Want the latest news from Swansea sent straight to your inbox? Don't miss anything from your city! Sign up for regular updates Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

They were the frontiersmen, gunslingers and others who inhabited America’s Wild West – but many of the United States’ most famous sons can trace their ancestors back to Wales, a new book claims.

Written by US-based author, poet and illustrator Lorin Morgan-Richards, Welsh in the Old West captures the hardships and legendary accomplishments of more than 30 people from Wales or with Welsh descendants who helped shape the American West.

The family of Jesse James, who became the “Robin Hood of the West”, originated from Pembrokeshire with his ancestor John James sailing from Wales in the early 1700s to Pennsylvania.

Death at the Alamo

James, who grew up in Missouri, and his brother Frank served as guerilla soldiers in the Confederate Army before embarking on lives as bank and train robbers in the Old West after the James farm was brutally attacked by Union soldiers.

The James brothers led the James-Younger gang and when gang member Robert Ford killed Jesse James in 1882 James became a legendary figure.

James “Jim” Bowie was born in Logan County, Kentucky, in 1796 to parents Reason Bowie (of Scottish descent) and Elve ap-Catesby Jones, the daughter of a Welsh immigrant.

Bowie became a pioneer who played a prominent role in the Texas Revolution – culminating in his death at the Battle of the Alamo against overhwelming Mexican forces.

Feud led to the legend of the Bowie Knife

Stories of him as a fighter and frontiersman, both real and fictitious, have made him a legendary figure in Texas history and a folk hero of American culture.

He became internationally famous due to a feud with a sheriff after which Bowie resolved to carry his hunting knife at all times.

The knife he carried had a blade that was nine inches long and one-and-a-half inches wide.

Daniel Boone was born on November 2, 1734, in Reading, Pennsylvania. Boone’s maternal grandfather Edward Morgan came from Gwynedd, North Wales.

He became a pioneer, explorer, woodsman, and frontiersman whose exploits made him one of the first folk heroes of the United States.

Wells Fargo's Welsh background

Boone is most famous for his exploration and settlement of what is now Kentucky, which was then part of Virginia.

William Fargo was a pioneer American expressman who helped found the modern-day financial firms of American Express Company and Wells Fargo with his business partner Henry Wells.

His ancestor Moses Fargo left Wales – the family is believed to have come from Monmouthshire – in 1668 aboard The Armenia, arriving in present-day Norwich, Connecticut.

Author Lorin Morgan-Richards said: “Welsh emigrants and their descendants made important contributions during American expressionism, including Oliver Evans’ steam engine and early design of the automobile; John Plumbe Junior, of Powys, Wales, was the first nationally-known photographer and David Robert Evans, of Aberystwyth, helped found the Rodeo Association of America to name a few.”

Many who signed Declaration of Independence had Welsh origins

In a foreword to the book Jude Johnson, author of Cactus Cymry, said: “According to the Welsh Society of Philadelphia, 16 signatories of the Declaration of Independence were of direct Welsh descent, including Wales-born Francis Lewis, of Llandaff.”

The book also lists Old West ghost towns with Welsh origins including mining town Swansea, California, as well as Penryn, California, which was founded by Griffith Griffith of North Wales, and Spring Canyon, in Utah, which was founded by Welsh miners.

Welsh in the Old West by Lorin Morgan-Richards is available via Amazon and Barnes & Noble Online (£14).