Where in Germany did the distinguished German-Americans originate? There is a lot of variation in the size of the Germany states, so I will try to put this on a per capita basis (or something similar):
Baden-Württemberg sent 16 per million people.
Bavaria sent 10 per million.
Brandenburg, with Berlin, sent 7 per million.
Hesse sent 21 persons per million people, so far the record.
Mecklenburg sent 6.5 per million.
Lower Saxony, with Bremen, sent 14 per million.
North Rhine-Westphalia sent 6 per million.
The Palatinate just set a new record of 37 per million but one of the judges just ruled "foul".
The Saarland sent 4 per million.
Saxony sent 13 per million.
Saxony-Anhalt sent 7 per million.
Schleswig-Holstein, including Hamburg, sent almost 12 per million.
Finally, Thüringen sent 12 per million.
The judge’s ruling on the foul was that the term " Palatine " was applied to all Germans. The net result is that the Palatinate’s contribution is larger than it should be. Therefore, the number for the Palatinate standing may be seriously eroded. Nevertheless, the contribution of the Palatinate was very large. Taken with Baden-Württemberg, one can say that southwest Germany made a major contribution to American civilization. Taken in another way, the strip of land along the Rhine was an especially heavy contributor. These " Rhinelanders " were 28% of the study group. The strip was considered to be twenty-five miles wide on each side of the Rhine. For this reason, some have called the Rhine the " River of Destiny ". Before 1850, it was the dominant artery to America.
When one looks at cities which are German-speaking, the leading contributor was Vienna. Hamburg-Bremen sent almost as many of their citizens. The next two cities were Berlin and Frankfurt am Main. Artistic talent came especially from Vienna and Berlin.
Across the spectrum, the vast number of these people were persuaded to emigrate by the search for a better standard of living, by the quest for political and religious freedom, and by dreams of good fortune. Rarely did they travel alone. The herd instinct was strong. Often an entire family plus related families formed the nucleus for a community migration. There was an outstanding case in 1853, when 85 of the 120 residents of Niederfischbach left the village. Whether this is "our" Niederfischbach is something that I cannot say, but it is cited to show how strong the influence of neighbors and relatives could be.
I will give some of the names in the next note as a reminder of who was a German-American. Strangely, I did not see my name in the lists. I have been asked if a given name does occur, but it is not an easy question to answer, as there is not a unified list, but rather a series of lists according to the occupational groups that I gave previously.
(27 Jul 00)
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