Editing Cambria, Wisconsin (section)

==History==
In 1844, two brothers, John and Samuel Langdon, settled on the site. Samuel P. Langdon built a [[sawmill]] on a branch of Duck Creek, the other opened a small stock of merchandise. They surveyed and platted four blocks, and called the village Florence. But the mill dominated the landscape in those days, and the settlement around it was called Langdon's Mills.

The settlement had just begun when about fifty Welshmen, with their wives and children, came from [[North Wales]], many from [[Dolwyddelan]]. Morris J. Rowlands, a son of one of the colonists, wrote in 1912,

<blockquote>Early in the summer of 1845 several families from North Wales met accidentally at [[Liverpool, England]], seeking passage as immigrants to the United States of America. On the 17th day of July they sailed from Liverpool harbor on board a sailing vessel named the Republic, and after a voyage of six weeks and two days arrived safely in New York City on the 30th of August, 1845....

After arriving in New York, a number of families whose male members were quarrymen in the old country, went to the [[slate]] quarries of New York and [[Vermont]], but the majority of them turned their faces 'Westward,' a word taken as their motto before leaving their native land.

The next portion of the journey from New York to [[Albany, New York|Albany]] was made on a [[steamboat]]. From [[Buffalo, New York|Buffalo]] they took passage over the [[Great Lakes|lakes]] on board of a steamboat named Wisconsin, the name possibly being the means of drawing them to that particular boat; for that state was their 'promised land.' After a stormy voyage on the lakes they arrived at [[Milwaukee|Milwaukee, Wisconsin]], on the 16th day of September, where a portion of them landed, and on the 17th at [[Racine, Wisconsin|Racine]], where the remainder left the boat.

On the 24th of September, having previously agreed upon them, Robert Closs, David D. Roberts, John R. Rowlands Sr., Evan Edwards and Jabez Lloyd left their families at the places mentioned, and were joined by E. B. Williams, William R. Williams, John O. Jones and John Edwards (single men). The party then started on foot in search of a suitable place on which to locate, traveling westward over the eastern part of the state, and passing through the village of [[Fox Lake, Wisconsin|Fox Lake]], where a branch land office was located.... They entered into [[Columbia County, Wisconsin|Columbia]], then called Portage County, about four miles north of the present site of the village of [[Randolph, Wisconsin|Randolph]], arriving foot-sore and weary on Saturday evening, September 27th....

...[T]hey continued their westward course until they came to a point on the [[Fox River (Green Bay tributary)|Fox River]] near the center of Section 16, Township 13, Range 11. There they discontinued for the first time their westward course and turned south, passing over Portage Prairie....

After crossing Duck Creek the party entered South Prairie, to which they took quite a fancy, and after traveling over the land, examining the quality of the soil, locating the timber land and investigating the source of water supply, late in the afternoon they walked up to the highest point, which was about half a mile southwest of Zion's Church in Springvale, and there sat down on the green grass deliberating over the situation and comparing notes on the different localities through which they had passed during the week. Viewing the beautiful landscape before them and stretching in splendor for miles in every direction under the variable-colored rays of the setting sun, they deliberately decided to make that locality their place of future abode, hoping that they were thus forming a nucleus around which their countrymen in the future would gather to form a Welsh colony.

After deciding on the location, they prepared to return, calling first at the Fox Lake land office to enter their claims. Then, returning to their families at Milwaukee and Racine, they immediately prepared to move onto their farms, coming over in covered emigrant wagons — 'prairie schooners' — and by the middle of October they were all on their places, housed in what people nowadays would call 'miserable shanties,' but to them, after their wearisome journey, they were 'comfortable homes.' Facing the winter of 1845–46, the settlement contained in round numbers, including children, fifty-three persons, composed of nine families and seven single men.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jones |first1=James Edwin |title=A History of Columbia County, Wisconsin: A Narrative Account of ..., Volume 1 |date=1914 |publisher=The Lewis Publishing Company |pages=288–289 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qAsrAQAAMAAJ&dq=%22day+of+July+they+sailed+from+Liverpool%22&pg=PA287 |access-date=17 June 2024}}</ref></blockquote>

[[File:Cambria Friesland School.jpg|thumb|right|Cambria / [[w:Friesland, Wisconsin|Friesland]] School]]

Cambria was described as, "an outpost of [[Dolwyddelan]]",<ref> Edited by Michael Newton (2013), ''Celts in the Americas'', [[Cape Breton University]] Press. p. 101.</ref> in an article<ref>''Cambria, Wisconsin in 1898'' J. Glyn Davies, Transactions of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion,  1957, pp. 128-159</ref> published posthumously by [[J. Glyn Davies]], a descendant of [[John Jones, Talysarn]], whose brothers and sisters had emigrated to Cambria. In the article, he records that as a young man in 1898, he had visited Cambria to meet his kindred and found it was still a [[Welsh language|Welsh]]-speaking community which maintained its links with [[Wales]].

In 1848 the Langdons raised a frame for a [[gristmill]], but they had exhausted their means in their sawmill and store, and were unable to purchase the necessary machinery to operate it. In the spring of 1849 a Mr. Bell appeared and advanced money for that purpose, taking a mortgage upon the Langdon property as security. In consequence of nonpayment of the debt, the property passed into his hands, and the new owner surveyed and platted quite a large addition to the original site. In order to perpetuate his name he called the village Bellville.

Bell continued to operate the mill until 1851, when he disposed of all his holdings to John Jones and Evan Edwards. However, the new proprietors of the village, as well as the Welshmen who had settled there, were not pleased with the name Bellville, and by them it was changed to [[Cambria]], the Latin name for [[Wales]], probably on account of the [[Welsh American|Welsh]] settlers.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/dictionary/index.asp |title=Term: Cambria [origin of place name] |publisher=Wisconsin Historical Society |accessdate=July 21, 2012 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120820033016/http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/dictionary/index.asp |archivedate=August 20, 2012 }}</ref> The town was incorporated in 1866. Little growth was attained until the completion of the railroad through the place in 1857, and it has never had a rapid development.

The Didion Milling Co. plant explosion killed five workers, injured 14 others and reduced the facility to rubble on May 31, 2017.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Richmond |first=Todd |date=April 30, 2018 |title=Flames shot out of grinder before Wisconsin plant explosion |url=https://apnews.com/article/37bedbf2020f4470b809e89266ae75cb |access-date=October 18, 2023 |website=AP News |language=en}}</ref> The company was fined more than $1.8 million by the [[U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration]].<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=May 13, 2022 |title=Company charged in deadly 2017 Cambria plant explosion |url=https://www.wsaw.com/2022/05/13/company-charged-deadly-2017-cambria-plant-explosion/ |access-date=October 18, 2023 |website=WSAW-TV |language=en |agency=Associated Press}}</ref> The company agreed in 2023 to plead guilty to federal charges that employees at the plant falsified logbooks inspectors use to determine whether the plant was handling corn dust safely and complying with dust-cleaning rules from 2015 until May 2017.<ref>{{Cite web |date=September 28, 2023 |title=Wisconsin corn mill owners plead to federal charges in fatal explosion, will pay $11.25 million |url=https://apnews.com/article/wisconsin-corn-mill-explosion-plea-agreement-fd0b0e408e83fb002de52254b52b2c83 |access-date=October 18, 2023 |website=AP News |language=en}}</ref> At least seven employees have pleaded guilty or been convicted of charges including concealing environmental violations, lying to investigators and falsifying cleaning logs.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Venhuizen |first=Harm |date=October 17, 2023 |title=Federal jury convicts 2 employees in fatal Wisconsin corn mill explosion |url=https://apnews.com/article/wisconsin-didion-milling-plant-explosion-conviction-ba25ed43b505bf33429903cbd936b4af |access-date=October 18, 2023 |website=AP News |language=en}}</ref> The corn products were produced for food and beverage manufacturers that require sanitation for food safety as excessive accumulation of grain dust can cause food safety problems besides the explosion risk.<ref>{{Cite web |last=White |first=Sean |date=October 23, 2023 |title=Federal jury convicts Didion Milling for safety violations following deadly 2017 explosion |url=https://www.wsaw.com/2023/10/17/federal-jury-convicts-didion-milling-safety-violations-following-deadly-2017-explosion/ |access-date=October 18, 2023 |website=WSAW-TV |language=en}}</ref>