Dear Karen May I add a big one? RELIGIOUS FREEDOM ! > In a message dated 2/27/2006 6:44:05 PM Mountain Standard Time, > KarenHob@aol.com writes: > circumstances that might have caused them to emigrate. (I am > wondering if the living conditions experienced by my ancestors might have > been comparable to the conditions experienced by the Poles in Prussian Silesia.) > > Circumstances that could cause emigration from just about anywhere in the > Austrian lands: > > 1. Avoiding military service, expecially if a war was looming. See > historic timelines for when wars occurred. > 2. Being sought by the police or creditors. > 3. Being from a large family with no hope of inheriting enough property to > make a good living & no other prospects. > 4. Other economic circumstances > Multiple crop failures. > Widespread depression > Family facing loss of land -- bankruptcy, deep in debt to moneylenders. > Loss of a job as a factory worker / journeyman tradesman. > Crowded conditions at home - successful home farm no longer able to > sustain growing family, someone has to go. > 5. Looking for adventure. > 6. Looking for better opportunity: > Industrial workers recruiters from the US promising a job and enough > money to bring the rest of the family within a year or two, then buy land. > Advertisements of free land in the US -- large plots europeans could not > hope to ever own. > 7. Cheap fares, boat captains willing to accept service for passage -- sell > a service contract for some years of work to pay after arrival in the US -- > make it easy to leave. > 8. Escaping epidemic while still healthy. > 9. Looking for healthier climate. > 10. No family left, no point in staying. > 11. Other. > > > > > > ==== GERMAN-BOHEMIAN Mailing List ==== > Visit the German-Bohemian Heritage Society Web Page! > http://www.rootsweb.com/~gbhs/ > >