Life in the U.S
There were
other
immigrant families from Wales and other parts of the U.K. in the
Philadelphia and greater Pennsylvania, as the area has a long
history of Welsh settlement[1].
My family frequently socialized with other families of Welsh
heritage. The concept of assimilation was much more difficult for
my parents to embrace than it was for my brothers and myself,
probably because or our young age. My Uncle who was here worked in
the dry-cleaning industry, and that is where my both my mother and
father were employed. My brothers and I even worked there for our
first jobs.
Though my mother was employed, it was not something my father was happy about. In Cardiff, her only job was that of mother and wife. But my father new it was necessary that she work outside the home to make ends meet. My mother also maintained a very conservative role around the house, doing all of the washing, cleaning, cooking, etc. Looking back, I realize how tired she was all the time, but she never let my brothers and I know. As far as we knew, life was great, we were living the American dream, and it sure was wonderful. Within a few years my father was becoming more successful, and in 1988 my little sister was born. My mother was able to quit working then.
The Welsh Countryside:
[1] The Welsh Tract, also called the Welsh Barony, was a portion of Pennsylvania settled largely by Welsh-speaking Quakers. It covers 40,000 acres (160 kmē) to the north-west of Philadelphia.