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German Immigration and Servitude in America, 1709–1920 Germans comprised the largest group of non-English-speaking European immigrants to English North America in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries

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German Immigration and Servitude in America, 1709–1920 Germans comprised the largest group of non-English-speaking European immigrants to English North America in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Their impact was felt primarily in the middle-colonies and central-states of America. They made substantial contributions to the population growth, cultural development, social structure, and economic dynamism of this region. Knowing who these immigrants were, how the migration process worked, and how they fit into English America is important for comprehending the American immigrant experience. More quantifiable records were generated for this German migration than for other European arrivals. Exploiting these records, along with using the substantial literary writings and personal correspondences that have survived, for this migration allows for a more complete description and detailed investigation than for any other European transatlantic migration in this era. Besides the magnitude and timing of German immigration, extensive knowledge about the immigrants themselves can be gleaned from these records, such as their educational levels, family structures, age profiles, and occupational backgrounds. The nature and difficulties of the recruitment and shipping process, and the travails of the voyage, including that of crowding, voyage mortality, and post-voyage mortality, are vividly revealed. This book provides the most comprehensive history of German migration to North America for the period 1709 to 1920 than has been done before. Employing state-of-the-art methodological and statistical techniques, the book has two objectives. First it explores how the recruitment and shipping markets for immigrants were set up, determining what the voyage was like in terms of the health outcomes for the passengers, and identifying the characteristics of the immigrants in terms of family, age, and occupational compositions and educational attainments. Second it details how immigrant servitude worked, by identifying how important it was to passenger financing, how shippers profited from carrying immigrant servants, how the labor auction treated immigrant servants, and when and why this method of financing passage to America came to an end. Farley Grubb is Professor of Economics at the Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics at the University of Delaware, USA. Routledge explorations in economic history Edited by Lars Magnusson Uppsala University, Sweden 1 Economic Ideas and Government Policy Contributions to contemporary economic history Sir Alec Cairncross 2 The Organization of Labour Markets Modernity, culture and governance in Germany, Sweden, Britain and Japan Bo Stråth 7 Production Efficiency in Domesday England, 1086 John McDonald 8 Free Trade and its Reception 1815–1960 Freedom and trade: volume I Edited by Andrew Marrison 9 Conceiving Companies Joint-stock politics in Victorian England Timothy L. 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No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Grubb, Farley Ward, 1954– German immigration and servitude in America, 1709–1920/Farley Grubb. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. 1. German Americans–History. 2. Immigrants–United States–History. 3. Indentured servants–United States–History. 4. Germany–Emigration and immigration–History. 5. United States–Emigration and immigration–History. 6. German Americans–Statistics. 7. Immigrants– United States–Statistics. 8. Indentured servants–United States– Statistics. 9. Germany–Emigration and immigration–Statistics. 10. United States–Emigration and immigration–Statistics. I. Title. E184.G3G78 2011 973 .0431–dc22 2010053093 ISBN: 978-0-415-61061-2 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-203-81050-7 (ebk) Typeset in Times by Wearset Ltd, Boldon, Tyne and Wear Contents Lists of figures and tables Preface 1 Introduction xii xvii 1 PART I German immigration to America, 1709–1835 A 15 The migration experience: magnitudes, causes, conveyances, and conditions 2 The flow of immigrants, 1727–1835 17 3 The transatlantic shipping market 52 4 Morbidity and mortality on the North Atlantic passage 71 B Immigrant characteristics and human capital 5 Age, occupation, and family composition 89 6 Literacy: longitudinal patterns and market forces 106 7 The age structure of German immigrant literacy 131 8 Educational choice in the era before free public schooling 144 x Contents PART II German immigrant servitude in America, 1745–1835 A 157 Patterns of servitude among the immigrants 9 The incidence of servitude in transatlantic migration, 1771–1804 159 10 Servant auction records, 1745–1831: the proportion of females among the servants 181 11 The occupational and geographical distribution of immigrant servant labor in the Delaware valley 197 B The market for German immigrant servants 12 Determining the method of entering servitude and modeling its performance 220 13 Servant contract choice and shipper profits 244 14 The auction of German immigrant servants in Philadelphia, 1771–1804 255 15 Debt shifting within German immigrant families 276 C The end of German immigrant servitude in America, 1784–1835 16 Processing German servants at the port of Philadelphia, 1817–31: the documents 303 17 The disappearance of organized immigrant servant markets in the U.S.: five popular explanations reexamined 316 18 The collapse of the German immigrant servant market: timing and causes 341 Contents xi PART III Epilogue: German immigration to the U.S., 1820–1920: from founding migration to mass migration 373 19 German immigration to the U.S., 1820–1920: magnitudes, patterns, and relative shares 375 20 German immigrants in the mass migration era 398 Index 424 Figures and tables Figures 2.1 The flow of German immigrants through the port of Philadelphia, 1727–1835 5.1 Adult male literacy among German immigrants to Pennsylvania 6.1 Patterns of regional literacy growth in rural colonial America 6.2 Supply and demand model of colonial literacy decline and growth caused by changes in population density 7.1 Illiteracy percentage by year: German immigration to Philadelphia, 1727–75 7.2 Age structure of illiteracy: logit regressions, German male immigration to Philadelphia, 1730–54 12.1 Immigrant servant contract entered into by Mary Elizabeth Bauer, 1767 12.2 Immigrant servant contract entered into by Anna Margareta Sahlin, 1785 12.3 Immigrant servant contract entered into by Daniel Kent, 1784 12.4 The basic market model of adult German redemptioner servitude 12.5 The enhanced market model of adult German redemptioner servitude 15.1 Servitude among German immigrant children, 1785–1804 16.1 Passenger contract for German immigrants on board the ship Favorite, captain John Alftan [Alston], bound for Philadelphia from Amsterdam 17.1 The demand hypothesis of the end of European immigrant servitude 18.1 Percentage of servants among German immigrants to Pennsylvania, 1772–1835 18.2 Adult passage fares, contract prices, and per-year contract prices, 1772–1835 28 97 114 119 132 136 224 225 226 232 236 287 309 334 347 350 Figures and tables 18.3 The supply and demand for German servants in the Philadelphia market, 1772–1821 19.1 German immigration to the U.S., 1820–1920 19.2 German emigration rates and destination percentages, 1820–1920 19.3 U.S. immigration: ethnic shares, 1820–1920 19.4 Ports of embarkation for German emigrants, 1847–1920 (percentage distribution) 19.5 Origins of German overseas emigrants by region, 1830–1910 19.6 Percentage distribution of German immigrants to the U.S. by port of arrival, 1840–90 19.7 U.S. decennial censuses: foreign-born percentages, 1850–1920 20.1 Percentage male for select immigrant groups, 1820–1920 20.2 Percentage of immigrants in selected age groups by ethnic category, 1820–1920 20.3 Occupational distribution among adult male immigrants to the U.S., 1820–1920 xiii 351 377 383 384 386 388 390 393 401 403 408 Tables 1.1 Percentage distribution of the white population of the United States by nationality and state from the 1790 census 1.2 The raw distribution of the white population of the United States by nationality and state from the 1790 census 1.3 Estimated population growth in the Delaware valley colonies, 1730–75 2.1 Regional distribution of German immigrants’ residence of origin by port of departure, 1798–1808 2.2 Distribution of the ports of origin for German immigrants to Philadelphia, 1727–75 2.3 Distribution of the ports of origin for German immigrants to Philadelphia, 1785–1804 2.4 Regression results: the determination of the variance of German immigration to Pennsylvania, 1727–74 2.5 Seasonal distribution of German immigrants arriving in Philadelphia, 1727–1804 2.6 Port of last clearance for German immigrant vessels arriving in Philadelphia, 1727–75 2.7 Regression results: determination of crowding (passengersper-ton) on vessels carrying German immigrants to Philadelphia, 1727–74 3.1 The activities of the Steadman family in shipping German immigrants to Philadelphia, 1731–54 3.2 Role of ship captains in carrying German passengers to Pennsylvania 2 3 3 22 23 24 30–1 34 36 40 54–5 61 xiv Figures and tables 3.3 Consignment of German redemptioner cargos in Philadelphia, 1751–74 3.4 Trans-Atlantic passage fares for adult male Germans, Holland to Philadelphia, 1708–1819 3.5 German immigrants per ship Holland to Philadelphia, 1727–74 4.1 Passage mortality: German immigration to Pennsylvania, 1727–1805 4.2 Debarkation morbidity for men above age 15, German immigration to Pennsylvania, 1727–54 4.3 Estimates of first year German immigrant versus resident mortality: Philadelphia, 1738–62 4.4 Distribution of major descriptive causes of mortality due to infectious disease in Christ-Church parish, Philadelphia, 1747–75 5.1 Ratio of dependent migrants to adult male migrants 5.2 Social composition of German and English immigrants to Pennsylvania, 1709–1820 5.3 Family composition of German and English immigrants to Pennsylvania, 1727–1820 5.4 Age distribution of adult German and English immigrants to Pennsylvania, 1730–1820 5.5 Occupational distribution of adult male German and English immigrants arriving in Pennsylvania, 1709–1820 6.1 Studies of colonial adult male literacy, 1650–1840 6.2 Studies of European adult male literacy, 1633–1840 7.1 The age structure of illiteracy for male German immigrants to Philadelphia, 1730–54 8.1 Education specified in servant contracts for German immigrant children in Pennsylvania, 1771–1804 8.2 Education and age of German immigrant servants in Pennsylvania, 1787–1804 9.1 The distribution by family status of the incidence of servant contracting among German immigrants to Pennsylvania, 1785–1804 9.2 The incidence of servitude for adult parents by family size: German immigration to Pennsylvania, 1785–1804 9.3 The incidence of servitude by age for adult male English emigrants, December 1773 to April 1776 9.4 The incidence of servitude among German immigrant children to Pennsylvania, 1785–1804 9.5 The incidence of servitude among immigrants to Pennsylvania, 1771–3 9.6 The incidence of immigrant servitude across colonies, English immigration, 1773–6 63 65 66 74 75 76–7 83 91 91 92 95 98–9 108–9 110–11 135 147 151 161 163 164 165 167 172 Figures and tables 10.1 Composition of the four Philadelphia servant records, 1745–1831 10.2 The sexual composition of immigrant servants to Philadelphia by nationality, 1745–1831 10.3 Yearly estimates of the sexual composition of German and Irish servant immigration to Philadelphia, 1729–75 10.4 Age and marital status of female servants among German immigrants to Philadelphia, 1771–1831 11.1 The geographic distribution of immigrant servant purchasers: the Philadelphia market, 1745–1804 11.2 Distribution of immigrant servants and slaves by the percentage of resident population for select counties, 1771–3 11.3 The geographic distribution of Irish immigrant indentured servant purchasers by county of residence: Philadelphia market, 1745–46 11.4 The geographic distribution of British immigrant indentured and redemptioner servant purchasers by county of residence: the Philadelphia market, 1771–3 11.5 The geographic distribution of German immigrant redemptioner servant purchasers by county of residence: Philadelphia market, 1771–3 11.6 The geographic distribution of German immigrant redemptioner servant purchasers by county of residence: Philadelphia market, 1787–1804 11.7 The geographic distribution of British indentured and redemptioner servant purchasers by town of residence: the Philadelphia market, 1771–3 11.8 The geographic distribution of German immigrant redemptioner servant purchasers by town of residence: Philadelphia market, 1771–3 11.9 The geographic distribution of German immigrant redemptioner servant purchasers by town of residence: Philadelphia market, 1787–1804 11.10 The occupational distribution of German immigrant redemptioner servant purchasers: Philadelphia market, 1787–1804 11.11 Comparison of the percentage distribution of Pennsylvanian occupations with those of servant purchasers 13.1 Indentured versus redemptioner servitude in the Philadelphia immigrant market, 1745–73 13.2 Distribution of contract characteristics by contract type in the Philadelphia immigrant servant market, 1745–73 13.3 Average rates of return per voyage for financing German redemptioner immigration, 1802–19 13.4 Comparison of passenger-per-ton ratios xv 183 185 188–9 191 199 200 202 204–5 206 207–8 209 210 211 214–15 216 245 246 249 251 xvi Figures and tables 14.1 Redemptioner servant compensation for single adult male immigrants: Philadelphia, 1771–1804 14.2 The auction of British and German redemptioner immigrants: Philadelphia, 1771–3 14.3 Auction of German redemptioner immigrants: Philadelphia, 1787–1804 15.1 Seven families on the ship Britannia arriving from Rotterdam at Philadelphia, September 18, 1773 15.2 Six more families on the ship Britannia arriving from Rotterdam at Philadelphia, September 18, 1773 17.1 The market for German immigrant servants in Philadelphia, 1785–1831 17.2 Incidence of runaway servants among German immigrant servants in the Philadelphia ...