The material used in recent notes has been drawn from Aaron Fogleman's " Hopeful Journeys ," a major research effort into German emigration. The book is especially interesting to me because it has new material in it, which I had not known about, or of which I had the wrong opinion. Any student of eighteenth century German emigration will have to consult this book.
Previously, I had asked myself, "If conditions in Germany were so bad, why didn't the Germans leave earlier?" Actually, they had been leaving all along. Prior to the emigration to the New World, they had been going to Eastern Europe. And, even after the start of emigration to the New World, Eastern Europe remained a more popular destination. The New World was definitely number two on the list of choices for emigration destinations.
The most popular locations for emigration were those which were promoted by strong state policies for the settlement of their territories. For the residents of southwest Germany and Switzerland, the countries of Britain, the Hapsburg Empire, Prussia, and Russia did recruit among them. For example, in 1723 Hungary offered fifteen years of freedom from taxation and other public duties to craftsmen who would agree to settle permanently there. Equally attractive offers were made by the Hapsburgs and later by Russians.
The disadvantages of North America included the lack of special privileges, the difficult ocean voyage, and the threat, once one was there, of the Native Americans. In Pennsylvania, the pacifist government of that colony did little to protect the settlers on the frontiers. This was the area where most of the new immigrants went in order to find large amounts of cheap land. British recruiters attempted to counteract the Indian threat by portraying the Native Americans as docile, exotic neighbors. This fabrication led to a fascination among many Germans, and some Americans, even today, still nurture this picture of the "noble peaceable savage".
Less than 15% of the legal emigrants from southwest Germany went to British North America. No one has clearly defined why this 15% chose North America over Eastern Europe. It may have been a random choice, in which given two alternatives, some people will choose one while others will choose the second.
The conditions placed on those who wished to immigrate to North American were more restrictive than those placed on people who wished to immigrate to Eastern Europe. When Francis Michel was attempting to obtain approval for his colony in Virginia, he asked for some special privileges, but could not get approval. Had he been planning a relocation to the East in Europe, the conditions he asked for would most surely have been routinely granted.
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.