(John's discussion of Hesse starts up again here. He stopped the discussion in Note Nr. 1588, dated 06 February 2003 . The discussion was started in Note Nr. 1556, dated 30 December 2002 . GWD, WebMaster)
I return to Hesse, where we looked at some parts of a social history earlier. In the Eighteenth Century, overpopulation in Hesse, as in other parts of Germany, led to the decision to immigrate to foreign locales. This overpopulation had caused the farms to be splintered into uneconomic units, which could no longer support the inhabitants. Two of the main target areas for the economic refugees were Russia and America, though there was an immigration to southeastern Europe also.
It has been estimated that 200,000 German farmers immigrated to foreign parts in the decade starting in 1756. Sometimes, entire towns or villages were decimated by the exodus of people. In 1766, Catherine (The Great) of Russia invited people to come to her lands. Many people accepted this invitation and established German communities around the Black Sea. Many of these communities maintained their German culture and language until the Twentieth Century when Stalin broke up the groups. To help establish this immigration, the Russian Crown maintained an immigration office in Büdingen in Hesse. It would collect groups of 60 to 100 immigrants, give them travel money, and send them, via Lübeck, to St. Petersburg. From here they could go by wagons or waterways to the Volga. Hesse contributed many of the people, perhaps a majority of the Germans, to this eastward movement. (These German settlers in Russia became known as the "Volga Germans".)
The Austrians recaptured lands that the Turks had held. They were desirous of obtaining Germanic people to settle in this region. Many of these emigrants came from around Stuttgart (Swabia), but there were Hessians also. Another southeastern destination area was Hungary. As early as 1723, there is a documented case of a villager in Hesse going to Hungary.
Quite early, America became a recognized destination area. The first of the Hessians were involved in founding Germantown in Pennsylvania. The letters they wrote home were very encouraging and helpful to friends and relatives who were considered the move also. America became such a popular spot that it was described as “the American fever”. Many Hessians were involved in the 1709 immigration. Another group came in the 1740s as Moravians.
Local governments did not support immigration in general and erected various roadblocks to hinder it. They saw population loss in terms of reduced tax revenue, army recruitment, and productivity. The threat of fines and the loss of estates were used as incentives to prevent unauthorized departures. Authorized departures were often accompanied by special taxes.
(Continued in Note Nr. 1617.)
(12 Mar 03)
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.