Emigration - Ann Pritchard 1884-1987

Description

Life stories; people who emigrated from the slate quarrying areas of North Wales.

Ann Pritchard 1884-1987

Richard Pritchard (Annie’s father) was born August 2, 1861. He worked in the quarries in Bethesda with his father and brothers. He married Elizabeth Ann Jones on January 11, 1884, in Jerusalem Chapel in Bethesda, North Wales. They had three daughters: Ann E. Pritchard – born November 17, 1887, Margaret Pritchard born July 10, 1887, and Sarah Jane Pritchard born June 4, 1895. They we raised in Bethesda, North Wales.

When Ann was old enough to work, she went to London and got a job working for Mrs. Gilbert – the wife of the famed playwrights Gilbert and Sullivan.

During the strike in 1900's, Richard left his family to set sail to America. He sailed from Liverpool to Canada, reaching Canada around January 1907. He got a job in the Asbestos mines where he stayed.

Ann left her job and travelled from Liverpool to Ellis Island, New York, arriving on October 5, 1909, with $50.00 in her pocket. After going through customs, she travelled to Poultney, Vermont to meet up with her father. Richard got a job in a quarry in South Poultney and Ann found work at the Manhattan Shirt Company in Poultney. Both Ann and her father saved money to send for the rest of the family – it took about 5 years.

Ann met a young man, and they planned to get married, but when he found out she was pregnant he left her – Ann’s son was born on March 2, 1913.
On May 26, 1914, Elizabeth Ann (jones) Pritchard, Sarah Pritchard, Margaret Pritchard Edwards, and infant son Emrys started for America – landing July 26, 1914, at the port of Boston, Mass. They lived on South Street in Poultney.

Ann met Edwin R. Jones through her friend Julia Jones Lamphere. Ann and Edwin were married on June 29, 1921, at the house on South Street. Edwin and Ann had three children: Edwin Kenneth Jones, Elizabeth Ellen Jones, and Richard Robert Jones. The family settled in the family house purchased by Edwin’s on York Street in Poultney, Vermont. Ann passed away at 102 years old on July 26, 1987.

Ann's name was added to the American Immigrant Wall of Honor, which celebrates the immigrants journey. Located alongside the Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration and overlooking Lower Manhattan.

The shoes she wore on her journey overseas is in the Granville Slate Valley museum.