The Early Arrival of the Germanic Immigrants, 1836-1854.

The first Fourty-eighters arrived in Davenport, Iowa via steamboat. The Passenger Steamboat Anthony Wayne, also known as PS General Wayne, brought the Forty-eighters from ports in New Orleans to Davenport in 1847.

The exact reason why the Germanic immigrants from the states of Schleswig and Holstein is unknown. It may have been due to the ability for them to find new lands that had been recently open to settlement. The first Germanic immigrants arrived in the region in 1836, Many of these individuals farmed or worked trades jobs and one was a physician. These people, especially the physician, wrote to their family and friends in Schleswig-Holstein and influenced many future immigrants to come to Davenport.

German Immigrant Luggage. 1800's. Wood, Metal, Leather

This trunk was from an affluent immigrant to Davenport, Iowa. Friederike Henningsen, a Germanic immigrant, would have filled this trunk with many of the neccessities to start a new life.

1800's

Leather, Wood, Metal

This trunk was typical for the average Germanic immigrant. Simply made of wood and metal, it would have carried their belongings from the Germanic States to Davenport, Iowa.

The Germanic immigrants to Davenport, Iowa would have had to pack all of their belongings that they would carry with them in trunks such as these. The luggage would need to hold everything that they would have needed to start their new life, and some of their valuables from their former homeland.

Additionally, many shipline companies required that the immigrants carry enough food with them to support them through the entire journey. The food items would fill the barrels that they carried with them. Daily use items would be placed into the cases, and larger items that did not need accessed would be located in the trunks.

Many of these immigrants started their new lives in Davenport as farmers, trades workers, and some advanced careers. They would write letters to their friends and relatives in the Germanic states telling them about the new lands in which they lived. These letters would serve to inspire many more Germans who would emigrate due to the revolutions in the Germanic states to come to Davenport, Iowa.