Coming to America

Who Came and Why

Immigrants chose the United States as their destination because it offered religious and political freedom, jobs, and plentiful and cheap farmland. In many cases they were persuaded to come to America by emigration officials, solicitors, friends, relatives and later, railroad and land companies as well. People from England's crowded industrial cities migrated to escape wretched working conditions. Generally speaking, the Irish and Germans were the largest groups to immigrate to America. Although less significant than the Germans and Irish, Scandinavians also came in large numbers. People who would have been jailed because of their religious or political beliefs fled to America from the many small countries in what is today Germany. Expansion of American transportation systems brought Irish immigrants to work on canals and railroads and even more left their homeland following the potato crop failures of the 1840s. Scandinavians seeking land ownership saw hope for a better life in America where farmland was both plentiful and fertile. In many cases, emigrants wanted to be reunited with loved ones.

Our Anton Pick, Johann Muehl, Franz Rolfes & Olberding families called Germany their mother country and are among the 30 million Europeans who immigrated to the United States between 1815 and 1915. Our ancestors left behind their possessions, family and friends, said goodbye to everything familiar and set off toward the unknown in search of a better life. Most of them never saw their loved ones or homes again. Family members who moved to America tried to get their families from back home to join them. They wrote letters home with glowing reports of life in their new country. Word spread quickly. Often, one family member came to America first and then worked to earn money to send for the rest of the family.

Preparing to Emigrate - Voyage to America

Preparing to emigrate was an enormous and daunting task. Many families scrimped and saved for years in order to pay the high priced fare. It often cost the equivalent of over one-third a laborer’s annual income to bring an average-sized family to America. Most were lucky if they could save enough to travel in steerage. Rich and poor, most traveled steerage aka “between decks.” With limited space available on their voyage, emigrants only had room for the bare necessities, e.g. clothes, tools (if the family’s livelihood came from a skilled trade), a family Bible or other valuable family heirlooms, and basic provisions for the trip.

For some, travel to embarkation ports took as long as one week or more. They went on foot, cart, train, or riverboat and contended with poor road conditions. Once immigrants arrived, they had to pass physical exams to prevent the spread of disease while on board and to prevent diseases from being carried to the destination country. This sometimes held emigrants up for days, weeks, or even months. Waiting for favorable weather conditions for the ship’s departure made the wait even longer. Later in the 1800s travel time to ports of departure was greatly shortened with the spread of the railroads across Europe.

There were many different ships. An example of one “immigrant” ship is the Bavaria on which the Anton Pick family traveled from Hamburg, Germany to New York/Castle Garden (arrived May 17, 1869).

The Bavaria, built in 1856, was a 2,405 gross ton ship, length 282.1 ft. x beam 39.4ft, clipper steam, one funnel, three masts (rigged for sail), iron construction and a top speed of ten knots. There was accommodation for 50 1st class passengers, 136 2nd class passengers and 310 3rd class passengers. Launched on October 30, 1856 she left Hamburg on her maiden voyage. The ship was destroyed by fire at sea in 1876 with no loss of life.

Before the 1850s, most emigrants traveled on sailing ships. The length of the crossings varied according to the winds, tides and other factors. The estimates for crossings under sail ranged anywhere from four to twenty-four weeks with an average trip of eight weeks. Later, ships still under sail but fitted with paddle wheels and steam engines took about six weeks. Steamships, which made sailing ships obsolete by the end of the 1870s, shortened the voyage to 12-14 days. Steamships began replacing sailing ships as early as 1850, although some emigrants continued to choose sailing ships for nearly thirty years because of their cheaper fares. The last sailing ship left Hamburg in 1879.

Only the wealthy traveled comfortably. The vast majority of immigrants coming to America traveled in steerage, that area in the bottom of large ships where people were packed into rows of narrow bunk beds. There were no portholes to let in light, and the ceiling was usually only 6 to 8 feet high. Hatches, battened down during storms, left passengers below with little light or fresh air.

The stench of vomit and unemptied chamber pots could be overwhelming. Usually hundreds of people had to share only a few toilets. Constant jousting about from weather and waves made even standing difficult on many days. On the worst days, passengers could not even stay in their beds to sleep, but went sliding about the cabin.

Food on board was often poor quality and did not contain a great deal of variety.  The quality of the water was also often lacking. Passengers often brought additional provisions. Eating was difficult. Many used their trunks as tables but in rough waters, they struggled to prevent them from sliding back and forth across the deck.

Seasickness was a constant companion for many. One emigrant recorded, “A good many are sick and vomiting.” “My family and others were sick little or much all the time,” he explained. Some people adjusted to the constant rocking and bouncing of the ship; others spent the entire trip nearly bedridden with nausea. Occasionally, emigrants with overwhelming seasickness starved to death during the voyage.

Worse than mundane food and cramped sleeping quarters were the life-threatening dangers encountered at sea. The most obvious was the possibility of shipwreck, a very real threat due to poor ship construction, particularly in the early 1800s. In 1834, 17 ships were lost at sea. By the middle and end of the century, ships had become larger and safer.

Disease killed many more emigrants than shipwrecks. Illnesses often spread throughout the ships in epidemic proportions. Typhus, cholera, and dysentery were some of the biggest threats. The death rate on these transatlantic voyages was high; one in seven passengers died. Sometimes upon arrival, a large percentage of emigrants went straight from the ship to the hospital, where survival rates were grim.

Life was not all drudgery. Celebrations for marriages and births occurred on board. Travelers found time for fun, sometimes dancing on deck, writing letters home, or playing games. 

For emigrants, the voyage to America was an important and memorable experience that made a lasting impression on their lives.

Arriving in America

Summary of The Bavaria’s Manifest

The Bavaria, a steamer, weighed in at 2235 tons.

Seven hundred seventy four passengers were taken on board at Hamburg (Germany).

The Bavaria arrived at the District of New York---Port of New York May 17, 1869.

The Manifest designated the Name, Age (years/months), Sex, Occupation of each passenger; the country to which they generally belong; the country in which they wished to become inhabitants; who died on the voyage; and the part of the vessel occupied by each passenger during the voyage.

Until 1882, virtually no restrictions existed for arriving immigrants. Sometimes ships simply dropped anchor briefly after approaching a port while passengers and luggage were taken ashore in smaller boats. Once on shore, they were allowed to settle as they pleased. Essentially, anyone who wanted to enter the United States could. In August 1882, the first general immigration-law imposed restrictions on immigrants allowed to enter our country. Where immigrants landed in the United States varied. They arrived not only at New York City but at other ports such as Philadelphia, Boston, New Orleans, Baltimore, San Francisco, Galveston, and several other ports in New York. After most immigrants began arriving via steamship, New York City gradually replaced Philadelphia as the nation's chief port of entry. No formal immigration facilities existed at any of the ports until New York City established Castle Garden as the Emigrant Landing Depot on August 3, 1855

The Castle Garden complex included outbuildings, hospital and offices enclosed by a wooden fence. Ships let the first class and cabin passengers off at a pier and then proceeded to Castle Garden where the steerage passengers disembarked. All immigrants had to land at this depot which was closed to everyone else. Here they had their names checked against the ship manifest, reported their destinations, were given a brief medical exam and went through customs. They could also purchase train tickets, exchange money, seek out directions, learn about employment opportunities, get assistance finding a place to stay, and use other services. Emigrants could also sleep on the floor there for a couple of nights until they got their bearings. These services helped to shield immigrants from thieves and opportunists who hung around the harbor waiting to prey upon the ill-informed and sometimes desperate people that flowed into the country.

Immigrants who did not arrive at Castle Garden were often registered by state officials, until a Supreme Court decision in 1875 made it the federal government's responsibility. By 1891, the U.S. government had completely taken over inspecting and processing immigrants. Contrary to popular belief, millions of immigrants who came in the 1800s never saw the Statue of Liberty as it didn’t arrive until 1885; and Ellis Island, the world’s most famous station that operated in New York Harbor until 1954, didn’t become the point of arrival until it replaced Castle Garden in 1892.

Many immigrants had relatives already living in the United States with whom they could stay, helping to smooth their transition to living and working in America. Newcomers without relatives here already often settled first in communities made up of people from their native land or even their native village, again easing the adjustment to living in a new land where language, customs, values, and government were different.

Many immigrants stopped in New York City, making this their home. Irish immigrants with very little money stayed where they arrived on the East Coast as did the English who also worked in the textile mills of New England. However, many more continued westward. A high percentage of Germans, Scandinavians, and some English journeyed to the Midwest in search of farmland. On the West Coast, thousands of Chinese poured into the country to work on the railroads. From the South came Mexican workers to labor in the fields.

Before the railroads, immigrants and settlers used boats and wagons to reach their destinations. Most used wagons and many traveled together in groups called wagon trains following one or more well-worn wagon trail routes. Only the very old, very young, and the disabled or sick rode in the wagons. Everyone else walked on foot. There was no way to escape the rain and mud, heat, wind and dust, or cold. Other hardships along the way included accidents, sickness, death (both people and animals), river crossings, monotony, weariness, the terror of Indian encounters.

After railroads began blanketing America in the 1830s, immigrants desiring to continue their journey west boarded trains in New York City.  By 1856 railroads reached eastern Iowa and western Iowa by 1867.  Traveling by rail shortened the trip to days instead of weeks or months by boat or wagon. However, traveling by rail was no luxury, especially for emigrants who traveled in the cheapest cars known fittingly as “emigrant cars.” These crowded and uncomfortable train cars provided few eating or sleeping accommodations.

Coming to Iowa

Some of Iowa’s first white settlers came directly from Europe, but most came from other parts of the United States and had resided in at least one additional state by the time they arrived in Iowa. The first official white settlement in the Iowa territory began along the Mississippi River region in June 1833 that included Dubuque, Iowa’s oldest city. This area was very desirable because it reminded settlers and immigrants of their former homelands in the “Old Country.” The US Federal Census dated August 1, 1870 recorded Anton Pick and family as living in New Wine Township/Dubuque County/Iowa with his in-laws, the John Muhl family who were already established there. In subsequent censuses, New Vienna in New Wine Township was recorded as the Anton Picks’ place of residence. New Vienna remains in existence today.

Once past the extreme eastern portion of Iowa, it was quickly discovered that the state was primarily a prairie or tall grass region. Trees grew abundantly in the extreme eastern and southeastern portions, and along rivers and streams, but elsewhere timber was limited. Early settlers who moved into the northwest Iowa territory on areas devoid of trees constructed their first houses from sod. Fires were common in the tall grasses of the prairie, often occurring yearly.

In 1839 there were very few white men in the extreme northwestern part of the territory. This region continued to be described in 1860 as essentially untouched by humans (Iowa had achieved statehood December 28, 1846) and remained a frontier. Sioux City was a young river town in that area.

European settlers were interested in the lands west of the Mississippi and began to pressure the government to purchase the land for settlement. The removal of the Indian tribes from the Iowa territory was fast. Between 1830 and 1862, Iowa Indian tribes gave up their land and sold it to the federal government for pennies an acre.  Throughout North America the story of the Native Americans is much the same. In most cases the Native peoples were relocated to new lands. European immigrants and settlers rushed in to purchase the vacated land. At first this government land was sold to speculators for $1.25 an acre. Then in the 1850s over ten percent of all land in Iowa was given to the railroads. Settlers and immigrants purchased land from the speculators, directly from the government, or from the railroads.

In 1862 Congress passed the Homestead Act that offered 160 acres of land to anyone who would live on and farm it for five years. Citizens and immigrants alike were entitled to participate. The overly optimistic law failed mainly because it was exploited by railroads and other powerful interests for profit. Railroads purchased a great deal of the land from homesteaders, many of whom could not succeed at farming. Only 40 percent of applicants who started the process were able to complete it and obtain title to their homestead land. Two factors came into play such as unfavorable weather conditions and lack of experience on the part of the applicant. By bribing residents who bought the land for them, or simply by filing fraudulent claims, speculators managed to reap the lion's share of land at public expense. It is estimated that only a quarter of the trillion acres made available through the Homestead Act ever served their intended purpose. The bulk of this land went to corporate interests rather than individual settlers, particularly to the railroad and timber industries.

The Iowa and Minnesota Immigration Company handbill above is an example of how southwestern Minnesota, southeastern “Dakota”, northeastern Nebraska and northwest Iowa land was advertised for sale circa 1891.

For the pioneers who persevered and remained on the land, and many did, the rewards were substantial. They soon discovered that prairie land, although requiring some adjustments, was some of the richest land to be found anywhere in the world.

Resources

Immigration:

maggieblanck.com/Immigration.html

Colonists from Europe:

iagenweb.org/history/soi/soi35.htm

History of Immigration to the United States: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_immigration_to_the_United_States

Immigrant Journey:

ohranger.com/ellis-island/immigration-journey

Castle Garden:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Clinton

Destination America:

pbs.org/destinationamerica/usim_wn.html

The Bavaria:

theshipslist.com/ships/descriptionions/ShipsB.shtml

ancestry.com

norwayheritage.com/ship.asp?sh=bava1

The Bavaria Manifest:

New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957 for Anton Pick

History of Immigration to the United States:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_immigration_to_the_United_States

Iowa and Minnesota Immigration Co handbill:

Published in the Remsen Bell Enterprise, Remsen, Iowa, Thursday, August 24, 1939, Page 13.

Iowa Land, Transportation and People:

iowapbs.org/iowapathways/mypath/iowa