Cornish American
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| (2 million) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| California, Minnesota, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin | |
| Languages | |
| English (American English dialects) Cornish | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Cornish, English Americans, Welsh Americans, Manx Americans, Scottish Americans, Scotch-Irish Americans, Irish Americans |
Cornish Americans (Cornish: Amerikanek kernewek) are Americans who describe themselves as having Cornish ancestry, an ethnic group native to Cornwall, United Kingdom. Cornish ancestry is not recognised on the United States Census. There are estimated to be close to 2 million people of Cornish descent in the U.S which is four times the present population of Cornwall in the United Kingdom.
Tangier Island is an island in lower Chesapeake Bay in Virginia: some inhabitants have a Cornish accent that traces back to the Cornish settlers who arrived there in 1686.
The coincidence of the decline of the mining industry in Cornwall in the 19th century and the discovery of large amounts of mineral deposits abroad meant that Cornish families headed overseas for work. Each decade between 1861 and 1901, a fifth of the entire Cornish male population migrated abroad – three times the average for England and Wales. In total, the county lost over a quarter of a million people between 1841 and 1901.
Large numbers of Cornish people moved to the United States, and while some stayed in New York City and other East Coast ports after arriving, many moved inland to mining areas in California, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan. One such area was Mineral Point, Wisconsin, in which the largest group of immigrants were Cornish miners attracted to the lead mining opportunities, and by 1845 roughly half of the town's population had Cornish ancestry. Today the Cornish town of Redruth is twinned with Mineral Point.
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