[WED]Wedmore WARDS in New Zealand

[Mary Jackes]

>
>As I've just joined this mailing list, could anyone point me to a brief 
>summary of the Wedmore settlement in Iowa mentioned by Tim? Was this some 
>sort of religious based community?

I did initially post a query on the question of whether emigration to Iowa
was based on some religious motivation, partly because there seem to be
rather a lot of Methodists there in the early settlements (there was also a
Baptist element).  I have been able to find out about four families from
the Wedmore area who emigrated.  So far the list goes like this:- Anglicans
2; atheist 1; "skeptic in religious matters" 1.  

I once knew a British Israelite (in Australia), but I've seen nothing at
all about that in the Wedmore area colonies in Iowa and Minnesota.

The answer seems to be, as Mary Thacher suggested, that emigration occurred
because the 1840s were NOT a good time to be in Somerset.
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Mary Jackes
Edmonton, Alberta, T6G 0N8, Canada.