Reasons Ancestors Left Their Native Homeland
It is a very good item, ancestral homelands, you should try to figure out for your family history. Leaving not only family homeland, but leaving everything behind including other family members was never an easy decision.
So here are a few suggestions for the reason why different groups left to come to America.
Those from Ireland, especially in the first half of the 1800s left due to extreme poverty and lack of food to be grown. During those years was a major potato famine in Ireland. About 11% of the American population was Irish.
Many people from Italy came to America between 1870 and 1914 because there was not enough work / jobs in Italy. So especially young men left Italy for America. About 6% are of Italian heritage.
Those from Germany in the early 1800s left because of religious persecution. Others due to pressing men into the German military service. Many Germans came to America, producing one of the largest ethnic groups in America, about 15%.
If you have ancestors from England, the time frame could go back to the 1600s, and there were different reasons including religious freedom, acquiring land for the younger sons, or those sent as prisoners (debtors) to the colony of Georgia. Even later years there were about 4 million Englishmen coming to America in the 1890s, many for job opportunities.
Not just Europeans, but many from Mexico have immigrated to USA. Mexicans make up about 11% of the American population.
Another major group was the enslaved Africans brought to America since the 1600s until mid-1800s. So African-Americans (Blacks) are about 12.3% of the USA population.
Once you have discovered your ancestors’ homeland especially a region or city, you might be interested in going there to see where your relatives once lived. However, a reminder, the homeland of your ancestors is not the same as when they lived there, especially if it has been decades. Learn about the history of the region when they did live there and what happened over the years. Add that information to your family history.
Photos: Landing and seeing Statue of Liberty; Irish immigrants in 1890s; Immigrants arriving at Ellis Island in 1900; and a Nation of Immigrates.
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