Push/Pull Factors

Directions:  Read the article and watch the video to learn about push and pull factors.  Answer the following question:  What are the pull factors that encouraged European immigrants to move to Texas?

European Immigrants in the Republic of Texas

Tanner Hedrick

March 8, 2016

After Texas won its independence from Mexico in 1836, it became its own independent country and was named the Republic of Texas. During the years 1836-1846 immigrants moved here from various countries in Europe hoping to find a better life in the Republic in Texas. These immigrants took a chance and left their homes and countries to start a new life in a beautiful place with lots of land, rivers and mild climate. In areas where they settled in the Republic, you can still see evidence of their culture, hear their different languages being spoken and see their influence on the area they chose to settle. 

Life was different back in those days. The capital was located in Houston. There was not much money in the Republic because so much money had been spent on the war. There were not many roads to get from one town to the next and there were still attacks from Indians and Mexican troops near the border. The Republic wanted new people to move here to build towns, schools and roads for our new country. Our new government wanted people to move here from Europe to start new lives here. To help attract European immigrants to Texas, the empresarial system was used to designate colonies and bring immigrants here. 

Three of the most famous empresarios were Henri Castro from France and two Germans named Henry Fisher and Burchard Miller. In 1842, Henri Castro persuaded 600 families and men to move from their homes in France and come live near San Antonio, Texas. They started a colony called Castroville named after Henri Castro. Castro hired 27 ships and brought over 2,000 farmers from France to start new lives in Texas. In return for the French people leaving their homes, friends and country, Mr. Castro gave them a ship ride over to Texas, 320 acres, a house and tools to start their first farm. All of this only cost $240.00. In return, Castro gave all his colonists approximately 300,000 acres of land.  The ship ride was very difficult and would take months to get to Texas from France.  They would land in Galveston, Texas and take horses and buggy rides from Galveston to their new community and the trip was long and hard and would take many weeks. Back then, a horse and buggy could only travel about 10 miles a day. 

Also in 1842, Henry Fisher and Burchard Miller were two empresarios who helped bring 6,000 German, Swiss, Norwegian, Swedish and Danish families to settle on 3 million acres between the Llano and San Saba Rivers. These immigrants moved away from their countries and chose to move to Texas where costs were cheap and taxes were not high.

A small number of European immigrants moved to Texas from Switzerland, Sweden and Norway. The Swiss immigrants settled in the northern part of Texas. They helped to bring dairy farming to Texas. The first Swedish immigrants settled mainly in the towns of Galveston and Houston. The first Norwegian immigrants settled near the Dallas area and in East Texas.

The largest groups of immigrants to move to Texas were from Germany.  During 1836 and 1846 over 35,000 immigrants moved to Texas from Germany. They did not speak English and only spoke German. They had to learn a brand new language when they arrived in our country. They settled mostly in the areas of New Braunfels, Texas and Fredericksburg, Texas. Both of these towns have a strong German influence still seen today. You can still hear German accents spoken when you walk down the streets visiting these towns. You also still see some of the German influence in many of the buildings and homes were built with an architecture style from Germany. German foods like sausage, sauerkraut, German potato salad and German beer are very popular in these towns today. One of the largest water parks in the United States today is called the Schlitterbahn, which is a German word meaning slide. The Schlitterbahn water park is located in New Braunfels, Texas and was built with a German theme to remind us today of the strong German culture in this area. New Braunfels and other towns have yearly festivals called the Wurstfest and Oktoberfest that honor all the German people who immigrated here and to celebrate all the German traditions still seen today. 

The European immigrants sacrificed greatly by leaving their family and friends in their home countries of Germany, France, Norway, Sweden and many more and took a chance moving to Texas and starting a new way of life. Many died from the long trips over the ocean and malaria from mosquitos when they landed in Galveston. They slept in tents for months while waiting for their homes to be built, but coming to the new frontier of the Republic of Texas was worth it. Texans today owe gratitude for the sacrifices made by the European immigrants to settle Texas and start farms, build towns, hospitals and schools and they contributed to the creation of the Texas we have today. 

Tanner Hedrick is a seventh-grader at Midland Christian School. He is the son of Stephanie Hedrick and Larry Hedrick.