Why Did Your Ancestors Immigrate to Minnesota?

I often wonder why my ancestors chose to immigrate to Minnesota, with its long, cold winters and humid, mosquito-filled summers.  But they came here, long before central heating or air-conditioning; before 4-wheel drive or paved roads and highways.

1

Those lovely Minnesota winters

They endured blizzards, fires, floods and tornadoes, but also found rich farmland, and an abundance of lakes, fishing, hunting and forests. What were they hoping to find? What were they expecting to find?

2

Horse drawn sled, northern Minnesota, early 1900's.

A huge industry for many early immigrants.

Many states had PR masters who wrote pieces for newspapers and brochures that were sent to Europe and Scandinavia extolling and glorifying the wonders of specific states, including Minnesota. In fact, on March 2, 1855, the Minnesota legislature “passed a measure providing for an emigration commissioner at New York which was reenacted in amended form at its next session. In pursuance of this law, the governor on March 16, 1855, named Eugene Burnand for the position thereby created.”³  pg. 79

4

Promotional copy such as the following from “Minnesota as it is in 1870,”⁴ was intended to make Minnesota sound like heaven on earth to prospective immigrants:


“From letters from almost every county in the State the same report has come of the abundance of fish in all the streams and lakes, "fish inexhaustible," "a world of fish," "fish by the wagon load." Instead of reiterating the same story in every county, we make this general statement as applicable to about every county in the State. They are caught in immense quantities, winter and summer.”⁴  pg. 180

5

Minnesota's State Fish: the Walleye

“We are at St. Paul, so near latitude 45 that we may say we are on that parallel. It is the latitude of Venice and of Southern France. St. Paul is a little south of the parallel and so is Bordeaux. We travel northwest four hundred and fifty miles to the boundary between the United States and the British possessions, before we reach the latitude of Paris. We do not think of the people in France as dwelling in a frozen region--why should we those of Minnesota?”⁴   pg. 123

6

   45^th Parallel North runs through Minneapolis straight east through France

“No other country has such a domain. The plains of Bavaria and Hungary, upon which Central Europe relies for its grain, united, would not exceed in area a single county in Minnesota. The fine lands of Prussia have a thin soil, while the wheat fields of France have been cultivated for centuries, and are only kept in heart by constant application of fertilizers; but here the soil is in its virgin state, yielding such returns as are not obtained in any other land, unless it be in the San Joaquin and Santa Clara valleys of California.


The most fertile acre of the Ganges Valley in India will not yield a greater return than these of the Northwest. The Nile and the Yangteze--their fertility renewed by each annual flood--may vie with the uplands of Minnesota; but there are sections along this Red River of the North--along the Cheyenne and Mouse rivers of Dakota--which are not surpassed by the richest in the heart of China or on the Delta of the Nile!”⁴  pg. 96

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Fields of grains in Minnesota

Do you know why your ancestors chose Minnesota?

LLet me help you find out what parts of history your family had a role in.

pjefamilyresearch@gmail.com

¹http://siroccoscurios.wordpress.com/

²http://www.foresthistory.org/ASPNET/Publications/region/9/history/chap5.aspx

³http://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/5/v05i03p167-203.pdf

⁴http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=lhbum&fileName=01092//lhbum01092.db&recNum=0&itemLink=r?ammem/lhbumbib:@field(NUMBER+@band(lhbum+01092))&linkText=0

⁵http://realestatetwincities.net/minnesota-lakes/

⁶http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/45th_parallel_north

⁷http://www.organicriskmanagement.umn.edu/assets/img/Ch11.jpg