The subtitle of this book is “How the Second Great Wave of Immigrants Made Their Way in America”. The time frame, 1870 to 1920, is when the largest group of immigrants arrived on our shores. This is between the Civil War, until just after World War I, when immigration rules were tightened to exclude numerous groups of peoples. While every immigrant had a different experience, some commonalities exist. There were a variety of locations people moved to, often determined by who from their family or village had moved there first. Most started off on the bottom rung of society. Some never got much past that level, but many, and the children of most, managed to get further up the ladder.
Toward the early part of this time frame, many of the immigrants from Europe came to the United States with the express purpose of buying land and farming. Buying land was something that was more difficult to do in Europe, and there was a lot of land available for purchase in the United States at that time. Most of this land was in what we now consider Middle America, but was then on the frontier, or not far behind it. Recent immigrants had to deal with the same thing others did – storms, drought, and insects. However, immigrants also may have missed many things from their home countries, especially foods. Those who moved to cities or mining towns for work had different challenges. Wages, although they may have been higher than in their home country, were still low. Working conditions were pretty uniformly deplorable; OSHA was a long way in the future.
Another thing immigrants to cities or towns encountered was boarding houses. This could be a benefit for the newcomer, since usually they found people from the same region to board with. If the landlords were a couple, it meant a lot of work for the wife, however. And most available accommodations were subpar, and probably located in a ghetto, or slum, where other immigrants also lived. However, also in the ethnic neighborhoods were groups and businesses established specifically with immigrants in mind, including banks and places where you could buy a steamship ticket, for yourself or a family member. Being in an ethnic enclave had benefits – you could hear you native language spoken daily, for example. But it also meant some immigrants didn’t bother to learn English or become citizens, something that became more expected of them in the WWI time frame.
If this was your family, how would you research them? Where your immigrant ancestor came from may have influenced where they went when they arrived in the United States. When you find them in the census, you will likely find others from the same native country nearby. And they may have made subsequent moves, also influenced by fellow former countrymen. They might have belonged to organizations specific to their nationality, and look for news of them in newspapers written in their native language. The census might also tell you if they have started to learn English, or taken out first papers in their effort to become naturalized American citizens.