Von: carpgl@ismi.net (The Carpenters)
  Datum: 12.02.99, 17:27:32
Betreff: Re: Why You May Not Find an Emigrant in the Baden or Wuerttemberg Emigration Index

There was another time and reason for emigration due to the military, a
time and reason that, as I understand it, sent my SCHAUB ancestors to
America.  This was the time of the 1860s, when King Wilhelm I and his chief
man, Bismarck, controlled Prussia.  They set up a very militaristic
government, ignored their own legislature, and built for war.  Bismarck is
famous for saying that unification of Germany as the most powerful nation
in Europe would not be done with speeches and votes by a majority, but with
blood and iron; i.e., with war and the military.  This might make a man
begin to think, and to think mightily.

Wilhelm and Bismarck took Austria and much of Germany.  To get the southern
parts "unified," Bismarck played German dislike/fear of France against
French dislike/fear of Germany, and brought on a war with France, soundly
defeating the French, capturing Napoleon III, and declaring the King as
Emperor (Kaiser) of the German Empire.

It would seem likely that a man with a farm and large family in an area not
too far from France might see what was coming, pack his bags, and trundle
his family elsewhere post haste.  Perhaps this is why my folks came to
America, and also why the two oldest sons remained.  Maybe they were
already conscripted.  A lot of people came from Germany in the 1860s, and I
think this was one important cause.

George Carpenter
Michigan, USA
----------
> From: Rick & Sandy Schultz

> I just finished reading "The German Revolution of 1849" by Dahlinger,

> "Arriving at the safe haven of Switzerland, the troops were at once
> disarmed; the Swiss government took possession of all military effects,
and
> the men scattered in all directions, discouraged and disheartened, to
begin
> life again -- in Switzerland, some in France, others in England, by far
the
> larger number in the United States -- but their native land knew them no
> more, some forever."