I didn't see anyone responding to your query so will suggest that a lot of ethnic societies recruited immigrants. The German groups were said to be both better organized and had more money. Many German families had been here long enough to have some economic success, even as early as 1850. In the midwest, pre-civil war is very early. Ohio was then referred to as in the West. As a sidebar, the midwest division of USTennisAssociation was, until a couple of years ago, the Western division. Historical impairment being endemic, it caused endless confusion, probably for at least 50 of the last, oh, 110 years, and has now been renamed. Some societies bought land before recruiting. I suspect it was more common to recruit on faith and hope but again, some German groups were better organized. Some promoters had good reputations and recruited relatively reliably. Many or perhaps most individual promoters were in it for the money and scams were very common. After the Homestead Act, during the Civil War, the situation changed. In Wisconsin, at least, it changed again with the logging off of the north woods. The great Chicago fire is eclipsed in deaths by the Peshtigo, WI, fire of the same week in 1872 (maybe 1871). The logging companies made money on the logs and then sold off the land, much of it thru brokers who recruited recent immigrants to the USA to their "cleared land." The stumps were, of course, horrendous and most places had no water. Sometimes a whole village would resettle together. I recall hearing from a descendant how her grandparents village priest brought them all to America together in the 1870's. She was horrified the priest would have had such power; I suspect the story wasn't uncommon. The date would tie into German unification. Unclaimed land would eventually been sold for back taxes: it reverted to the probably county authorities, they sold it to a neighbor who wanted to expand his/her holdings. Failed homesteads were sold this way too. You've written Green Bay, Mantowoc county. Green Bay as a city I believe to be in Brown county. Manitowoc is nearby. Good hunting, Ashley ------------------------------------------------------------------------ NancyL916@aol.com wrote: > >From a totally ignorant new Yorker who doesn't know a thing outside of her NY > boundaries. > :) > Were there certain German Societies in the 1850s that would sponser > immigrants, by way of the promise of land? > I saw an interesting post on a NY list, where someone said a German Society > would sponser a whole group from a certain area in Germany (by way of > literature..Like a sales pitch.) to lure them to the midwest where land was > promised. From NY they booked passage for points further west. > Question..Would the land have had to be bought before they even left the > homeland? > Question..If it was BUT they never left NY, what would happen to the land if > they didn't claim it? > I.m looking at Green Bay, Mantowoc County. > Thanks > Nancy > > <A HREF="http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~blkyn/Bklyn.Info.Page.html"> > Brooklyn Info Page</A> > > ==== GenWisconsin Mailing List ====