My gguncle and two of his sisters left Rosenfelde, WP in 1889. Their
arrival is documented in Castle Garden records. "Family history" said that
he was avoiding the Kaiser's draft, and that they traveled separately to
Hamburg; he using the name of a previous friend/relative immigrant. My
understanding tho' was that in order to receive permission to emigrate,
citizens had to provide evidence of no outstanding debts, no outstanding
military service obligations, etc. Yet he traveled under his own name
according to the ship records. Anyone have any input on this issue?
Thanks.
Thomas Borns
Blue Springs MO USA
"There are three kinds of men:
Those that learn by reading.
The few who learn by observation.
The rest of them have to touch an electric fence." - Will Rogers
Back then all immigrants simply showed up for a quick medical exam to
make sure they weren't bringing some terrible disease into the
country. None of that illegals stuff. The question was probably asked
of any such immigrant later in life as to why they left house and home
to come to this country. The standard answer was never (or very
seldom) that we were poor peasants and had nothing to lose. Actually
that is why most people left but something else was usually created to
make the whole thing more palatable.
Escaping the draft was one such option. Back in the 1860s these draft
fearing immigrants turned right around and joined the Union army.
People simply wanted a better life and family rumors need to be taken
with a grain of salt.
Fred
Hi Guys
My understanding was that if they could get to Hamburg you could buy a passport to anywhere.I also believe it was the only port this could be done without papers...so any name could be on the passport
Please correct me the understanding with Military service 1830-50 was to do three years full service then the next four years were only during the summer ..this allowed you to "leave without permission" during the winter months unnoticed....our guy swam a river effectively putting him in another country and could continue on with normal papers got to Hamburg and used a different name
Finally didn't the Union during the civil war make the offer to the immigrants put on this uniform and become a citizen or get back on the boat
Kind Regards
Rick