Buies Creek, N.C.-If your surname is Jones, Walters, Perkins, Rice or Evans, you could be a descendant of a Welsh immigrant. The Welsh were church builders, founders of key settlements in the Carolinas and known for their sentimentality for their homeland. Historian Dr. Bill Jones of Cardiff University in Wales will present a lecture on Welsh Americans at the annual Anne T. Moore Humanities Lecture, sponsored by the department of Government, History and Criminal Justice. The lecture is set for Thursday, March 18, at 7 p.m. in Lynch Auditorium of Campbell’s Lundy-Fetterman School of Business. Admission is free.
The author of several books on Welsh settlers, Dr. Jones’ research interests include 19th and 20th century Welsh emigration and Welsh communities outside Wales, Wales and the British Empire and the industrial, social and cultural history of modern Wales. He has co-authored several books: Welsh Reflections: Y Drych and America, 1851-2001; B.L. Combs; and Wales in America: Scranton and the Welsh 1860-1920.
Jones received a Bachelor of Arts with honors in history in 1978 and a Ph.D. in 1988. Both degrees were conferred by Cardiff University. Prior to joining the faculty at Cardiff in 1994, Jones was a research assistant and Assistant Keeper at the Welsh Industrial and Maritime Museum of the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff and Staff Tutor at the Open University in Wales.