Network strategies of nineteenth century Hesse-Cassel emigrants

Between 1820 and 1930 over 5 million Germans emigrated to overseas destinations, most to the U.S. By the 1850s the number of German migrants living in the U.S. was large, a consequence partly of cumulative causation. I provide evidence for the dramatic increase in networks by using micro-level data...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The history of the family 2008, Vol.13 (3), p.296-314
Main Author: Wegge, Simone A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
19th century
Behavior
Cumulative causation
Emigration
Gender
Germans
Inter-generational relationships
Intergenerational Relations
Migration
Migration behavior
Networks
Siblings
Social networks
Strategies
Strong ties
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Summary:Between 1820 and 1930 over 5 million Germans emigrated to overseas destinations, most to the U.S. By the 1850s the number of German migrants living in the U.S. was large, a consequence partly of cumulative causation. I provide evidence for the dramatic increase in networks by using micro-level data for the German principality of Hesse-Cassel in the mid-nineteenth century. A conservative measurement of network relationships finds that after 25 years almost half of them were related to a previous family member from the same village. Migrants who used family networks tended to move in small units. Usually only a few years separated networked family members, but some links lasted over a decade. Women were unlikely to start a network but more likely than men to travel to the U.S. Within some families, migrants switched from continental destinations to the U.S., perhaps due to the failure of the 1848 March Revolution.
ISSN:1081-602X
1873-5398
DOI:10.1016/j.hisfam.2008.08.002