It is said that 20 per cent of the Pilgrim Fathers of America were Welsh and that almost 50 per cent of the signatories to the American Declaration of Independence were also Welsh or of Welsh heritage.
The author of the Declaration of Independence, President Thomas Jefferson, was among those of Welsh descent, along with eight other American presidents.
It is widely suggested that the family of his father, Peter, were originally from Snowdonia. He was the first of the Virginia Jeffersons and tilled a tobacco and wheat plantation with the help of 30 slaves. He was a justice of the peace, a vestryman of his parish and a member of the colonial legislature.
Peter married Jane Randolph in 1738. Their only son, Thomas, was born on April 13, 1743 and grew up on the family plantation at Shadwell in Albermarle County, Virginia. In 1757, when Thomas was only 14, his father died, leaving him heir to an enormous estate. He left specific instructions that Thomas should continue his education and he attended the college of William and Mary, also founded by Americans of Welsh descent.
On January 1, 1772 Jefferson married Martha Wayles Skelton and they had six children at their mountain home, Monticello, in Charlottesville, Virginia.
A lawyer by profession, Jefferson's public life began in 1769, when he took his seat as a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, alongside George Washington.
In January 1779, the Virginia legislature elected Jefferson governor of the state and in 1800 Jefferson ran for president, won and served two distinguished terms.
He died on July 4, 1826, on the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
It is said that Thomas Jefferson could speak six languages, including Welsh. There is an inscription halfway up the steps of the Washington Monument which reads Fy iaith, fy ngwlad, fy nghenedl Cymru - Cymru am byth! ("My language, my land, my nation of Wales - Wales for ever!").
In Llanberis car park, beside the lake, there is a plaque which commemorates Jefferson's family ties with the area.
However local historian Ken Jones suggests that the Llanberis connection comes from Jefferson's mother, whose family, originally from Glyn Ceiriog, near Llangollen, apparently lived in a house called 'Llanberis' in Norwich. He says the connection between Jefferson and the village was thus created, and the plaque erected without any real evidence of actual ties between Jefferson and the area.
your comments
Nigel Fletcher-Jones, Boston, MA
The family tradition Jefferson mentions in his autobiography - that his father's family came from Wales - is good enough for me. It would be a rather peculiar and specific thing to invent at the time. Jefferson always played down his father's humble origins in favor of the Randolphs' more prestigious ones. I suspect that if he was aware of an English background on both sides of his family, he would have made a point of that. The fact is probably that his father's family were poor Welsh immigrants (servants or laborers perhaps) to Virgina - possibly as early as 1609.The subsequent efforts to try and demonstrate an English gentry origin for his father's family seem to me to smack of "Welsh not being quite good enough" given his historical prestige.I have seen it written several times that Jefferson spoke Welsh, but I don't know of any evidence for this (though I'm happy to be corrected). He seems to have owned a Welsh dictionary, possibly because of the family tradition, but there's no evidence I know of that he did more than dabble in the language.
Mon Apr 27 10:57:24 2009
Paula Davies, Toronto Canada, Abertrawe
I second Richard ap' lewis ap' davies from abertawe's view that we Welsh are airbrushed out of everything. Do we do it to ourselves however? Being a very self deprecating Nation. I think we are a gregarious and proud nation, but we don't want all the hype and attention.
Wed Jan 21 09:24:18 2009
P Thomsen
I think Thomas Jefferson's father was Thomas Wynne, born 1680 and died 1754, having lived in Wales, married to Mary Branch and they had eight children naming them Winn and Jefferson. The Wynne-Wynn-Winn go back a long way in Wales. I recently spent a night in the Gwydir Castle in Wales which is in my family line five generations back.
Mon Nov 3 10:51:29 2008
Mary, from Florida
Proud to be American of Welsh descent. My mother's Maddox line in the USA began with Samuel Maddox, who immigrated from Wales to Maryland, USA, in the middle 1600s, married Ann Notley. We have a very active Maddox DNA web site.I am a 1st cousin to Pres. Thomas Jefferson, through my grandmother, Martha Jefferson Goode, who was the sister of Peter Jefferson.
Thu Oct 11 09:23:43 2007
Herb Barger, Ft. Washington, Maryland
As Jefferson Family Historian, assistant to Dr. Foster with the Jefferson-Hemings DNA Study and founder of the Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society (www.tjheritage.org)I wish to offer the following: My research goes back to Pettistree, Suffolk County, England, Antigua, West Indies to USA and the name was spelled, Jeaffreson. I agree with an earlier poster that the Wales connection is through Thomas Jefferson's mother, Jane Randolph. I have not researched the Randolph family in Wales as yet. www.angelfire.com/va/TJTruth
Mon Jul 9 10:00:09 2007
Richard ap' lewis ap' davies from abertawe
I sometimes can't understand why the welsh contribution to the founding of america is virtually unknown to most americans, indeed wales itself. With so many US presidents coming from welsh ancestry. The most important, the founding father himself (thomas jefferson), of course writer of the US constitution. I'm extremely puzzled that there is no mention of his welsh conections in US history books. Why is this? If he were Jewish, Irish, English or of Italian decent there would be countless movies, books and documentaries by now. Why are we the welsh constantly air-brushed out of history?
Thu Apr 12 10:12:06 2007
James Jefferson from Tennessee
I am trying to see if the claim that the president's family came from the Pettistree, Suffolk family of Jeaffresons is valid. I can find no proof that they came to Virginia from Antigua.. Did this family come from Wales? I know Peter Jefferson's plantation was named Snowden, but apparently Pres Jefferson did not know why?
Peter was not the first of the Virginia Jeffersons. Peter's grandfather Thomas came to VA before 1677
Thu Aug 3 13:58:12 2006
SP, Gwynedd
Some of the settlers in America were of Welsh descent because of the Quakers (the Christian sect), who were quite strong in Meirionydd at one time. To avoid being persecuted by the royals folowing the civil war in England, many left with their English leader, William Penn and set sail for the region of the US that is now called Pennsylvania.
Sun Jan 1 23:50:27 2006
William Lewellen from Virginia, USA
I had never known that such a large percentage of the signatories to the American Declaration of Independence were of Welsh decent. Very cool. I wonder if there is any way to see Star Spangled Dragon here.
Sat Dec 10 05:56:39 2005
Maggie Pugh, Pennsylvania
I had the privilege of spending the Fourth of July 1995 at the car park in Llanberis looking at the monument. Our friend "Aunt Elizabeth" -a native of Llanberis -was so proud to show it to us. If it wasn't for her, we would have never known that 9 Rallt Goch (my Hen Taid's address) had been re-numbered but still there thus providing us with a true Welsh/American connection. A highlight of my life.
Sat Dec 3 03:34:42 2005
Martin Jefferson
I am a descendant of Samual Jefferson from Wales. From the research I family members have done, Samual Jefferson is the ancestor of Pres. Thomas Jefferson.
Thu Nov 10 03:33:17 2005
Can you shed any more light on the Jefferson link with Llanberis?
In Star Spangled Dragon, shown on BBC1, John Humphrys looked at the impact of the Welsh on the United States.
