to legendarily strong English accents. Through kayaking we seem to be circling a touchstone of sorts. Imagine, by 1850 over 7000 Welsh minors alone were employed in southern Wisconsin!

The old Welsh Church Cemetery is just a few miles down the road from my home in Columbia County. It was dedicated in 1856 on the site of the original Welsh community church. These days the log church is long gone. There are a few newer memorials among the many fallen and fading stones. Many of the names of these early settlers to our area are wearing away or slipping under the sod. Odd day. Instead of being out shopping on “black friday” as is the way with our modern culture, we found ourselves on a warm breezy afternoon pulling the grass back from long forgotten stones sinking below the earth. We came to explore our past and found ourselves feeling a bit sad. Not so much for those who died so long ago, but for their wives, husbands and children who many years ago lovingly created these memorials, many scribed in a language we could never hope to read, to keep the memory of their loved ones alive. Now on a November day in 2006 strangers in time are pulling back the grass before even their stone memorials are lost forever. One day we will be gone. I wonder who will mind their memory then?