READER Jayne Hughes has written to our Timewatch pages to share this story.

“I thought you might be interested in the story of my father-in-law’s grandfather, who emigrated to Colorado in approximately 1890, to work in the silver mines,” she said.

“I was lucky enough to accompany my parents-in-law on this ‘trip of a lifetime’ in August of this year to find facts about their ancestor, who lived there over 100 years ago now.

“The story of a Goginan miner who emigrated to Colorado in approximately 1890 emerged eight years ago, thanks to Goginan-born author and retired teacher, Ceiriog Gwynne Evans, and his wonderful portrait of historical life in the village entitled Once upon a time in Goginan, published in 2009 by local publishers Y Lolfa. A chapter in the book recalls the life of John Hughes (c.1847-1911) who emigrated to Colorado to work in the silver mines in Rico. He is the grandfather of my father-in-law Ernie Hughes, who lives in Penparcau with his wife Carol. Ceiriog recalls a trip made to Colorado in 2005 in the book, and a fascination was developed to find out more about John Hughes’ life both in Wales and the United States.

“Another trip was planned to the mining towns and museums of Colorado, on a further fact-finding hunt, for August of this year. The trip gave us an insight into the life that John Hughes was living back in the 1890s.

“The journey over to Colorado back then was not without serious challenges, as the railways in the mining areas of Colorado had only been built in the early 1890s, and we gained respect for our ancestor who had faced the tough life of a miner in another country, and who would have had to deal with many disputes and challenges as a mine superintendent.

See this week's south editions for the full story, in shops and online tomorrow