Part of the Middle Class: An Unusual Example of Migration to America

Jon T. Broadbooks
Dr. Sally West, Faculty Mentor

    This paper uses the journey of the Broadbooks family’s immigration and settlement in America as an example of the experiences of a small group of immigrants from Alsace-Lorraine who came to America as middle class citizens rather than arriving as poor refugees seeking a better life. The paper argues that these immigrants came to the United States not solely out of necessity but also out of convenience as they wished to maintain their previous socioeconomic status. These families settled in prime farming country in Western New York in the 1830’s, where they quickly integrated into existing German communities and successfully created new lives for themselves. Alsatian immigrants came from a rural part of Europe often ignored in immigration studies, but the experiences of these families is a fascinating example of the push and pull factors of immigration to the United States on a smaller scale than typically studied by historians.

Keywords: Immicration, Alsace, Migration, German Immigration, Western New York, Middle Class Farmers , Genealogy

Topic(s):History 496: Genealogy and Family History

Presentation Type: Oral Presentation

Session: TBA
Location: TBA
Time: TBA