Leather Photo Wallet

Group:
My great-grandparents within the wallet
My great-grandparents within the wallet
Story pending

To the substantial tin-mining and tin-plating communities of Wales, New Castle, Pennsylvania was a land abundant with opportunity. What was once drudgery labor in Wales could become the fresh start to an entire industry in America. And in the span of fifty years, between 1880 and 1930, New Castle went from being a rural town with a population of about 5 thousand, to an industrial city with a population of about 50 thousand. My great-grandfather and great- grandmother were among the Welsh masses who caused this influx. In the late 1920s, they left their small village of Clydach, Swansea, with almost nothing except for the clothes on their back and two photographs of themselves, which they had taken directly after their marriage. After several days of voyaging and passing through Ellis Island, they had arrived in New Castle along with thousands of other Welsh families. And in 1930 my grandfather was born, and six years later his mother died of tuberculosis. A key memento my grandfather kept to remember her was a single black and white photograph, tucked into a portable leather photo wallet. Since then my grandfather kept these photographs either on him or in his drawer up until the day that he died. He had kept these photos secret even from his oppressive step-mother, and now they belong with my father and I. They are now kept directly in the open so that they are no longer kept a secret.

Place(s): New Castle, Clydach
Year: 1928

– Quinn Lewis

Relationship:  Great-grandchild of im/migrant or more Great-grandchild of im/migrant or more