USA > Ohio > Franklin County > Columbus > The Welsh of Columbus, Ohio; a study in adaptation and assimilation > Part 6
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The East Side .- The East Side embraces that portion of Columbus east of North High Street, north of Broad Street and south of the Big Four tracks entering Union Station, east to the city limits; also the portion of the city south of Broad Street and east of Parsons Avenue, south and east to the city limits. This last we designate as the Southeast Cor- ner of the city.
According to these divisions the Welsh are distributed over the city as shown in table IV.
71
WELSH POPULATION STATISTICS
TABLE IV. THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE WELSH OVER THE CITY OF COLUMBUS Total
Number
From General Canvass
In Welsh C. M. Church
Part of city
addresses
South End
90
87
3
West Side
183
172
11
North End
391
377
14
East Side
664
441
223
Totals1
1,328
1,077
251
The figures in table IV. above represent addresses on cards regularly filled in the General Canvass of the city and those of the Calvinistic Methodist Church. The canvasser re- turned 1,136 record-cards, of these 59 were with addresses omitted or indistinguishable. The remaining 1,077 were scat- tered over the city as indicated in table IV. Likewise the 251 addresses of families and individuals connected with the Cal- vinistic Methodist Church are distributed over the city as per table.
Smaller groups were also formed of the several divisions. For the South Side no smaller divisions were made.2 Of the West Side two subdivisions were made, viz. (i) from the eastern boundary as given above to the Hill Top, or Midland Avenue, and (ii) from the Hill Top to the west city limits.
The North End is subdivided into two general divisions, and these two into three lesser groups respectively as follows :
(i) All the region north of the Big Four tracks entering Union Station and west of North High Street, subdivided as follows :
(a) From the Big Four tracks north to 1st. Avenue and west to the city limits.
(b) From 1st Avenue north to 11th Avenue and west to the city limits.
1 The reader must bear in mind that the figures in table IV. represent, not individuals but addresses, and that whole families have the same address in some cases, while in others the address is that of an individual.
2 See rough outline map of Columbus on next page.
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73
WELSH POPULATION STATISTICS
(c) From 11th Avenue, north and west to the city limits.
(ii) All the region north of the Big Four tracks entering Union Station, east of North High Street, east and north to the city limits, subdivided as follows :
(a) From the Big Four tracks north to 1st Avenue, east to the city limits.
(b) From 1st Avenue north to 11th and Woodward Ave- nues, and east to the city limits.
(c) From 11th and Woodward Avenues to the north and east city limits.
Of the East Side three divisions are made as follows:
(i) All the region east of North High Street and north of Broad Street as far as the Big Four tracks entering Union Station, east to Hamilton Avenue.
(ii) The region north of Broad and south of the Big Four tracks east of Hamilton Avenue to the east city limits.
(iii) All the region south of Broad Street and east of Parsons Avenue, south and east to the city limits.
For the South End no smaller divisions were made, the total there being only 90, and only 3 of the 90 are addresses of people belonging to the Calvinistic Methodist Church, and the three are addressses of individuals. Thus we see that there is not a single Welsh family south of Broad Street in the region west of Parsons Avenue identified with the Cal- vinistic Methodist Church today. This is significant in view of the fact that the early Welsh community, grouped about its church, was almost entirely south of Broad Street and west of Parsons Avenue. The Welsh are distributed according to the subgroups above for the West Side, North End and East Side as follows :
West Side total 183; (i) From eastern boundary to Hill Top 130; 9 of these are addresses of people in the Calvinistic Methodist Church. (ii) From the Hill Top to the west city limits, 53; 2 of these are in the Calvinistic Methodist Church.
For the North End, first division, (a) 80; none of which are addresses of persons in the Calvinistic Methodist
74
THE WELSH OF COLUMBUS, OHIO
Church and society. (b) 173; 5 of these are addresses of people in the Calvinistic Methodist Church and society. (c) 17; 3 of these are addresses of persons in the Calvinistic Methodist Church and society.
Second division, (a) 25; one of them is in the Calvinistic Methodist Church and society. (b) 45; 2 are addresses of persons in the Calvinistic Methodist Church and society. (c) 50; and 3 of these are addresses of persons in the Calvinistic Methodist Church and society.
Over the East Side the Welsh are distributed according to the above subdivision as follows: (i) First division, 331; 167, or a little over one-half of them, are addresses of people in the Calvinistic Methodist Church. (ii) Second division, 205; 37 of these are addresses of people in the Calvinistic Church and society. (iii) Third division, 128; 19 of them are addresses of people in the Calvinistic Methodist Church and society.
When we recall that scarcely a family in the Calvinistic Methodist Church 12 or 15 years ago lived east of Hamilton Avenue, and that now we have 56 addresses of people in that church who are living east of Hamilton and Parsons Avenues (about 50 of the 56 being addresses of families in that church, the remainder being of single individuals) one realizes how the Welsh are rapidly abandoning the old stamping ground, and the once much cherished neighborhood of Welshburg, in the immediate vicinity of the church. That there are 167 addresses of families and individuals in the immediate vicinity of the church shows that the tendency on the part of those who settled there in an early day is to retain their homes near the church. But this study of the distribution of the Welsh over the whole city proves beyond a doubt that the Welsh have scattered greatly in the last decade, or a little more.
POPULATION BY AGE CLASSES
Our data for the population by age classes is not sufficient- ly complete in the general canvass of the city, owing to the fact that the answers to the subdivisions of question 15 on the
75
WELSH POPULATION STATISTICS
record-cards were not complete enough to be relied upon for the purpose of this work. From question 15 to the end of the questions on the record-cards, let us be reminded, is what we have designated as "Incomplete Classification." For the statistics on this subject we are compelled to use the smaller group of the Calvinistic Methodist Church and society, the total of which is 672.1
In the first Age-class (those five years old and under) there are more males than females, and likewise in the second age-class, (childhood, 6 to 15). In the third age-class, Youths, there are more females than males. But for the total under the "Maturity" class the males are in excess of females by 2, the total of each being 107 males and 105 females. In each of the remaining age-classes the females are in excess as may be seen from the table. One reason for this excess of females in the maturity age-class is the large number of domestics in the roll of the church membership; there are 35 domestics, or servant girls, in the Calvinistic Methodist Church and society. Another reason is, the large percent of widows over widowers; there are 40 widows and only 17 widowers.
SEX
Of the entire 3,174 Welsh people canvassed in Columbus, 1,704 were males and 1,470 were females. 2,368 of the whole number were of pure Welsh blood and 806 were children of mixed marriages. Of the full-blood Welsh 1,945 were adults regularly classified, and of these 1,077 were males and 868 were females; 423 of the full-blood Welsh were children of Welsh parents not regularly classified, and of these 211 were males and 212 were females. Of the 806 children of mixed marriages 416 were males and 390 were females.
This does not represent accurately the percent of Welsh males and females in the city for no doubt there were many females who married males of other nationalities that were not located by the canvasser. It is likewise very probable that many Welsh domestics were not found by him.
1 See Appendix B.
76
THE WELSH OF COLUMBUS, OHIO
Statistics on the relative fecundity of full-blood and mixed marriages would be interesting and profitable if such could be ascertained. But our canvass dealt with the Welsh of Co- lumbus, and children who had grown up in homes and had left the city were not recorded, consequently our statistics are not complete enough for such analysis.
THE FOREIGN AND NATIVE BORN
The great majority of the Welsh of Columbus are native born. From the two groups regularly classiled, viz. the Cal- vinistic Methodist Church and society and the Regularly Classified in the general canvass, there are 672 and 1,273 re- spectively, making a total of 1,945. The analysis of this num- ber may be seen by consulting table VI.1
To the total of native born as indicated in Table VI. may be added the "Incomplete Classification" group which num- bers 1,229, as follows :
Children from mixed marriages 806
Children from Welsh parents. 423
The children from mixed marriages are doubtless all native born. And the children of Welsh parents in this group are in all probability very nearly all native born. Granted that this be true, our number of native born is 2,778, as over against 396 foreign born Welsh in the city. The percent would be 87.5 native born, and foreign born 12.5 percent. To be sure, if every Welsh person in the city had been canvassed, the can- vass would show more than 396 foreign born Welsh. But there would be a corresponding, or greater, increase in the total number of native born Welsh as well.
THE PLACE OF BIRTH
The birth-place of the foreign born Welsh of course is Wales. The greater part of the early settlers came from Montgomeryshire in North Wales. Thereafter a great many Southwaleans came here into the mills, and indirectly from local settlements in Ohio.
1 See Appendix C. See also Figure 2 on opposite page.
77
WELSH POPULATION STATISTICS
Figure 2
b
a
79.6
20.4
Figure 2 is a graphic representation of table VI. page 94. The segments are as follows :
Segment a. The total native born.
Segment b. The total foreign born.
78
THE WELSH OF COLUMBUS, OHIO
We cannot give the exact birth-place of the Welsh of Co- lumbus, but what is even more interesting and perhaps more important, in the study of a limited group such as we are now considering, is to know where the people were raised and what the early influences were which surrounded them up to the age of manhood or maturity. With this idea in view ques- tion 9 on the record-card was: "Where was your old home ?" By "old home" we mean the place where the person was brought up. The object in asking such a question was to find out whether the person was raised and surrounded in his youth and formative period of life by Welsh influences such as he would have if he were reared in Wales or in a rural community in this country thickly populated by Welsh people, such as Jackson and Gallia. The very next question on the record-card was "How many years have you lived in Colum- bus?" A person may have been foreign born, but owing to leaving Wales with his parents when a mere child, as many of the present Welsh of Columbus did, he would give another place as his "old home."
Our returns from the general canvass gave interesting re- sults in this line of inquiry. From the Regularly Classified group we here give 914 who filled out the "Old Home" col- umn. Others were scattering, where less than four were given for a community we did not make record of them. Likewise of those in the Calvinistic Methodist Church and society we give place names of the "Old Home" of the adults for whom cards were regularly filled out, but not for children in the families. Most of the children are raised in Columbus. Of this group we have 419.
79
WELSH POPULATION STATISTICS
TABLE VII. THE "OLD HOMES"1 OF THE WELSH OF COLUMBUS, OHIO
Total
From the
In the
Place
number.
General Canvass. C. M. Church
Columbus
447
394
53
Jackson and Gallia
396
166
230
Wales G. B.
235
168
67
Vanwert and Put-
nam Counties ..
64
12
52
Hocking Valley ..
58
56
2
Licking County ..
44
42
2
Delaware County ..
30
28
2
Pomeroy
22
21
1
Ironton
14
9
5
Allen County
11
11
0
Portsmouth
7
6
1
Martin's Ferry ...
4
0
4
Totals
1,333
914
419
.
It is very significant that out of 447 who stated that Columbus is their "old home" only 11.7 percent are in the Calvinistic Methodist Church, while out of 396 who gave Jack- son and Gallia settlement as their "old home" 58 percent are in the Calvinistic Methodist Church; and out of 64 who gave Venedocia in Vanwert County and Sugar Creek in Putnam County as their "old home" 81.2 percent are in the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Church. Of the 235 who gave Wales as their "old home" only 28.6 percent are in the Calvinistic Methodist Church. The trend of these figures prove that the supply for the Welsh churches in Columbus in the past 25
1 The reader will observe the distinction made between "Old Home," and "Foreign Born." 67 persons in the C. M. church gave Wales as their old home, while 127 of the members were foreign born. That means that 60 out of the 127 came to this country in childhood and could not call Wales their ""old home." The writer has one person distinctly in mind who has the fol- lowing record: She came from Wales with her parents when she was two years old. She lived with her parents in Jackson and Gallia until she was a young woman of 25 or more. She then moved to Columbus and is a mem- ber of the C. M. church at present. This person is recorded as follows: Foreign Born, but "Old Home," Jackson and Gallia Settlement.
80
THE WELSH OF COLUMBUS, OHIO
years or more has come from the rural districts of Ohio and not from Columbus itself nor from Wales.
CONCLUSION
The Welsh church in the past has lost many of its children because of refusing to adapt itself to their need through its too great allegiance to the Welsh language. This is made clear in the fact that only 53 out of 447 Welsh people who give Columbus as their "old home" are in the Calvinistic Methodist Church. Only 29 persons in the Calvinistic Metho- dist Church are the direct descendants of the old Welsh families of Columbus, but there are scores of them in the Eng- lish churches of the city. They are lost to the Welsh church through lack of adaptation on the part of the church, and be- cause of manifold other influences they are gradually being assimilated into the American population of the city.
In very recent years things have changed. The Welsh church is now adapting itself to its children, and they are being held to the Welsh church even though they are being assimilated otherwise into the American population of Colum- bus. All of which means that the Welsh church of the city is rapidly coming to recognize the fact that it must change in order to minister to its own people.
CHAPTER V.
WELSH SOCIAL STATISTICS General Statement
The Welsh people of Columbus are no longer a small group located in one particular part of the city with immediate com- munity interests and influenced more or less exclusively by their own local group. They are scattered all over the city and are influenced by environments other than Welsh in their respective neighborhoods. On the other hand they are bound together, as Welsh people, by ties common to themselves and to this extent they are more or less independent of their re- spective localities in their interests. The chief bonds here are the literary and improvement societies, the Welsh language, and the Welsh church.
With this brief introductory statement, let us give our attention to the following topics for discussion in this chapter on Social Statistics: Marriage and Conjugal Relation ; Families, Dwellings, and Residence districts; Occupation and Business Relations; Education; Literary and Improvement Societies; Morality and Temperance; Politics; Church Mem- bership.
MARRIAGE AND CONJUGAL RELATION
Our study of marriage and conjugal relation among the Welsh of Columbus is concerned chiefly with an investigation of the extent to which the Welsh people tend to cling together through marriage, by an endeavor to ascertain the relative number of Welsh who marry within their own nationality and the number who intermarry with persons of other nationali- ties.
At one time it was looked upon with great disfavor and even as a disgrace for a Welsh person to marry outside of his own nationality. No matter how respectable an American, or a person of any other nationality, might be, to marry him was
82
THE WELSH OF COLUMBUS, OHIO
to "lose class" to a great extent in Welsh society. Perhaps the chief cause underlying this prejudice was the question of the Welsh language and church. For it was a foregone con- clusion that the children brought up in a home from such a union would not be taught the Welsh language, and not know- ing the Welsh language they could not enjoy the full benefit of religious instruction in the Welsh church. Everything in the Welsh church a decade and more ago was carried on in the Welsh language.
There was a church rule, also, which was in force about 25 years ago which caused much discomfort to the young Welsh person who was a member of the church and who fell in love with a person who was not a member of the church, whether that person was Welsh or of some other nationalty. The law, or rule, was called "Y Seithfed Rheol." Translated it means "The Seventh Rule." The Seventh Rule was based on the words of Saint Paul in II. Corinthians 6:14, which read as follows : "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbe- lievers." Based upon these words, The Seventh Rule was made to the effect that no member of the church should mar- ry a person outside of the church. For a short time this rule held sway and was rigidly enforced. Church members who married non-church members were churched. There is a deeper law, however, which governs society, and such a rule of the church could not last long and like many other drastic measures it spent itself and today it is never heard of in the Welsh church.
INTERMARRIAGE
"There are many influences tending to merge the foreign born population with the native born in the United States. The most natural and effective way of welding diverse nation- alities or races into one nation is by intermarriages between foreigners and natives of different nationalities. Thereby is brought about a mixture of blood and community of customs and habits of life which efface any previous differences."1
1 See "Statistics and Sociology" p. 304.
83
WELSH SOCIAL STATISTICS
Professor Mayo-Smith further states, however, that "we shall not be able to trace this statistically for the statistics of mar- riage in the United Staes are neiher accurate nor complete, and do not give the nationality of the bride and groom."
In our study of the Welsh of Columbus we have endeav- ored to do this very thing. We have endeavored to trace the extent to which the Welsh cling together in their marriage relations, and, on the other hand, we have sought to know how far amalgamation has gone on through intermarriage with people of other nationalities. It was not possible for us to ascertain from the results of our canvass whether the people of other nationalities, such as Irish and Germans with whom the Welsh intermarried, were foreign or native born.
The result of our inquiry along this line is given in three tables, viz. VIII., IX. and X. These tables are compiled from the returns of our general canvass of the city, the Calvinistic Methodist Church not being considered in these tables.1
Table VIII. shows, (i) the total number of marriages; (ii) the number of marriages between Welsh persons; and (iii) the number of mixed marriages. Table IX. shows the number of mixed marriages between Welsh males and females of other nationalities, and the nationalities into which they have mar- ried; and Table X. does the same for Welsh females who have married males of other nationalities.
The total number of marriages recorded in this canvass, as indicated by the above mentioned tables, is 653. Of this total 525, or 80.4 percent, are mixed marriages; while only 19.6 percent are marriages between Welsh persons.2 The per- centages for the three largest groups, viz. the foreign born Welsh, the native born of foreign parents, and the native born of native parents, run as follows: Total number of marriages on the part of foreign born Welsh, 108; percent of these be- tween Welsh persons, 38.8 percent of marriages between per- sons one of whom was Welsh and the other of some other nationality, 61.2. The total number of marriages on the part
1 See Appendix D.
2 See Figure 3 on page 84.
84
THE WELSH OF COLUMBUS, OHIO
Figure 3
৳
a
80.4
19.6
Figure 3 is a graphic representation of Table VIII., ap- pendix D. The segments are as follows:
Segment a. Total number of mixed marriages. Segment b. Total marriages between Welsh persons.
85
WELSH SOCIAL STATISTICS
of native born of foreign parents, 185; percent of these be- tween Welsh persons, 10.8; percent of marriages between per- sons one of whom was Welsh and the other of some other nationality, 89.2. Total number of marriages on the part of native born of native parents 212; percent of these between Welsh persons, 6.1; percent of marriages between persons one of whom was Welsh and the other of some other national- ity, 93.9.2
It is evident that the tendency to intermarry with persons of other nationalities increases as we get farther away from the foreign born Welsh group. When we realize that the largest group in the three mentioned above is the native born of native parents, viz. 212, and that only 6.1 of these married Welsh with Welsh, it shows a condition of rapid assimilation on the part of the Welsh of Columbus outside of the Calvin- istic Methodist Church.
In the Calvinistic Methodist Chuch there are 25 mixed marriages or marriages between Welsh persons and persons of other nationalities. They run as follows: Foreign born Welsh with persons of other nationalities, 4; native born Welsh of foreign parents with persons of other nationalities, 11; Native born having father foreign and mother native, 4; Native born having father native and mother foreign, 1; Native born of native parents, 5. Almost one-half of this group of mixed marriages are from the native born of foreign parents class, or, counting those one of whose parents is for- eign and the other native, more than one-half, viz. 15 out of 25, as over against 5 of the native born of native parents class. The reason for this doubtless is that the Welsh of a marriage- able age in the Welsh church for some time past have been the native born of foreign parents group, while many of the native born of native parents who intermarried left the Welsh church with their partners and joined an English church, consequent- ly there is more intermarriage on the part of the native born of foreign parents class than any other in the Welsh church
2 See Figure 4 on page 86 and 87.
86
THE WELSH OF COLUMBUS, OHIO
Figure 4
Figure 4 is in three parts :-
1. The marriages of foreign born Welsh.
2. The marriages of the native born of foreign parents.
3. The marriages of the native born of native parents.
The size of the circles represents the relative number of marriages in each group. The segments "a" and "b" in each circle represent :
a. The total number of mixed marriages.
b. The total number of marriages between Welsh persons.
b
1.
a
38.8
01.2
100.0
Total number of marriages on the part of foreign born Welsh represented in the above circle is 108.
b
2.
&
10.8
89.2
100.0
Total number of marriages on the part of native born of foreign parents represented in the above circle is 185.
b
3.
a
6./
93.9
100.0
Total number of marriages on the part of native born Welsh having native parents represented in the above circle is 212.
88
THE WELSH OF COLUMBUS, OHIO
at present. Never before was there as large a number of mixed marriages in the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Church in Columbus.
Tables IX. and X. show the relative number of males and females in each group of mixed marriages, giving also the nationalities into which they married. From a comparison of the two tables it appears that a much larger percent of males have intermarried with other nationalities than of females. The reason for this, very largely no doubt, is our inability to locate the females who have married males of other nationalities. So while the numbers here given are 399 Welsh males who have married females of other nationalities, 126 Welsh females who have married males of other nationali- ties, or 74 and 26 percent respectively, it cannot be claimed to represent the situation accurately, for the Welsh females have perhaps intermarried with other nationalities quite as much as the Welsh males have. The percentage of Welsh males and Welsh females in the Calvinistic Methodist Church and society who have intermarried with other nationalities points in this direction, as well as general observation on the part of the writer. Of the 25 mixed marriages in the Calvin- istic Methodist Church, 16 were marriages between Welsh fe- males and males of other nationalities, and 9 were between Welsh males and females of other nationalities. Moreover, out of 17 marriages solomnized by the writer as pastor of the Calvinistic Methodist Church in three years time, marriages contracted between persons one of whom at least was a member of his church, 9 were between Welsh persons, and 8 were be- tween persons one of whom was Welsh and the other of some other nationality. Of the 8 mixed marriages, 7 were between Welsh females and males of some other nationality, and only one was on the part of a Welsh male with a female of another nationality. Judging from this very limited group, the tend- ency to intermarry with other nationalities is greater among Welsh females than Welsh males. But this may be an ex- ceptional group in this respect; at any rate it is too limited to give any definite conclusions.
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