Motivation

In 1851, Hans Martin and Anna Maria Auer and their children boarded the Bavaria in Le Havre, France to sail for New York.

They would settle in New York's 'burned over district', just up the road from where bloomers originated; a son would fight in the Civil War; a daughter would name her child Belva; and another daughter would remember ____ in her will. 

These things, and many more, lie embedded within the history of 'this country to which they came'. Here, we briefly examine the economic, political and social evolution of the Nation that welcomed the Auers in 1851.  Most of us would struggle to identify the key moments in history occurring between the conclusion of the War of 1812 and the onset of the Civil War.  Yet, this was a period that gave a Nation its identity; an identity which persists in corners of our country, both light and dark, to this day.  An overview of our Nation in the decades preceding the mid-point of the 19th Century may allow us to better appreciate the excitement and challenges of immigration and to better understand and appreciate our immigrant family.