Wisconsin's Welsh immigrants - some 11,200 first- and second-generation Welsh lived in Wisconsin according to the 1900 federal census - tended to establish their own, close-knit communities and retain their religion, native language, and national traditions. They traced their own family relationships, even to distant relatives, in great detail and regularly held family reunions.<BR>Davies notes that the first Welsh immigrants came to Wisconsin in the early days of statehood, establishing a reputation as hard-working, pious people who often abstained from alcohol. Most of the state's Welsh left their native land as poor tenant farmers, maintaining here the farming way of life they left in Wales, but this time on their own land. Others worked lead mines in southwestern Wisconsin.<BR>New to this edition are two collections of letters, the first documents settlement in Wisconsin, the second was written by a young Welsh corporal in the 23rd Wisconsin Infantry Regiment, Company G, to family members in Dodge County. This edition also includes additional historic photographs and an expanded index.