Westward migration: state of birth 1880 census

[King of Kensington]

It's pretty clear that there were Yankee, Pennsylvanian/Midlander, Virginian etc. routes westward (directly westward for the most part). 

Here's the Midwest, listed in order of year of statehood, in the 1880 census, with populations of the source states of New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Kentucky.

Ohio

Pennsylvania  138,163
New York  64,138
Virginia  51,647
Kentucky  32,492

Indiana

Kentucky  73,928
Pennsylvania  51,234
New York  26,506
Virginia  24,538

Illinois

New York  120,190
Pennsylvania  89,467
Kentucky  61,920
Virginia  27,904

Missouri

Kentucky  102,799
Virginia  54,058
Pennsylvania  37,220
New York  32,126

Michigan

New York  229,657
Pennsylvania  36,064

Iowa

New York  82,690
Pennsylvania  77,357
Virginia  15,531
Kentucky  12,920

Wisconsin

New York  86,588
Pennsylvania  19,099

Minnesota

New York  47,006
Pennsylvania  15,032

Kansas

Pennsylvania  59,236
New York  42,779
Kentucky  32,978

Nebraska

New York  29,115
Pennsylvania  24,887

This is my source, some data is missing (but there was little migration from Virginia/Kentucky to say, Michigan and Wisconsin).

http://mapserver.lib.virginia.edu/

[Asian Nazi]

Yeah, this is one of the central claims of the book American Nations by Colin Woodard.  While I disagree with a lot that he writes, I find his claims regarding the settlement of the Midwest to be compelling.  You can see remnants of these settlement patterns in things like voting, architecture, religion, and reported ancestry.

[jimrtex]

It's pretty clear that there were Yankee, Pennsylvanian/Midlander, Virginian etc. routes westward (directly westward for the most part). 

Here's the Midwest, listed in order of year of statehood, in the 1880 census, with populations of the source states of New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Kentucky.

This is my source, some data is missing (but there was little migration from Virginia/Kentucky to say, Michigan and Wisconsin).

I have read that one reason was that farmers would seek a climate similar to the one that they were familiar with. Typically migrants would be children who would not inherit the family farm. The older sons might be more likely to leave, because their father would likely still be healthy when they came of age. No farm means no wife and no children. If all the land was settled, the only choice would be to move on. A younger son might become an adult when his father was not able to do all the heavy work, or perhaps was ailing, or in some cases to take care of his widowed mother.

It was easier to get to Michigan and Wisconsin from New York, than Kentucky or Virginia, since the journey could be done by boat. Northern Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois are also reachable by boat, but not the parts closer to the Ohio River, which results in the more mixed population. I suspect that there would be big differences by county.

Post Civil War there would be railroads, so I would expect to see increased mixing in 1890 and 1900.

[King of Kensington]

Woodward really ought to stop his regions at the Canadian border.

[King of Kensington]

This seems to explain the high German ancestry in Kansas, even though the German-born population in 1890 (when the German-born population in the US peaked) wasn't particularly high.

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1906&dat=19880601&id=rPsfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=mgQFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1160,1376702&hl=en

[Asian Nazi]

Woodward really ought to stop his regions at the Canadian border.

I agree, though I would give him credit for writing about how much cross-migration there was between Canada and the United States historically.  I'm sure that Canadians know about it, but it's not something that gets acknowledged much over here.

[freepcrusher]

obviously it explains why Indiana votes republican NOW  but it doesn't explain why it was republican decades ago, if most of the population was from Kentucky.

[Cubby]

I'm surprised Michigan was settled by so many New Yorkers. I know the states are close to each other but it's the highest number of any state on that list. 

[King of Kensington]

Michigan was known as the "Yankee West" or "third New England":

http://tinyurl.com/jcg6j76

[jimrtex]

This seems to explain the high German ancestry in Kansas, even though the German-born population in 1890 (when the German-born population in the US peaked) wasn't particularly high.

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1906&dat=19880601&id=rPsfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=mgQFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1160,1376702&hl=en

I don't think a lot of people realize that the 'Dutch' in Pennsylvania Dutch comes from Deutsch and not Duits.

Dwight Eisenhower was born in Dennison, Texas. His parents were from Kansas, but his father was working for a railroad in Texas. Ike had been told by his brothers that he was born in Tyler, and it was only after he became well-known during WWII that it was discovered that he had been born in Dennison. The family later returned to Abilene, Kansas, where he grew up and considered his home town. He may have made it more prestigious for Kansans to be of German ancestry. Dwight's great-grandparent's surnames were: Eisenhauer, Dissinger, Miller, Raysor, Matter, Romberger, Dietrich, and unknown. If the Miller was an anglicized Mueller, that would be totally German ancestry.

Eisenhower's paternal ancestor Hans Eisenhauer immigrated to Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1741. Dwight was 6th-generation.

Dwight's mother was from the Shenadoah Valley of Virginia, but at least partially of German ancestry (Stover, Burkhardt, Schindler) who had moved to Kansas after being denied an opportunity to go to high school in Virginia (she had been orphaned, then raised by relatives, she ran away to Kansas to live with two older brothers).

[King of Kensington]

A significant share of the German ancestry population in the lower Midwest or non-Yankee Midwest must trace their roots back to Pennsylvania rather than 19th century immigration.

[King of Kensington]

Adding a few more states.  Tennessee sent more north than I thought:

Ohio

Pennsylvania  138,163
New York  64,138
Virginia  51,647
Kentucky  32,492
Maryland  20,091
West Virginia  12,812
Massachusetts  10,854  

Indiana

Kentucky  73,928
Pennsylvania  51,234
New York  26,506
Virginia  24,538
Tennessee  10,969

Illinois

New York  120,190
Pennsylvania  89,467
Kentucky  61,920
Tennessee  37,400
Virginia  27,904

Missouri

Kentucky  102,799
Tennessee  72,454
Virginia  54,058
Pennsylvania  37,220
New York  32,126

Michigan

New York  229,657
Pennsylvania  36,064
Massachusetts  9,591
New Jersey  7,903

Iowa

New York  82,690
Pennsylvania  77,357
Virginia  15,531
Kentucky  12,920

Wisconsin

New York  86,588
Pennsylvania  19,099
Massachusetts  8,274

Minnesota

New York  47,006
Pennsylvania  15,032 

Kansas

Pennsylvania  59,236
New York  42,779
Kentucky  32,978
Tennessee  15,649

Nebraska

New York  29,115
Pennsylvania  24,887

[King of Kensington]

So here's a very crude estimate of the Pennsylvania German-descended population in some Midwestern states.  Basically I estimate the Pennsylvania stream of the native-born native parentage population in 1890 (based on a rough estimate PA share of those born "back east" or the Upper South) and assume 25% of them are of German descent.

German foreign stock share (1890), estimated PA German, estimated German ancestry:

Ohio   18%  7%  25%

Indiana  12%  7%  19%

Iowa  17%  6%  23%

Kansas  9%  7%  16%

And here's mother state:

Pennsylvania  11%  15%  26%

There are practically no Yankees and very few Southerners of German descent, so I don't excluding them makes much difference.

In PA, there was some German immigration in the 19th century, but German immigrants and their children wouldn't have outnumbered the colonial era Germans.  They're about a quarter in Ohio and Iowa, and over a third in Indiana and Kansas.

Obviously in Yankee-settled states like Wisconsin about 98% of the German ancestry population would have come from direct immigration.