Any German Americans here want to answer this one or anybody with the knowledge?

Question

When and why did German Americans come to u.s. ?

what was their different reasons for coming here?

where do most of them live?

Answer 1

1950's and Wisconson

Answer 2

There were several waves of immigration of peoples from the German states and principalities from the 17th century through the 20th. Each was seeking a better life for their families, and to escape oppression or wars in Europe. Some were religious dissenters, some political refugees, and some economic refugees seeking land to own.

Earliest Germans were settling in the early 18th century in the colonies New Jersey and Pennsylvania , following the Dutch in New York and the upstate New York areas. These were from what was called Palatines--those principalities called the Palatinates in the western part of what is now Germany. The mid-1700's experienced a lot of wars in Germany and Europe before, during and after the Napoleonic Wars.

Other religious refugees were Quakers and German Reformed, and Shakers in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania was one of the few colonies that allowed religious freedom of immigrants.

In the 19th century, there was a rush for land as Germans from the poorer classes came to America with the hope of homesteading the midwest in the wake of the railroads opening the western lands for free property. They settled across America, particularly St. Louis, Milwaukee and Chicago, as well as the small towns across the Midwest.

From the 1880's through the early 20th century, the Germans who immigrated were stuck as city-dwellers in the slums of New York and other ports. Language barriers and poverty caused serious problems.

In the 1930's, Germans coming to the United States were refugees from the Nazi oppression and anti-Jewish laws of the Hitler government from the early 30's until the outbreak of the Second World War . After the war, there was another wave of refugees from the ravages of war, and the closing of the borders of East Germany during the Cold War.

Answer 3

I'm not sure why my family came here, but they moved to the south years ago when my Grandmother got very sick and the doctor told the family that the wheather in the south would be better for her.

probably same reasons as most people that come to the u.s. - for political, economical, or religious freedom

Answer 4

my German Ancestors came over in the 1850's to avoid being taken into the Army because of Religious reasons. my family ended up in the Maryland - Pennsylvania area. then moved throughout the USA from there

Answer 5

Some of my family came to the U.S. from Germany prior to the Spanish American war. Other German ancestors came to the U.S. directly after WWI... they resided in NY at first.

Answer 6

Believe it or not there are a very large number of German settalments in texas... From way WAY back in the day around the time of the Spanish American war....

Answer 7

My family came over (1830) because there was a mild famine in the Frankfurt area and because there was a land shortage... we came for the cheap land. Most of my family lives in the immediate Cincinnati area

Answer 8

I came here because my parents made me. I was a baby and couldn't buy my own plane ticket. I'm sure the reasons vary. Most people immigrate to find a better way of life in the land of the free, yada yada yada.

Answer 9

Because in Europe might have the some kind of economy than America, but theirs less opporanities for minorities or poor people. Example sometimes black or people from Latin America in Spain get expelled from school because of their orgin, nothing they can do about with money in America you can!!!