Immigration to America, 1820-1860?

Question

Who immigrated to America during that time frame, and why? Where on the internet can I find information on immigration during 1820-1860?

Answer 1

People from Germany and Ireland were the most people immigrated to America during that time. They came to America because of a Political unrest and famine in parts of Europe.

Answer 2

In the century spanning the years 1820 through 1924, an increasingly steady flow of people made their way to America, culminating in a massive surge of immigrants towards the beginning of the twentieth century. Impelled by economic hardship, persecution, and the great social and political upheavals of the nineteenth century--industrialization, overpopulation, and urbanization--millions of Europe's people left their towns and villages and embarked on the arduous journey to the "Golden Land" of America.
U.S. Immigration Statistics, 1820-1880.
More than 80% of immigrants to U.S. come from Europe.
Until the 1860s, most from
German States = 4.4 million
Ireland = 3.4 million

1860:
Irish = 39% foreign born population
Germans = 31% foreign born population

15 million immigrants travel to the USA between 1820 and 1880
1820s: 128,502
1830s: 538,381
1840s: 1.4 million
1850s: 2.8 million
1860s: 2.0 million
1870s: 2.7 million
1880s: 5.2 million

Answer 3

From 1820-45, people looking for their own kind.

From 1845 on it gets complicated, but you have two basic immigrants:

In 1848 you have revolutions throughout Europe. Those in the German states were unsuccessful, so there were many German immigrants. Most of these were educated, as opposed to the following horde:

In 1846 (and for several years thereafter) the Irish potato crop failed. As hugely overpopulated Ireland -- about 7 million at the start -- lived mostly on potatoes, a horrid number of people starved to death or died from starvation-related diseases, or from cholera. They received no help from the British, who owned most of Irish land and whose citizens they supposedly were. Those who could, illiterate and disease-ridden, went to the US or to Canada.

Answer 4

We all have ancestors that immigrated to America, even those in this day, that were born in another country, would classify as immigrants.

They were people following their dream of a better life in America. They had heard the stories that made the new land sound like a magical place. Courageously, they packed the meager possessions they were allowed to take on board the ship and said their goodbyes to friends and loved ones. They had to be a brave, strong and hearty breed, to just pic up and leave their homeland.

Most immigrants left their homeland to escape religious persecution, political persecution, and/or the freedom and opportunities of a better way of life in this new land.

Conditions on ships in the 1800's were frightful. The trip was not a dry one. Water seeped into the steerage through holes that were suppose to be for ventilation. It was impossible to go on deck in bad weather. The hatches were battened down. The passengers in steerage would remain below in the dark rocking ship. In most cases one toilet was shared between one hundred passengers and on some ships the toilets were on deck. The toilets were sometimes washed over board in high seas.

Most immigrants traveled in steerage. There was no lighting and passengers were packed in tightly. Steerage passengers had to provide their own bedding. Their space for each berth was eighteen inches wide and six feet long.

They often suffered illnesses like trench mouth, body ulcers, and lice. Immigrant ships were recognized by their smell. Some were the old slave ships that were no longer safe for ocean voyages.

Because of the great increase in the mid 1800's and in an effort to protect new arriving immigrants from scam artists, the State of New York opened an immigrant processing center at Castle Garden on August 1, 1855. The daily arrivals at Castle Garden in 1856 averaged, twelve hundred to fifteen hundred immigrants each day.

Castle Garden was located at the lower tip of Manhattan Island. It was built in 1807 as an artillery defense fort to protect New York Harbor.

The amenities at Castle Gardens included two wash rooms, one for women and one for men. There was hot water, soap and towels, all free to the immigrant. The Garden was heated in winter and in warm weather was cooled by a cooling fountain. There were no beds and immigrants were encouraged to go on their way the same day they arrived. People were permitted to sleep in the galleries. Sometimes as many as 3,000 spent the night. Castle Garden remained the New York processing center until Ellis Island opened in January 1892.

The following is a song they would sing as they left the harbor and waved to the loved ones they were leaving behind.

Far away-oh far away-
We seek a world o’er the ocean spray!
We seek a land across the sea,
Where bread is plenty and men are free.
The sails are set, the breeze’s swell-
England our country, Farewell! Farewell!

I write family history. I did research for 11 years and wrote about my mother and fathers family history.

Most of the above was copied and pasted from a 500 page book on my fathers lineage. I'm more that happy to share it.

It's kind of long and I hope you have enjoyed reading it.

Answer 5

in the course of the Potato famine, many Irish began to attain in NYC circa 1847. regardless of the indisputable fact that, NYC grow to be not far and away the biggest city contained in the country till the excellent migration by skill of Ellis Island befan contained in the 1880's. between 1880 and 1920, Ellis Island grow to be the major port of get proper of entry to for most immigrants; Jews from eastern Europe and Italians from Southern Europe mad up maximum individuals of this migration. many chosen to settle in NYC and the area because their households were there operating contained in the excellent business centers. production facility vendors many times, regardless of the reality that a criminal offense, workers from a similar cities in Europe so at the same time as they arrived the following they purely lived contained in the sme neighborhoods to that end growing the ethnic enclaves that were admired in NYC. An Italian from the former u . s . a . residing in Little Italy in NYC had a lot of a similar reviews as someone in Italy, so that they decide on to stay positioned.