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Research in Other Countries => Immigrants & Emigrants - General => Topic started by: Kayzee on Tuesday 05 January 10 19:51 GMT (UK)
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Hi,
Having just found that an ag lab with 7 children had emigrated to Kansas in 1889, I'm wondering how they could afford to? Would landowners pay for them to go out?
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Yes, you've guessed right - they were sponsored and this page should help with your query:-
http://ao.minisisinc.com/scripts/mwimain.dll/144/ARCH_DESC_FACT/FACTSDESC/REFD%2BRG%2B11-25?SESSIONSEARCH
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Thank you Rena - that explains a lot.
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Hi Kayzee: Just came across this thread. Your ag labs who went to Kansas in 1889 might have been assisted by a railroad. From the Kansas State Historical Society website:
"In 1854, the newly created territory of Kansas was opened for settlers. It was not until after the Civil War, however, that Kansas experienced a significant increase in population. Free and cheap land provided by the Homestead Act and the railroads attracted many settlers. More than 70 percent of the immigrants arriving in these first two decades, were engaged in agricultural pursuits. Agriculture remained the principal occupation for Kansans until the 1920s" (bold face added).
In order to encourage the building of new trackage in the west, the U.S. government gave railroads massive amounts of land along their right of ways. Railroads then sold the land to new settlers to make money. Alternatively, the Homestead Act of 1862 gave 160 acres to anyone who would live on the land for five years and improve it. The grants were administered by the U.S. Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management. The land patents, as the grants are called, can be searched at http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/. Click on Search Land Patents. The first screen is a survey that will ask for a postal code. Then you can search. Maybe you'll find that your ag labs became landowners
Regards,
John :o :o :o
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Hi Kayzee: The Kansas State Historical Society (www.kshs.org) has info on railroads and immigration. You can go here: http://www.kshs.org/research/collections/documents/online/westerntrails/exhibits/railroads.htm. Scroll down to see links to written materials.
From what I understand, passage on a ship to the U.S. was relatively inexpensive.
Regards,
John :o :o :o
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Parish poor law and workhouse funds sometimes paid to get the unemployed off the books and out of the parish
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Hi,
Thanks both, all very useful information, fascinating stuff. I take it they didn't manage to get any free land as the father and son were still coach cleaners years later, but then I suppose it was probably as today 'make sure you read the smallprint'!!!
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I take it they didn't manage to get any free land as the father and son were still coach cleaners years later, but then I suppose it was probably as today 'make sure you read the smallprint'!!!
Hi Kayzee:
Maybe your emigrant ag labs were in permanent recovery from the ag lab way of life. Ag Labs Anonymous with membership of two? ;)
John :o :o :o