Pennsylvania Emigration and Immigration: Difference between revisions

*By June 3, 1631, the Dutch had begun settling the Delmarva Peninsula by establishing the Zwaanendael Colony on the site of present-day Lewes, Delaware. <ref name="Penn">"Pennsylvania", in Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania, accessed 8 April 2021.</ref>

 

Starting in 1638, Swedes and Finns settled between present-day Wilmington, Delaware and Philadelphia, and small settlements in West New Jersey. New Sweden claimed and, for the most part, controlled the lower Delaware River region (parts of present-day Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania) but settled few colonists there. In 1655, the Dutch took possession of all New Sweden.<ref>"New Sweden" in ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Sweden Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia]'' (accessed 7 November 2008).</ref><ref name="Penn"/>

In 1642, Englishmen from New Haven, Connecticut built a blockhouse at Province Island (now Philadelphia Airport) but were promptly driven out by the Dutch and Swedish. In 1664. as part of the Second Anglo-Dutch War the British forced New Netherland into submission. By 1670, the '''English, Irish, and Welsh''' predominated in the area. They settled mostly in Philadelphia and the eastern counties.<ref>Wayland Fuller Dunaway, "The English Settlers in Colonial Pennsylvania," ''The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography,'' Vol. 52, No. 4 (Oct. 1928):317-341. For free online access, see [http://www.werelate.org/wiki/Source:Historical_Society_of_Pennsylvania._Pennsylvania_Magazine_of_History_and_Biography WeRelate].</ref>  

'''Germans''' began coming to Pennsylvania in large numbers at the end of the 1600s. Pennsylvania was the top destination for German immigrants arriving in Colonial North America.<ref>Marianne Wokeck, "The Flow and the Composition of German Immigration to Philadelphia, 1727-1775," ''The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography,'' Vol. 105, No. 3 (Jul. 1981):249-278. For free online access, see [http://www.werelate.org/wiki/Source:Historical_Society_of_Pennsylvania._Pennsylvania_Magazine_of_History_and_Biography WeRelate].</ref>  

Scots-Irish started coming in large numbers after 1718. They settled first in the western Chester County area (later Lancaster county) and moved west over the Susquehanna River valley and Cumberland Valley area and later pushed into the western Pennsylvania counties of Westmoreland, Fayette, Washington, Greene, and Allegheny.  

It was estimated that 3000 to 4000 Irish immigrants arrived at the port of Philadelphia in the decades before and after the Revolution.<ref>Edward C. Carter, "A 'Wild Irishman' Under Every Federalist's Bed: Naturalization in Philadelphia, 1789-1806," ''The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography,'' Vol. 94, No. 3 (Jul. 1970):331-346. For free online access, see [http://www.werelate.org/wiki/Source:Historical_Society_of_Pennsylvania._Pennsylvania_Magazine_of_History_and_Biography WeRelate].</ref>  

===French===

Some Huguenots from New York migrated to Pennsylvania and settled in Berks and Lancaster counties. <ref>Wayland Fuller Dunaway, "The French Racial Strain in Colonial Pennsylvania," ''The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography,'' Vol. 53, No. 4 (Oct. 1929):322-342. For free online access, see [http://www.werelate.org/wiki/Source:Historical_Society_of_Pennsylvania._Pennsylvania_Magazine_of_History_and_Biography WeRelate].</ref>  

Swiss Mennonites began to settle in Lancaster county about 1710.  

Ship masters paid duties for importing '''African slaves''' into the colony.<ref>Darold D. Wax, "Negro Import Duties in Colonial Pennsylvania," ''The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography,'' Vol. 97, No. 1 (Jan. 1973):22-44. For free online access, see [http://www.werelate.org/wiki/Source:Historical_Society_of_Pennsylvania._Pennsylvania_Magazine_of_History_and_Biography WeRelate].</ref> Many people came to Pennsylvania and the other colonies as '''indentured servants'''. For an excellent discussion of "unfree labor," see Sharon V. Salinger, ''To Serve Well and Faithfully: Labor and Indentured Servants in Pennsylvania, 1682-1800'' (New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1987; Family History Library book {{FHL|604594|item|disp=FHL book 974.8 E6ss}}. It includes the names of some individuals who were indentured servants. The sources Salinger used can provide examples of the kind of records to search to find out information about these individuals.