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Archiver > POSEN > 1999-03 > 0921424680
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Subject: Fw: Fw: Re: [POSEN-L] Northern Illinois Imigration
Date: Sun, 14 Mar 1999 10:18:00 -0500
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Date: Sun, 14 Mar 1999 10:04:08 -0500
Subject: Fw: Re: [POSEN-L] Northern Illinois Imigration
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Date: Sat, 13 Mar 1999 14:30:11 -0500
Subject: Re: [POSEN-L] Northern Illinois Imigration
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Hi, Ken--
You raise an interesting and complexing question when you begin to speak
about immigration patterns.
I raised some of the same questions as I got into my family's
genealogy. In my case, several different families and groups from
Posen seemed to cluster in Washington Co., TX, and the surrouding
counties. Later many of these same people moved on farther into central
Texas, such as Hamilton and Mills Co.
So far, this is what I have come up with:
1. Many of these people were friends, relatives, etc. before
emigrating. They went to the same churches. Sometimes they came
together, spometimes they sent back, as you mentioned, and urged their
friends to join them.
The 1800s were a time of great revolution in Europe. Overpopulation
led to social and economic difficulties. Many just wanted to get out.
As the Kaiser and others built up their war machines, the pressure
increased. Many who emigrated were draft dodgers. (it is nothing
new--people don't like to fight. They leave the country.)
2. On this end, they went where there was (a) transportation and (b)
available land ( Either free or very cheap) or (c) work. I know more
about the situation in Texas than I do otherwise here, but imagine the
general picture is transferable to other states. A number of you in
your responses mentioned Washington County, Texas, which lies more or
less on a line between Houston and Austin (ie., considered south Texas,
or even the coastal plain, to most inhabitants of Texas today.). That
is, believe it or not, the line of the westward march of civilization in
the middle of the 19th century. That is far as one could go, north and
west, without running outside of any real contact with civilization (and
suppplies) and into possible problems with the Indians (yes, there
were Indians in Texas until the last decades of the 1800s.)
A little later, many of these same peoples farther into what would
today be called central Texas (more or less half-way between Dallas and
Houston.) This happened roughly 1875-1900. (They quoted the terrible
climate (milaria, etc.) and high doctor bills as one reason for leaving.
Anyone who has spent a couple of days in Houston in July knows whereof
they speak. Whole groups of my family, their friends, and relatives,
moved on, to Mills or Hamilton County. That is where the cheap land
was, and they were all farmers. That was where the railroads were just
being laid.
I do have several cases in my family where part of a family originally
migrated to Texas, and others to the midwest (Michigan, Wisconsin, and
Minnesota.) In several cases, when times were rough, a spouse died,
etc., individuals from the clan in MN and WI would relocate to Texas
and join the remainder of their families.
3) These "foreigners," our moms, dads, and grandparents, wanted to live
together for various reasons--just as immigrants do today, at least in
their initial generation. Here in the northern Virginia suburbs of the
Washington D.C. area , those of spanish descent tend to cluster
(including separate groupings from El Salvador, Mexico, etdc.), as do
the Koreans (now moved out to the suburbs), the Viet Namesse (now
moving) the Eritrean and Ethiopians (and still fighting the same
battles they did in their fatherland) . The Spanish speakers,
generally the most recent immigrants, generally occupy the poorest
housing and holding the more menial jobs. They need support from
their native group during this difficult time, although as a rule of
thumb , they are uusally completely assimilated by the third generation
and their roots largely forgotten.
Two "German" cities in Texas--New Braunfels and Fredericksburg, founded
in 1845-1846, exemplify this to the extreme. In this case, a
"company' acquired Texas land (we won't get into how), and was promised
so many acres for every settler they brought over. With the situation
in Germany disintegrating, some actually hoped to found a "New
Germany" in Texas (which was just then in the process of joining the
union. While there are strong German enclaves throughout south
central Texas, these actually had a more formal basis, and have
"survived" if that be the right word , as German communities (It is not
often known that there are so many Germans in Texas.) Until very recent
times, many , especially of the older adults, could not speak English.
I grew up during WW II--and that pretty well ended the period of
isolationism, since it was necessary to "prove" ones loyalty and not be
mistaken for the enemy. My parents could both speak fluent German--but
they did not teach us children a word of it. My father, whose roots
were actually in Germany, claimed to be Polish. On the other hand, my
mother, of Polish extraction ("Gromatzky") , made less of it and did
not mind being called German.
4. There is a certain thing called "spirit" in here too--about who
immigrated and why. My wife's relatives, not of German background on one
side, came over during the Colonial period and settled in Virginian and
North Carolina. These same peoples in the years ahead moved on to
Teneesee and Kentucky, later to Missouri and Texas, and then some even
to Oregon! Apparently they didn't want to be too close to be crowded in,
always had the wanderlust, or just thought the grass always looked
greener somewhere else. It would make an interesting psychological
study--who stayed at home, and who moved.
A note or two in closing.
Several of you have mentioned Washington Co. They have an excellent web
site, including , for example, Washington Co. TX marriage records on
line, cemeteries, etc.
Go to the USA/Texas Gen Web site (thouggh rootsweb.com) to check it out
(along with Hamilton and Mills Counties also.)
On the Polish mailing list recently they have mentioned the excellence of
Michener's historical novel on Poland . I class myself with those who
think that Michener's books are about four times too long--but from his
novel, I must say the same about his book on Texas. It is really
excellent. The section in particular depicting the German backgorund
of the immigrants (roughly pp 465-500) are worth the price of the book.
Maybe he had to make them so long to include material like this.
Rod Braun
A native Texan emigrant
now residing in the foothills of the beautiful Blue Ridge
Gainesville, Va, USA
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