From 1683, when the first large group of Germans came to New York and Philadelphia, until the mid-1800s, 200,000 German speaking emigrants settled in North America. Most of the immigrants were from south-western Germany and among this group are those referred to as "Pennsylvania Dutch" (Deitsch or Deutsch -- from Germany, not Holland) and the "Plain People," referring to Amish, Mennonites and the Brethren.
High years of German emigration included the years 1709, 1727, 1732, 1738, 1742-1744, 1749-1754, 1764, 1770-1773, 1785-1802 (especially 1792-1796). During the year 1717 there appears to have been at least four ships to Pennsylvania, one to New York, and one to Virginia carrying Germans.
In the first national US census of 1790 there were about 280,000 (7% of the population) people of German descent in the country and by the end of the 18th century, one-third of the population of Pennsylvania was German.
Because large areas of the northern and western parts of the Pennsylvania were undistributed or undeveloped in 1790, and many other sections were thinly populated, the state state adopted generous land policies, distributed free "Donation Lands" to Revolutionary veterans and offered other lands at reasonable prices to settlers.
Starting with the year of starvation from poor harvests in 1816/1817 in Germany, a new period of emigration began; during the 18th century 80% of the German emigrants came through the port of Pennsylvania, many of them moving on from there to Maryland and Virginia.
During the 1850s, nearly 37% of immigrants arriving in the U.S. came from Germany; many choose to remain in Philadelphia following earlier German settlers. While New England cities such as Boston did develop a German community, these German centers were not among the largest or most influential. This stood in sharp contrast to the Irish, the other large immigrant group of the mid 1800s. Six of the nine cities with the densest Irish populations were in New England.
By 1860, with the possible exception of the northern tier counties, population was scattered throughout the state. There was increased urbanization, although rural life remained strong and agriculture involved large numbers of people.
As a result of the Gradual Emancipation Act of 1780, the 3,737 African American slave population of 1790 dropped to 64 by 1840, and by 1850 all Pennsylvania African Americans were free unless they were fugitives from the South. The African American community had 6,500 free people in 1790, rising to 57,000 in 1860. Philadelphia was their population and cultural center.
Most of the state's major cities were built along important river routes. In the 1790s, the state made extensive studies for improving the navigation of all major streams, and canals began to supplement natural waterways.
Canals extending the use of the Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers were chartered before 1815, and the Lehigh Canal was completed in 1838. The vast system named the State Works of Pennsylvania soon overshadowed privately constructed canals. The system linked the east and the west by 1834, but the expense nearly made the state financially insolvent. The benefits to the economic progress of distant regions, however, provided ample justification for the high cost.
Although canals declined rapidly with the advent of the railroad, Pennsylvania's ports and waterways remained active. The steamboat originated with experiments by John Fitch of Philadelphia from 1787 to 1790, and Lancaster County native Robert Fulton established it as a practical medium of transportation on the Ohio, Allegheny, and Monongahela Rivers.
In 1812, Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry was 28 years old and the man who said "We have met the enemy and they are ours." When the U.S. delcared war on Great Britain, Perry requested duty on the Great Lakes. Perry joined Commodore Isaac Chauncey's command on Lake Ontario; Chauncey decided Perry would be of better use in Erie, Pennsylvania, where a fleet was being constraucted to take control of Lake Erie from the British. Perry and his men successfully completed six vessels by July 1813 and thus began the Battle of Lake Erie with Perry aboard the flagship Lawrence. The British bombarded the Lawrence, she was severly damaged and 80% of the crew killed or wounded, so Perry took command of the Niagara, sailed her into the British battle line and broadsided their ships. Within 15 minutes, the British ships, already damaged from fire from the Lawrence, surrendered. Perry was the first in history to defeat an entire Britsh squadron and successfully bring back every ship to his base as a prize of war.
Damn Dutch: Pennyslvania Germans at Gettysburg
Stackpole Books
This work highlights the contributions of regiments of the Pennsylvania Dutch and post-1820 immigrant Germans at the Battle of Gettysburg. On the first day, the 1st Corps, in which many of the Pennsylvania Dutch regiments served, and the half-German 11th Corps, which had five regiments of either variety in it, bought with their blood enough time for the federals to adequately prepare the high ground, which proved critical in the end for the Union victory. On the second day, they participated in beating back Confederate attacks that threatened to crack the Union defenses on Cemetery Hill and in other strategic locations.
Chester Daily Times, May 6, 1880
Chester, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
A NEW YACHT TO BUILD.—The Pioneer Iron works, of Marcus Hook, has just closed a contract to build for L. Taylor Dixon, Esq. of Philadelphia, an iron steam schooner yacht to be 117-1/2 feet long, 15 feet beam and 94 feet depth of hold. She will have double compound engines 16 by 24 inches, with a 24 inch strobe. It will be a flush deck yacht, with nothing on deck except the skylights to admit light and ventilation. She will acacmmodate the officers and crew and have state rooms for several persons. All the interior apartments will be finished in hard cherry wood. She will be built for pleasure, elegence and comfort, and is expected to make ten knots per hour. Mr. Dixon proposes to go south, and is having this boat built to sail in. She will be one of the prettiest yachts afloat when finished, which will be about August 1st. The Pioneer company can congratulate themselves on securing the contract. This gives them a very good start making two on their order book to begin with. The place will be ready to start in a few days now.
