‘MY WELSH ANCESTORS WERE PART OF THE AMERICAN GOLD RUSH’
A miner from the goldfields of northern Georgia set up on the banks of Cherry Creek in Gilpin County in 1858. William Greeneberry Russell found gold – lots of it – triggering the Colorado Gold Rush. The thriving mining town that grew up was named Russell Gulch in his honour. Over the years, prospectors flocked there to seek their fortunes. Among them were several of Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine reader Nigel Porter’s ancestors, who hailed from a village in Wales.
Nigel’s mother, Barbara Wynne Williams, had always talked about the gold miners in her family. “Growing up, I spent nearly all my holidays in Barmouth, Merionethshire, where my mother was born, and during that time I heard various snippets of family history.” Her wedding ring was made of gold from a mine in Clogau, roughly five miles from Barmouth. “I naively
