General Port
Information
| Early emigration from Germany was from whatever port was
most convenient. Those who lived along the Rhine normally used Rotterdam or Amsterdam in
the Netherlands, both located at or near the mouth of the Rhine, or Antwerp located nearby
in Belgium. Emigrants from Switzerland, Baden and Alsace often found it preferable to
cross France on foot or by wagon to the port at La Havre rather than pay the many tolls
along the Rhine. Those in the interior of Germany might journey overland or on the the
Elbe and Weser Rivers and their tributaries to reach the ports of Hamburg or Bremen. These
two ports, however, were seldom used for emigration before the 1830s.. The conditions
which the early emigrant faced at all ports was deplorable. As strangers, often coming
from rural areas, they did not have the experience necessary to cope with the large
port-city environment and were easily taken advantage of. Before 1840 ship departures were
not regularly scheduled so emigrant had to find lodgings in the port cities, sometimes for
weeks, while their ships lay at anchor either waiting for all places on board to be booked
or waiting for a favorable wind with which to set sail. During this period the emigrant
was subjected to very high prices for food, lodging and provisions. These conditions,
which existed at all port cities, might even lead to complete impoverishment of the early
would-be emigrant and keep him from making the journey at all.
In the 1840s and 50s the construction of railroads began and that would eventually make
travel from home in the German interior to port a lot easier, and, at the same time, would
normally give the potential emigrant more than one port to choose from. This resulted in
the ports having to compete with one another for the emigrant trade and in time caused
them to offer better services than they had done previously. This development of rail
transportaion to port was probably less important a consideration for Emslanders who may
have had to go some distance out of their way to get to a railroad. (Map showing railroad lines in western
Hannover (Emsland to Bremen) in 1882.)
At the same time that railroads were devoloping, the two German ports, first Bremen
then Hamburg, were starting to seriously look after the welfare of their departing
emigrants, giving them a reputation as better ports of departure for emigrants than La
Havre and Rotterdam. By the 1870s extensive rail had been laid and the overseas voyage had
become rather well organzied. Also by then steam ships were replacing sailing vessels,
cutting travel time down considerably, while conditions on the ships and at port continued
to improve.
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Emigrants wait on the docks in Bremen
Image and caption from the book German Settlement in Missouri, New
Land, Old Ways by Robyn Burnett and Ken Luebbering, p. 14 (crediting A E Schroeder
Collection, Western Historical manuscipt Collection, Columbia, MO, courtesy Countess von
Lippe, Stuttgart), |
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Die Zeit (German Newspaper), Jul 27, 1990, page 13-14, Auf nach Amerika
by Godehard Weyerer
Fame, Fortune and Sweet Liberty; The Great European Emigration Dirk Hoerder and
Diethelm Knauf, editors, Edition Temmen, 1992.
German Ports: Gateway to America by Raymond S Wright III (on Ancestry .com)
http://ancestry.com/library/view/ancmag/686.asp
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