| − | The 100,000 Germans who came in the colonial era became farmers, with centers of settlement in southeastern Pennsylvania (where they are called "Pennsylvania Dutch"), upstate New York, and central North Carolina. They were mostly Lutheran and Reformed church members; the came in family-dominated groups for economic reasons. They were pushed out of Germany because the partible inheritance customs of their homeland meant that each child inherited a slice of the farm, and so farms were getting smaller and smaller. They found plenty of good, cheap land in America. | + | The 100,000 Germans who came in the colonial era became farmers, with centers of settlement in southeastern Pennsylvania (where the [[German]]-speaking [[Swiss]] are called "Pennsylvania Dutch"), upstate New York, and central North Carolina. They were mostly Lutheran and Reformed church members; the came in family-dominated groups for economic reasons. They were pushed out of Germany because the partible inheritance customs of their homeland meant that each child inherited a slice of the farm, and so farms were getting smaller and smaller. They found plenty of good, cheap land in America. |
| | After 1820 another 7 million arrived. Half went to farms in the Midwest. The other half went to cities, primarily port cities on the ocean (Baltimore, Philadelphia, Newark, New York), on the Great Lakes (Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee), on the Ohio River (Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Louisville), or the Mississippi (St. Louis and all cities north to St. Paul). There were a few cities not on rivers or lakes that attracted Germans, notably Columbus, Ohio, Indianapolis and Ft. Wayne, Indiana. | | After 1820 another 7 million arrived. Half went to farms in the Midwest. The other half went to cities, primarily port cities on the ocean (Baltimore, Philadelphia, Newark, New York), on the Great Lakes (Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee), on the Ohio River (Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Louisville), or the Mississippi (St. Louis and all cities north to St. Paul). There were a few cities not on rivers or lakes that attracted Germans, notably Columbus, Ohio, Indianapolis and Ft. Wayne, Indiana. |