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Welsh Americans have shaped the history of the United States from its earliest days.

Now, they face the challenge of deciding how to vote at a time when the country is fiercely divided.

Here, Welsh Americans from across this epic land share their thoughts about Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump and why they cherish their links back to Wales.

Some have already cast their votes and others will file into voting booths on election day. All have keen hopes and fears for the future of United States.

Paul F Dunn, from Fremont, California

This 56 year-old retired engineer worked in research and development for Apple for 18 years.

He was born and raised in Pembroke Dock and sent to California by a British company at the age of 25 for six weeks.

“While in California I met a beautiful girl who is now my wife of 28 years,” he said.

He regularly returns to Wales, where his mother still lives in Pembroke Dock, and his favourite places are the Pembrokeshire coastline and Snowdonia.

Describing his fears for the States, he said: “America is becoming more and more politically polarised. It’s actually very scary how divisive America is these days – and it’s only getting worse.”

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He added: “I would never vote for Trump. A Trump presidency would be a catastrophe as he is ignorant on many important national and international issues...

“Clinton is very experienced. She might well be one of the most qualified candidates ever for the role as president.”

Ioan Madoc Francis from Fayetteville, Arkansas

The 33-year-old works in retail at Lowe’s Home Centre and his father comes from Brynaman. The family moved to Los Angeles in 1984.

He said: “I am very proud of my roots and I make sure to educate my fellow Americans on Wales, and I never forget the sacrifices that we Welsh made when we left our beloved country for better opportunities across the pond.

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“My greatest hope for these United States, is that we focus on strengthening our infrastructure and creating better paying jobs and help the less fortunate. But my fear is that the slow decline of opportunity that my generation has been witnessing will continue.

“A Trump Presidency scares me greatly... The USA was founded on immigration...

“I voted for Hillary Clinton, we need a woman to be President. She is proud of her Welsh heritage, just like I am.

“She would honour the values that we hold dear in the USA, like immigration and old King Hywel Dda’s ‘fair play’”.

Marion Ernst, from St Louis, Missouri

Her great-great-great-grandfather Thomas Lewis came to the United States in 1850 from Llanarth in Ceredigion. His wife and their two youngest children died “before their ship had even docked in New Orleans”.

She said: “My family came here for religious freedom and opportunity and I am proud to be an American. I cherish my freedom.”

Ms Ernst has worked as a writer/editor in the environmental field for more than 35 years and is backing Trump.

“I am a staunch Donald Trump supporter and have been from the beginning,” she said. “He has integrity and is getting my vote. “I have donated money (whenever and as much as possible) to Donald Trump because he will make an outstanding president.”

It is “too bad”, she added, that Clinton has Welsh roots.

Lisa Mills Walters, from Ypsilanti, Michigan

This 61-year-old retired English teacher’s paternal grandfather was born in Tonypandy and her grandmother came from Treharris. Together with their four children they arrived in the States in 1911.

She said: “I have visited Wales twice thus far and have not been to a place there that I didn’t love, but Cardiff is my favourite place in the world. It’s a vibrant, beautiful, walkable, university town.

“Being an English teacher, I also love Hay-on-Wye... I of course love the small mining towns in the Merthyr Tydfil area where my ancestors lived.”

On the election, she said: “My greatest hope is that Hillary Clinton will be elected and will continue the positive leadership of Barack Obama. I hope that the US will maintain positive relations with other countries and will continue to support human rights everywhere.

“I believe that our most important issues are education, climate change, and natural preservation. My greatest fear is that Trump will be elected, that many of our rights will be stripped from us, and that ignorance will be celebrated.”

Praising Clinton, she said: “I have long been a Hillary supporter. I even met and talked to her when she was touring after the publication of her memoirs.

“Hillary is smart, ambitious, gutsy, and doesn’t let anyone push her around. The fact that she is a woman is just the icing on the cake.”

Suzie Morris from Asheville, North Carolina

Ms Morris, 63, aspires to one day live in Snowdonia, where her family come from.

She has grave fears for what a Trump victory would mean for America.

“It will absolutely change the US and not for the better,” she said. “His fearmongering will turn this country into the Wild West again, no one would be safe. I have already voted and it wasn’t for him.”

But she finds the thought of a Clinton presidency much more exciting.

“Having a woman in the White House would be quite incredible,” she said. “The men have been in control for well over 200 years and look what they’ve done.

“All the rich white men control the country and I feel a woman would equalise things a bit.”

Katherine Powell from San Francisco, California

Ms Powell was an English professor for more than 20 years and for the past six has taught homeless adults who hope to complete their secondary education.

Her Welsh ancestors came to America “before the Revolution” and were “farmers, burgesses, and clergy”. She loves the Gower and the Brecon Beacons but she says St Davids “moves my soul”.

A world without Dylan Thomas’ poetry, the 54 year-old said, would be “unthinkably bleak”.

“Welsh Americans,” she claimed, “have an interesting perspective in that, as Northern Europeans, we’re part of the traditionally hegemonic group in the States, but our ancestors were invaded by the Saxons and oppressed by the Anglo Saxons, with the usual tactics of economic manipulation, suppression of language and culture”.

A Trump presidency, she reckons, would “threaten to greatly diminish our society” but the “backlash would bring out some important voices for peace and mutual respect”.

She added: “A Clinton presidency will be interesting. I’m voting for Clinton because from what I know of her career; she supports and works for the values of the Democratic Party, which champion the common good. She’s also a savvy politician, so she’s likely to be moderate when many of us would like to see more progressive changes.

“I think that under a Clinton presidency, the nation will see further progress in healthcare, education, and distribution of wealth.”

Nicole Williams, from Georgia

The 41 year-old’s family left Glamorgan in the 18th century and then “settled in Appalachia where they remained for 200 years”.

When asked what it means to be a Welsh-American today, this John Cale fan said: “It’s being a hard working person, respecting your family and your roots/ancestry, and always treating your fellow human beings with respect and graciousness.”

On how a Trump presidency would change the US, she said: “I had hoped for something better out of him, as I don’t particularly like Clinton. However, he has shown a lack of intelligence and critical thought.

“I fear for America’s reputation abroad and I fear for various minorities, industry, etc.”

Ms Williams has voted for Clinton but expects little change, saying: “You would see more gridlock between the President and Congress, however this might be a good thing as it doesn’t give a ‘blank cheque’ to any one party’s agenda. We need to learn to cooperate and compromise again.”

Robert Carlson from Midland, Michigan

Mr Carlson, 72, was born in Reynoldston in the Gower. His father was an American GI who was stationed in Wales during World War II.

He said: “After the war, my Welsh mother packed up and moved to the US along with hundreds of other American war brides and crossed the sea to be with their new husbands...

“I have been to Wales a long time ago and intend to return.”

He describes Welsh singer Katherine Jenkins as “the epitome of grace and elegance”.

Setting out his concerns about the US, he said: “Globalism is creating the loss of the nation-state. For the same reason the Welsh have been trying to retain their cultural identity and have been for Brexit, many of us here in the US reject the globalism being forced on us by the leftists.”

He added: “Barack Obama has been the most divisive and ignorant President in the history of the US. His destruction and dismantling of many of the freedoms that existed have been incalculable...

“I am against the state controlling people and want as little government as possible. For that reason I support Trump for president in spite of his horrific personal characteristics and because Clinton has lied so much and so often; I really don’t know what to believe as her track record is not only dismally full of failures and disappointments, but she has manipulated outside the realm of decency.”

Erik Alsgaard from Columbia, Maryland

The 57 year-old ordained elder in the United Methodist Church describes himself as “half-Welsh” because his mother, who was born Mair Eluned Godwin, comes from Wales.

He said: “She’s 84 and will turn 85 on Christmas Eve (thus her name, Mair). She still plays the organ at church, drives my father to all his medical appointments – and to church – and is sharp as a tack.”

Mr Alsgaard proposed to his wife, Sheila, at Patricio in the Brecon Beacons.

He said: “My greatest fear, to put it bluntly, is that Donald Trump will be elected. He is a bully and totally unsuited, in my humble opinion, to be president. My wife and I had the honour of attending the second Presidential Debate, in St Louis, in person.

“Hearing the vitriol that pours forth from that man makes me sick. How anyone who has a mother/daughter/grandmother/aunt and can still vote for him is beyond me.

“I voted today for Hillary Clinton for several reasons. The first of which is that she’s totally qualified: former First Lady, Secretary of State, Senator – my goodness, what else do you have to do to be elected? Clinton is also a United Methodist, born and bred.

“I’m United Methodist, not by birth but by choice. I’ve interviewed Mr. Clinton two or three times; I’ve done stories on her for my ministry; I know her strong Methodist upbringing.”

Phil Wyman, from Salem, Massachusetts

Clinton’s Welsh ancestry will not make this 57-year-old pastor more likely to vote for her.

“Heck no,” he said. “Who would ever know there was a Welsh bone in her body?

“She ain’t no Leanne Wood.”

If Trump is elected, he said, “things would get terribly messy, but I don’t think it would be [the] apocalypse”.

His real hope is that the Republican-Democrat dominance of US politics comes to an end.

He traces his roots back to Philip Jones, who came to America as an indentured servant in the 1600s.

Caernarfon is his favourite place in Wales, he has learned Welsh to a conversational level and he spends “a little more than a month in Wales each year”.

Christine Bagshaw McCormick, from Winston Salem, North Carolina

This artist’s parents were born in Port Talbot and Cwmavon and she spent childhood holidays in Wales.

Her Welsh roots, she said, helped give her an “understanding of the struggle of the working man”, plus a “love for sports, poetry and the arts”.

She cites a “return to racism and class struggles” as her greatest fear for the States, and she would “rather vote for the devil” than back Trump in the election.

Instead, she will vote for Clinton “with reservations” because there is “no viable alternative”.