Originally published in the Voice of the Valley, February 23, 2010
By Bill Kombol
‘Welsh’ Bill Morris, Jackie Warren, and Jim Thomas (left to right) are shown here in Palmer, Washington, in the early 1940s. Both coal miners came to the U.S. from Wales in 1927-28 to work at the Durham mine of the Morris Brothers Coal Mining Company. Both were immigrants sponsored by their American relative, George Morris.
George was a Welsh immigrant who came to America in 1880, eventually establishing his family and children as successful coal miners and livery stable owners in the mining town of Wilkeson. George Morris was later part-owner of the Durham coal mine.
Welsh immigration to the U.S. began in earnest in 1850s, with a peak decade during the 1890 when over 100,000 arrived. The 1920s saw continued Welsh immigration as coal mining in Wales fell at the conclusion of World War I.
In 1934, another Welsh nephew of George Morris told how the slump of 1921 “had washed out all my hopes.” That Welsh coal miner, John H. Williams from Abertillery continued, “I have been really out of work for 11 of 13 years, and most of our pits here look derelict. Times are really bad; men and women who had a few pounds are now destitute and in debt.”
‘Welsh’ Bill Morris, as he was called to distinguish him from an American cousin of the same name, had a common-law marriage with Olive (Carmichael) Walker and helped raise her two children, Don Walker and Lorraine (Walker) Winsor. Jim Thomas eventually left coal mining and moved to Seattle where he raised his second generation Welsh children.
Jackie Warren was a nephew to Olive Carmichael of Nanaimo, Canada, where he lives today.
Photo courtesy of Lorraine Winsor.
How did other people know about coming to Black Diamond in the early 1900s to work in the mines? My grandfather Mathias Podpecnik [Matt Petchnick] came here in 1901 from Austria.
Althea Petchnick Craig
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Often times recently arrived immigrants would write letters to their family telling of the jobs and opportunities they were experiencing. This word-of-mouth system worked for both the coal company and the immigrant. When other family members came, they could initially live with relatives until they established themselves and moved to a hotel or got their own home.
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