I think it is most likely that your family emmigrated to the US with relatives, neighbours and friends. In the 1860's - 70's two members of my great grandmothers moved to Ohio, they were miners. These men couldn't go on-line and find a new job in the US, it would be hard enough to do now. There could have been adverts in newspapers, but I would think it was more likely there were people going around the mining and iron manufacturing areas of the UK head hunting workers. Standing outside the gates or finding the men in pubs and asking "Hey how would you like a good job which includes a piece of land to build your own house. Don't worry about money, we'll pay for you to travel to America, you can pay us back once you get settled" I bet it sounded like heaven.

In my case one brother travelled to Ohio with about 6 children, the eldest was actually (I know now) the son of his sister in law who was widowed before marrying his brother, but the 14 year old lad remained as part of thar family, even though his mother and her new husband followed a couple of years later.
The brother who arrived first had about 12 children and going to Ohio was a success, but the second brother to arrive only had one daughter, and his wife found the summers too hot and the winters too cold, so they returned after about 10 years. A strike and riots linked to the use of cheap labour brought in made things hard, I wonder how many returned, or how many wanted too but had no choice but to stay? cheers fred

Since I did the original posting to this I have not only found, that there was/is a Forest of Dean in Poughkeepsie but also a company operating in that part of the USA called The Forest of Dean Iron Co. Whether it originated in Poughkeepsie or our Forest of Dean is not yet clear but I will research it further. I have also found that my relative (who went to Poughkeepsie) had a brother-in-law (surname Adams/Addams) who emigrated there with his family too. This branch of the family lived in Poughkeepsie until the 1870s when the moved to a nearby town in Pennsylvania called Canton. I found this out because I removed a photograph from an old family album. I had no idea who the person was but once I removed it her name was on the back (Maggie Adams) along with the name of the photo-studio in Canton, PA. If anyone is related to Maggie Adams I would be happy to scan them a copy of the photograph. My relative, who went to Poughkeepsie was called Charles J ROOK(E) (born 1824- died Autumn 1854), his wife was Ann Mary Ad[d]ams. (I've put an earlier posting on with their details some time ago). They emigrated in 1848. She appears to have had at least five brothers and it is probably George Adams (1810) who went there with his wife Elizabeth W Adams. He appears to have died before they moved to Pennsylvania but, by then, two of their children, P Benjamin Adams and Stephen Adams were both working age. P Benjamin Adams' wife was called Margaret but so was one of his daughters, I am not sure which of these Maggies is the one in my photograph. It is probably the latter. There is also a possibility that the Adams married other members of the Rook family in an earlier generation. I was not surprised to learn, from his obituary, that Stephen Adams was a blacksmith.

I've done more research on this and it is as I thought, the boat which George Adams and family (along with his brother Edward and his wife) sailed to the USA from Bristol ladened with people from Monmouth. Passengers weren't all heading for the same destination though. But, the areas where George's family settled seems to have had more people from England, Wales and Ireland there than from anywhere else living there by the turn of the last century!