emigrants return

[ernestine]

Why would someone who went to the East Cost of US in 1881 come back to England and marry. He went out in his teens. Was there a problem or was it for contract work.

[jorose]

All sorts of possible reasons to return: he might have been struggling in the US, illness or death of a relative at home, came back intending to find a wife in England and then return to the US, etc.  It's hard to say (assuming he then stayed in England) if it was supposed to be a permanent stay or if he came back for a visit and then stayed for some other reason (new wife didn't want to go to the US, inherited property or found a better job in England, etc).

I guess the questions you then need to ask if you want to try and work out why he might have come back would include:

What was his status in the US? Was he in the process of becoming a citizen or had already become a US citizen, did he own any property, what was his job?

What was there for him in England? Any family deaths around the time of his return, any family business, any property in the family.  Would he have possibly known his wife before he went to the US?

How long are we talking about here? Two years, five years, ten years?  Is it possible that he had made other trips back and forth between his original emigration and his eventual return to England?

[lily2103]

i have an entire family that came to the US for over 2 years to visit the fathers half brothers before returning to the Isle of Man.  The trip included mom, dad, 7 kids, and 3 servants...... quite a holiday for the 1860s 

erin