Hi List, I do not know about other migrants from Schleswig- Holstein but my ancestors certainly did not migrate for political reasons, in fact I think this claim of political migration and anti Bismarck tales is very much overdone. Yes, I remember my father telling me that his father claimed to be Danish but this was totally a result of anti-German hysteria in Australia during WW1 & WW11. I understand that many people from Schleswig- Holstein migrated to USA after the various civil wars against Denmark, now if they were against the militant policies of Bismarck, it was very strange of these Germans to be fighting in the American wars. greetings Wayne I have been reading a book on German Anzacs in the 1st World War( for those who don't know ANZAC is Australia and New Zealand Army Corps). In this book it states that some S-H people who migrated where anti German. "Given the forced incorporation of their duchy into Prussia in the 1860's, the original Kopplemans (or Koppelmanns) might even be regarded as political refugees; certainly, they would have had little love for the post-1870 Bismarckian Reich." and other similar statements are relatively frequently aired in the book. I know some people emigrated for land and others to avoid military service but would they have emigrated because of the German/ Bismark/Prussen take over of the area? Could this explain why one ancestor who left S-H in 1862 considered himself German when his son-in-law born 10km away in S-H who emigrated in 1871 said he was of 'Danish background'. Regards Gillian