Immigration from southwest Germany and from Switzerland was often sponsored by one of three ways. Recruitment agencies included governments who wanted settlers. England and its Colonies, the Habsburg Empire, Prussia, and, later, Russia all recruited Germans. Some of these areas were very early destinations, having existed from medieval times. In addition to the relocations of the Germans, special situations arose as in France when Huguenots left and were welcomed in many areas, including in southwest Germany itself.
Two countries, France and Holland, did not develop state policies in which in-migrations were encouraged. In general, these counties supplied settlers to other countries, but usually under special circumstances.
Without state support, there was no large-scale migration. Private organizations and individuals often were the mediums through which the migration took place. Land settlement schemes run by speculators attracted settlers and their agents (called Newlanders) handled the transportation arrangements. Many of these were semi-private, not official agents of the governments. One example was the scheme of William Byrd in Virginia to recruit one hundred families to settle on a large tract of land in Virginia. He was supposed to obtain the people within three years to make his claim on the land good. The land grant came from the government, but the recruitment was strictly a private adventure. In this particular case, Byrd's agents had succeeded in getting a large number of people from Switzerland, and a ship was chartered in Rotterdam to take them to Virginia. A bit of greed overtook the promoters and they agreed to take also about fifty people from Freudenberg, near Siegen. The ship was overloaded and it never reached the shore of Virginia. (The ship was the Oliver and the year was 1738.)
A very strong source of encouragement to emigrate came from individuals such as friends, families, relatives, and neighbors, who had already successfully settled in distant lands. These could be from eastern Europe or from North America. These letters were often very encouraging and were a wealth of information for the would-be emigrant. These could be said to be the original do-it-yourself books.
The problem for the immigrant was often in choosing where to go. In 1723, Hungary offered fifteen years of freedom from taxation and other public dues to craftsmen who would agree to settle permanently there. In the same year, Habsburg officials offered free transportation, housing, land, tax relief for three to five years, religious privileges and a free status (i.e., non-serfdom). The area the Habsburgs had in mind was in Rumania where they wished to build a buffer state more friendly to them. Later, Russian made some very generous offers to people who would emigrate. So many Germans moved that maps show large regions in Russia where the language was German.
(02 Jun 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.