Possible causes for the Peikerts to immigrate from Germany
Julius Peikert and his wife, Emma nee Hauser, immigrated from Loiusenfelde, Prussia (now Brandenburg) to New York in July 1885. They were aged 32 and 27 respectively. Germany was doing better than most of Europe at that time, what drove the immigrations from Germany to the US during that time? In the mid-1800s, many Germans and Irish migrated to the United States. The Irish came because of the potato famine, the Germans came to escape political persecution. The Germans in the middle of the century came with money and so were able to spread out across the US with major centers in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. When emperor Bismarck came to power in Germany, he began consolidating the various states and building alliances with Austria/Hungary and Italy against France. The German empire had great influence over the Nordic countries as well as the Netherlands. This was the Germany that Julius and Emma grew up in. It was becoming a world power and cautiously eyeing Russia's desire to grow...