{Selected portions of}
PORTUGUESE IMMIGRATION TO THE UNITED STATES:
ITS DISTRIBUTION AND STATUS
By
Christian John Bannick
A. B. (Stanford University) 1916
Thesis
University of California
December, 1917
Chapter I
INTRODUCTION AND BRIEF HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY AND EARLY INHABITANTS OF THE AZORE, CAPE VERDE AND MADEIRA ISLANDS
In tracing the history of Portuguese immigration to the United States, one is surprised to find that most of the Portuguese who come to America, come not from Portugal directly, but from the Azore, Cape Verde and Madeira Islands. In fact, prior to the Revolution In Portugal In 1908 about ninety-nine (99) per cent of the immigrants came from these islands, and only one (1) per cent from the continent.1
It would not be out of place, if for no other reason than for a background, to trace the history of the migration of these people to those islands and then from that point to America.
The history of these islands is closely linked up with that of Portugal. The discovery of the Azores was by a Saracen navigator who, in 1147, sailed from the mouth of the Tagus river a thousand (1, 000) miles straight toward the sunset. For two hundred (200) years however, isolation kept them outside the pale of history till their rediscovery by a Portuguese navigator, Bartholomeu Perestrello, in 1431. The Island of Madeira was discovered by Joao Goncalves Zarco and Tristao Vaz in 1420, while the Cape Verde Islands were discovered in 1460 by Diego Gomes, all of whom were sailing under the orders of the king of Portugal.2 These islands had to wait for the coming of the sea-faring Portuguese to supply them with a population; and only later, owing to the demand for slave labor, did they draw upon the human stock of nearby Africa, but even then by means of Portuguese ships. All these discoveries were the fruits of Prince Henry’s exploring ardour, who, year after year, despatched fleets of two and three ships at a time, which made important discoveries among the islands off the northwest coast of Africa.
The Portuguese are essentially an adventurous nation, fond of traveling and full of enterprise. On finding that the devastations caused by the Moorish Wars could not be easily repaired and that the part of the kingdom to the south of the Tagus was either in the hands of the military religious orders or was split up into large feudal estates these people, about 1525, gave up the bulk of their young men to man the Portuguese fleets and to serve in the armies in India and the East. At the same time whole families emigrated to Madeira and later to Brazil.
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From this time on small bands of people migrated to the islands, but it is not until 1668 that we first hear of the islands being used as a place to which undesirables and people who dared to criticize the government and its activities were deported. It was then that King Alfonso, who had been dethroned and shut up in a portion of the palace, was sent to the Azores.
Later in 1810 eighteen leading journalists were deported to the Azores. These men who dared to criticize the government for its methods in carrying on the war with France were part of the Radical Party in Lisbon, which were desirous of obtaining a peace with France.
Seventeen years afterwards Don Miguel, an ambitious prince, was declared regent. He immediately exiled all the leaders of the parliamentary, or, as it is usually called, the Chartist Party. His reign immediately became a Reign of Terror: arrests and executions were frequent; thousands were deported to Africa, and in 1830 it was estimated that forty thousand (40, 000) persons were in prison for political offences. He ruled in absolute contempt of all law, and at different times English, French and American fleets entered the Tagus to demand reparation for damage done, to commerce, or for the illegal arrest of foreigners. The result of his conduct was
that the country was hopelessly ruined, and the Radical and Chartist parties, who respectively advocated the Constitution of 1822 and the Charter of 1826 agreed to sink their differences and to oppose the bigoted tyrant.3
The Island of Terceira in the Azores had never recognized Don Miguel, and it was there in 1829 that Palmella, Villa Flor, Jose Antonio Guerreiro and Queveda Pizarro declared themselves a council of regency for Queen Maria de Gloria. On the 11th of August, 1830, they defeated a fleet sent against them by Dom Miguel in Praia Bay, and at this news all the Chartists and Radicals who could escape from Portugal, and the numerous Portuguese exiles in England and France, hastened to the Azore Islands.4
Since 1830 the density of Population of the Island of Madeira has trebled and of the Azores has doubled, while the population of the Cape Verde Islands, which are exposed to the tropical heat and the desiccating trade winds of the Sahara has greatly decreased. SUMMARY. . . Most of the Portuguese immigrants to the United States come from Portugal’s island possessions off the northwest coast of Africa. It is, therefore,
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important to note in what manner the islands themselves were populated. This was principally the result of sea-faring adventurers of the age of Prince Henry, the navigator, and later of political exiles of the various parties which in turn obtained possession of the government of Portugal. These islands are thickly populated with the one exception of the Cape Verdes, and we naturally expect that they will attempt to find an outlet for this surplus population.
Footnotes
1U. S. Census Reports, 1820 to 1900. Semple, “Influences of Geographical Environment,” p. 432.
2Stephens, “The Story of the Nations- Portugal, p. 144.
3Ibid., p. 418.
4Ibid. , p. 419.
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Chapter 2
THE HISTORY AND EXTENT OF PORTUGUESE IMMIGRATION
AND EMIGRATION TO AND FROM AMERICA
The Portuguese came to the United States as early as 1820, having shipped as sailors on whaling vessels which were sent out from New Bedford to the Azores. That port has continued to be a gathering point for the Portuguese, and there is found the largest and oldest Azorian colony in the United States. The immigration was very much accelerated during the latter part of the nineteenth (19th) century, and the statistics given below will show that there is a very steady influx of these foreigners from the Azore Islands and from the Island of Madeira. The Portuguese quarter in New Bedford, popularly known as “Fayal,” is now very prosperous, and represents the best Portuguese element in the East.1
Very little has been written on the question of Portuguese immigration to the United States, and almost nothing on the history of the Portuguese pioneers to our coasts. This, no doubt, is due to two causes; first, the small number of Portuguese immigrants in the United States, and, second, the inability to get direct from Portugal records of people leaving there. This latter fact arises because Portugal had no law regarding the issuance of passports, the people being permitted to go and come as they pleased. However, people entering Portugal were required to appear before the municipal authorities at the end of a six months period of residence.
Professor John R. Commons speaks of the Portuguese as follows: “A diminutive but interesting migration of recent years is that of the Portuguese, who come not from Portugal, but from the Cape Verde and Azore Islands, near equatorial Africa. These islands are remarkably overpopulated and the emigration, nearly nine thousand (9, 000) souls in 1906 is a very large proportion of the total number of inhabitants. By two methods did they find their way to America. One was almost accidental, for it was the wrecking of a Portuguese vessel on the New England coast that first directed their attention to that section. They have settled mainly at New Bedford, Massachusetts, where they follow the fisheries in the summer and enter the mills in the winter. The other method was that of solicitation, which took several thousand of them to Hawaii
as contract laborers on the sugar plantations. Unlike the Oriental importations to these islands the Portuguese insisted that their families be imported, and then as soon as
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their contracts expired they left the planters to become small farmers and are now the backbone of the coffee industry. They and their children are nearly half of the “Caucasian” element of thirty (30,000) thousand. In Massachusetts they are of two distinct types; the whites from the Azores and the blacks from the Cape Verde Islands. The latter are a blend of the Portuguese and Africans. Their standards of living are similar to those of the Italians, though they are distinguished by their cleanliness and the neatness of their homes.2 While this is very interesting and somewhat valuable it does not help us greatly in tracing the history of their immigration. Professor Commons speaks of it as “of recent years” when prior to 1890, 36,342 Portuguese immigrants entered our gates.
Again, Mr. Frederick L. Hoffman tells us: “The Portuguese in Massachusetts are mainly from the western islands, including Madeira and the Azores. The latter islands in 1890 had a population of 389, 634 or 314.9 to the square mile, while Portugal itself had a population of only 135.7 to the square mile. This overpopulation of the islands has for some twenty (20) years at least led to a considerable emigration of Western Islanders, to all parts of the world, but especially to the Sandwich Islands, Brazil, British Guiana, and the United States. For some curious reason the emigrants to the United States have mostly come from Fayal, San Jorge, and Flores, while those to the Sandwich Islands have come principally from Madeira, and those to Brazil from the islands of San Miguel, Santa Maria and Terceira. This distinction of the origin of the American-Portuguese immigration is of some importance in view of the fact that there may possibly be shown to be certain important difference in the racial types of the inhabitants of the different groups of islands. In Hawaii Portuguese especially from Madeira have settled as plantation laborers on the sugar estates since 1878. Including their descendants at the present time there are some thirteen (13, 000) thousand. According to a high authority, “the government built better than it knew” in bringing the Portuguese to the islands.”3 Mr. Hoffman takes up the subject from a different standpoint than Professor Commons and gives us in insight into the Portuguese migration in Hawaii, which has since become a source of Portuguese immigration to the United States. It does not, however, take us to the history of the early Portuguese immigrants to America.
The Reverend Herman Norton, writing in 1849, concerning the Persecutions in Madeira, in 1843 and 1846,3 states that the American Protestant Society sent their
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Portuguese Missionary, Rev. M. G. Gonsalves, To Trinidad in the West Indies in 1847, to inquire into the spiritual and temporal condition of six hundred (600) Portuguese refugees from Madeira. When Mr. Gonsalves returned he brought with him a letter to the Executive Board of the American Protestant Society. In this letter the writer, a Mr. De Silva, sets forth the suffering of the refugees in Trinidad. He stated that the refugees were farmers and mechanics of various trades, and that they were ready and anxious to sustain themselves by the labor of their hands, but that they could not find employment on the island that promised a sufficient support for their families. Soon after the reception of the letter the Society sent out an appeal for funds to defray the expenses of bringing these people to our shores and for purchasing land where they might be located as a colony. While the appeal for these six (600) hundred sufferers was before the American people, a number of them who had somehow obtained the means of paying their passage arrived in New York city. Upwards of fifty (50) came directly from Trinidad, and nine (9) from the Island of St. Kitts. These exiles came to the American Protestant Society for advice, protection and support. They were taken to the Sailor’s Horne, and boarded at the expense of the Society. As they were ignorant of our language it was impossible to obtain immediate employment for them. The society judged that it would be more economical and more pleasant for the Portuguese to rent buildings in which they might reside and where they might be supplied with daily provisions. This was done and they were sustained b the society for a period of eight (8) months. Efforts were made to send them to the West during the autumn of 1848, but without success. To send them there without any suitable arrangement for their comfort and support, would justly have exposed the society to censure. The only course, therefore, was to keep them in New York city until spring, when they would direct them to a home in the West.
When they landed they were not only without the means of subsistence in a strange country, surrounded by those who spoke an unknown language, but they were also without any clothing suitable for the approaching winter. An appeal was made for clothing and food, which was answered from various sections of the country.
Mr. Norton in another part of his book states “it will be gratifying to the friends of the Portuguese in the West Indies to learn that arrangements have been entered into and are in process of completion, by which a home is secured for these exiles upon
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our soil. The place selected is in the State of Illinois, at a point about equidistant between Springfield and Jacksonville, on the Meredosia and Springfield railroad. By these arrangements the American Hemp Company, which is composed of gentlemen in the west and in New York City, is to give both the Portuguese, who are here, and also those who are in Trinidad, immediate employment and good wages on their arrival there. They are also to furnish them with houses and every thing necessary for their comfort for one year without charge. Besides this, the company has engaged to give every family of the colony (in all one hundred and thirty-one families), ten (10) acres of land in fee and unencumbered, on which a house can be built where they can have a permanent home. These ten acre lots are to be on the same tract of land, contiguous to each other, and, by the terms of the agreement to be located by a committee consisting of the Hon. C. French, governor of Illinois; Rev. J. M. Sturtevant, president of Illinois College, at Jacksonville; and Rev. Albert Hale, of Springfield. Great care has also been taken that these advantages, so secured to this interesting people, should be rendered available to themselves and to their families. The writings have been drawn, sealed and delivered, in which the parties are under bonds of ten thousand ($10, 000. 00) dollars each to fulfill their engagements.”4
Funds were collected in March and April 1849, by the American Protestant Society, to pay the passage to Illinois of these dependent people who were in New York City. A home had been secured for them, as was believed, where they would be comfortably situated. Every preparation was made for their departure. The buildings which the Society had rented for them in New York were rented by other people, and the Portuguese were to vacate them before the first of May. As they were about to move it was learned that the American Hemp Co., who had engaged to take them, had failed to fulfill its engagements, although under a bond of ten thousand dollars to do so. This company had made no preparations to receive the Portuguese. This deranged the plans of the Society, and obliged them to rent other buildings in New York, as in such circumstance’s they could not send them to the West. Daily the society was expecting the way would be prepared for the departure of the Portuguese to Illinois. For weeks they were held in the most painful suspense. In this state no effort could be made to obtain employment for them. Hence they were entirely dependent on the Society for daily bread. For a time prospects for the future were discouraging on account of this suspense. At length another door was opened. A letter was received from Rev. Dr.
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Sturtevant, of Jacksonville, Illinois, informing them of a meeting of the principal Protestant churches of Jacksonville; of the appointment of a joint committee, representing two Presbyterian churches, one Congregational, and one Baptist, and one Methodist Episcopal church, and of their action respecting the Exiles. This letter proposed to have those in New York come to Jacksonville at once, when the churches would take care of them and put them into positions where they could earn a comfortable living.5
The letter further proposed that those in the West Indies should follow, with the expectation of. being located in Jacksonville and its immediate neighborhood. It was believed that at Jacksonville, Springfield and Waverly, the latter situated eight miles south of the railroad on which the two former lie, and about equidistant from each, there could be no doubt that all of them could find the means of living with comfort from the rewards of their industry.
This letter was laid before the Board of Directors of the American and Foreign Christian Union, and, after careful deliberation, it was resolved to send the Portuguese in New York City to Jacksonville with the least possible delay. Everything was arranged, and the day was appointed for their departure. Their passage was engaged on the Western route, up the Hudson river, through the Erie canal, over the lakes to Chicago, and thence through the canal and down the Illinois river to Jacksonville. Before the day arrived sickness and cholera had broken out among them. Again they were disappointed, and their plans deranged.6
One vessel after another arriving from Trinidad, brought with them Portuguese refugees, until between four hundred and five hundred were in New York city. They were all destitute of money and of clothing suitable for our climate. The society was obliged to furnish them with daily bread, with medicines, and to obtain for them a large supply of clothing. As soon as the cholera abated in the city and along the main route to Illinois the society began to make arrangements for the departure of the refugees. This was a work of no ordinary care and responsibility.
The day so long anticipated by the society and by the Portuguese at last came; a day to which they looked with the deepest interest and anxiety. It was the 19th of October, 1849, that two hundred and eighty of them Portuguese left New York city for the West, a day that will be memorable in their future history. The exiles and their baggage were collected on the deck of the Isaac Newton and sent to their new home.
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This company of pilgrims had gone to Jacksonville, Springfield and Waverly, Illinois, where they were received into the families of the inhabitants. Some of the
men were employed in mechanical labor and in agriculture, while the women were employed in sewing and in domestic duties. This was not designed to be a permanent ar- rangement, but it gave them a home for a time, and helped make them more familiar with our language and manner of doing business. This better prepared them for their life in a future colony, where they hoped for permanent settlement in a body.
On the 8th of November, 1849, another company of about one (100) hundred left New York for Illinois. They took the railroad from Albany to Buffalo, then steam- boat to Detroit, and again the railroad to Chicago, and from there to Jacksonville. They were to remain in Jacksonville until permanent arrangements could be made for them.
The Exiles were well provided for on their journey. Public meetings were held in Albany, Buffalo, Detroit and Chicago, when most of them were present. The most intense interest in this expatriated band, which had found a refuge from the storm which drove them from their own country, was evinced in all these places. Liberal contributions were made to aid in defraying the expenses of their journey, and they were received with the most cordial hospitality. They finally arrived at their destined home in Jacksonville, Springfield, and Waverly in Illinois. Here the inhabitants received them into their own houses, and by every means in their power ministered to the comfort of these people.
Sometime after the arrival of the Portuguese in Illinois, Mr. Norton received a letter from the Rev. Mr. Hale, of Springfield, who in 1849 wrote as follows: “We are much occupied these days in ministering to our brethren, the Portuguese Exiles. They arrived here just in time to enter on the severe winter weather, which they, in common with all of us, have now to endure. They are not much accustomed to severe cold weather; and as our city was very full of people when they arrived, it was well nigh impossible to provide them habitations; to provide comfortable dwellings was out of the question, as everything worthy of the name was already crowded full. But we have done what, under the circumstances, we could, and they are hoping for better times. So far as I know, they are contented and happy. Many of them find employment, at good wages and ready pay. They are highly valued as laborers, and will soon be able to take care of themselves without the aid of others. Indeed, the last thing to be looked for is that such men should long be a charge upon their fellow men. If they maintain their religious principles and their habits of industry, there is but one destiny for them here, and that is “plenty—independence.”7
Another interesting bit of information regarding the early Portuguese was found in the New York Freeman’s Journal of May 10, 1849, which stated as follows:
“As regards the ‘martyred Portuguese,’ all we can learn about them is, that they are ‘outlaws’, who, for different offenses, were punished by the civil authorities of Madeira,
nothing more.”8 This was later corrected by the paper, which said that these exiles left Madeira to better their condition, to pursure work, etc. The former statement was meant more as an attack upon one religion by another, rather than an attack upon the Portuguese exiles themselves.
It appears that the account given by Rev. Mr. Norton takes us back to the early Portuguese immigrants, and shows us the hardships these early settlers had to undergo before they were finally settled in America. We learn from it the true condition and character of the early pioneers from Portugal’s island possessions.
Prior to 1847 a few Portuguese settled in New Orleans, Louisiana. These settle: had been engaged in the slave trade. They were so few, and of such unimportance, that nothing has been recorded of their activities in the south.
Just why and out of what conditions did these people, who possess a genuine instinct for land culture and an unsentimental love for cottage life, come to America? The original home of most of the Portuguese who have come into New England were the Western islands, where small farming with the most rudimentary tools, fishing and cruising were the occupations, and where, ignorant of the workings of government and out of sympathy with it, they felt the military requirements as tyrannously oppressive. Their reason for coming was to better their economic condition and to escape military service. In the old Fayal, army duties fell upon the very poor; the more affluent were able to bribe the officials at the ballot-shuffling that each year designated those whom the King called. This the poor held a bitter injustice. The two years of active service, with a long and elastic period on the reserve, the young men’s peasant parents dreaded as a time when the lad, in the high tide of his life, should be swept into a slough of deadening idleness and worse. These frugal, hard-working people looked upon the young men called, and perhaps often with reason, as dead to any future usefulness. One old mother affirmed that she considered her son worse than dead, and several young men, who knew the military life,
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carried her out in this statement.
Thus it was that lads of fourteen were put aboard whaling vessels or smuggled into steamers bound for America, their passage money and the much bulkier fee to
the agent having been paid by the parents. The agent’s fee was of course heavy, for did he not have to assume the responsibility of getting the boy off without his passport and in such a manner as to evade the military eye always drowsily on the lookout? And did he not have to go shares with the captain on account of the gentleman’s little risk on the other side? Exciting enough these first adventures must have been to the youngsters when a group of them, hardly old enough yet to be beyond farewell tears, were set out stealthily upon some sea-jutting rock, far from the village and out of the ken of the military, there to await the small boat to be sent out according to previous agreement from the passing vessel.9
This clearly shows what these people, who knowing that if they enter another country they must make their way by the labor of their hands, had to endure, and how they were willing to take the chance rather than stay at home, no doubt, believing that conditions elsewhere could not be any worse than what they were brought up under.
According to the report of the United States Superintendent, and later of the United States Commissioner General of Immigration, the number of Portuguese immi- grants and that of entire immigration to this country since 1820 was as follows:
Year No. of Portuguese Total No. of Immigrants
1820 35 8,385
1821 18 9,127
1822 28 6,911
1823 24 6,354
1824 13 7,912
1825 13 10, 199
1826 16 10, 837
1827 7 18, 875
1828 14 27,382
1829 9 22,520
1830 3 23,322
1831 – 22, 633
1832 5 60,482
1833 633 58, 640
1834 44 65,365
1835 29 45,374
1836 29 76, 242
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Year No. of Portuguese Total No. of Immigrants
1837 34 79,340
1838 24 38,914
1839 19 68,069
1840 12 84,066
1841 7 80,289
1842 15 104,565
1843 32 52,496
1844 16 78,615
1845 14 114,371
1846 2 154,416
1847 5 234,968
1848 67 226,527
1849 26 297,024
1850 366 369,986
1851 50 379,466
1852 68 371,603
1853 95 368,645
1854 72 427,833
1855 205 200,877
1856 128 195,857
1857 92 246,945
1858 177 119,501
1859 46 118,616
1860 122 150,237
1861 47 89,724
1862 72 89,207
1863 86 174,524
1864 240 193,195
1865 365 247,453
1866 344 163,594
1867 126 298,967
1868 174 282,189
1869 507 352,569
1870 697 387,203
1871 887 321,350
1872 1,306 404,806
1873 1,185 459,803
1874 1,611 313,339
1875 1,939 227,498
1876 1,277 169,986
1877 2,363 141,857
1878 1,332 138,469
1879 1,374 177,826
1880 808 457,257
1881 1,215 669,431
1882 1,436 788,992
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Year No. of Portuguese Total No. of Immigrants
1883 1,573 603, 322
1884 1,927 518,592
1885 2,024 395,346
1886 1,194 334,203
1887 1,360 490,109
1888 1,625 546,889
1889 2,024 444,427
1890 2,600 455,302
1891 2,999 560,319
1892 3,400 623,084
1893 4,816 502,917
1894 2,196 314,467
1895 1,452 279,948
1896 2,766 343,267
1897 1,874 230,832
1898 1,717 229,299
1899 2,096 311,715
1900 4,241 448,572
1901 4,176 487,918
1902 5,309 648,743
1903 8,433 857,046
1904 6,338 812,870
1905 4,855 1,026,499
1906 8,729 1,100,735
1907 9,648 1,285,349
1908 6,809 782,870
1909 4,606 751,786
1910 7,657 1,041,570
1911 7,469 878,587
1912 9,403 838,172
1913 13,566 1,197,892
1914 9,647 1,218,400
1915 4,376 326,700
1916 12,208 298,826
To April 1, 1917 5,109 61,040
Total 192,237 32,840,638
Thus, the respective number of these immigrants by decade was as follows-
Decade No. of Portuguese Total No. of Immigrants
1820-1830 180 151,824
1831-1840 829 699,125
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Decade No. of Portuguese Total No. of Immigrants
Immigrants
1841-1850 550 1,713,257
1851-1860 1,055 2, 5 79, 580
1861-1870 2,658 2,278,625
1871-1880 14,092 2,812,191
1881-1890 16,978 5,246,613
1891-1900 27,557 3,844,410
1901-1910 66,560 8,795,406
1911-1917 61,778 4,819,617
192,237 32,840,638
From the figures given above it would appear that Portuguese immigration has formed but an insignificant portion of general immigration.
We find that from l820 to 1860 not more than 2, 614 Portuguese immigrants landed in America. During the decade 1861-1870 we find that more of them had emi- granted to this country than had done so during the four preceding decades. It is also possible that the reason why no more than 2, 658 came to join us was on account of the Civil War. While this is merely a supposition it is a fact that a state of war in a country does retard emigration to its shores. From 1871 to 1880 we find the first rapid increase over that of previous years. It is during this decade that we may speak of thousands of Portuguese coming to our shores. The figures for the next decade show only a slight increase over that of the preceding period. Just why so slight an increase is shown we are unable to say for one would expect more because of the fact that it was during this period that our “new” immigration commenced. The next ten years is an interesting period, not only for Portuguese immigration, but for immigration in general. There was a decrease of over two million souls under that of the preceding decade, which, no doubt, was due to the fact that this country was at war with Spain. The fact that the people of Spain belong to the Iberian race might have an effect on the immigration coming from any other Iberian country. It was from 1901 to 1910 that we find our greatest increase in both Portuguese immigration and immigration in general. Just double the number of Portuguese immigrants and of the total num
ber of immigrant, came in this decade than did the decade of 1891 to 1900. From 1910 to 1917 Portuguese,, immigration seems to have held its own while that of the other races declined, though it is probable that the rate of increase for the remaining three years of this period will lessen owing to Portugal’s entrance into the World War.
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Chart showing Portuguese immigration by years, 1820 to 1917 inclusive.
1920 0
1910 100
1900 200
1890 300
1880 400
1870 500
1860 600
1850 700
1840 800
1830 900
1820 1,000
5,000
10,000
15,000
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Chart showing Portuguese immigration by decades.
1910-1917 1861-1870 0 30, 000
1901-1910 1851-1860 100 40, 000
1891-1900 1841-1850 1,000 50,000
1881-1890 1831-1840 10,000 60,000
1871-1880 1820-1830 20,000 70,000
Chapter 8
RECAPITULATION OF SUMMARIES
(1) Most of the Portuguese immigrants to the United States come from Portugal’s island possessions off the northwest coast of Africa. It is, therefore, important to note in what manner the islands themselves were populated. This was principally the result of sea-faring adventurers of the age of Prince Henry, the navigator, and later of political exiles of the various parties which in turn obtained possession of the government of Portugal. These islands are thickly populated with the one exception of the Cape Verdes, and we naturally expect that they will attempt to find an outlet for this surplus population.
(2) The over-populated islands off the northwest coast of Africa have been a source of immigration to the Sandwich Islands, Brazil, British Guiana and the United States. This emigration to the United States began as early as 1820 coming generally to better their economic conditions and to escape compulsory military service. Religious feeling has to a considerable extent entered into the settling of these people in the New World as is shown by the work of the American Protestant Society in helping to settle these people in the state of Illinois, and by the attack made on them by the Catholic Journal New York city. The Portuguese immigration, however, has not been of any considerable proportion until recent years, but is rapidly growing. Inasmuch as few of the Portuguese immigrants return to their home country we naturally conclude that they come here with the intention of making this their permanent home and of entering as soon as possible into complete American citizenship.
(3) Most of the Portuguese immigrants settle in or near the ports through which they enter our shores, thus making the two largest centers Massachusetts and Rhode Island and the state of California. They are found in every state in the Union and in the states of Massachusetts and California they are found in every county and principal city. In the state of California they are found in the rural section while in the state of Massachusetts they have taken to the urban district, which we might expect in view of the principal industries of these two sections, and from which we might also conclude that they fit very easily into our economic life.
(4) With regard to the character of the Portuguese imrnigrant in the United States we must conclude that they are a great asset to our country from an economic standpoint. Most of the Portuguese immigrants are males and of ages where they enter directly
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into the productive industries. Because of their extreme illiteracy they inevitably go into the wage earning class in America, but in those positions they make a much more creditable showing than other immigrant races of higher educational status. This in itself would indicate that their illiterate condition is due not to the incapacity of the immigrant himself but rather due to the educational conditions in the country they come from. We are, therefore, prepared to learn in a later chapter that given the education and social environment in America they assume a very creditable place in our social life. The amount of money which they bring with them and the fact that a comparatively small proportion of their passage is paid by other parties leads us to assume that there is very little contract labor among the Portuguese immigrants. The fact that a large proportion of the Immigration is of single persons, combined with the fact that only four (4) cases of deportations have been for prostitution would indicate a healthy moral state. As would naturally be expected the largest proportion from a vocational standpoint are laborers. Among the professional and skilled laborers engineering and the work of mariners is the highest. This would be expected in view of the fact that they are of a sea-faring race. The large proportion of the Clergy represented among the profession class indicates the strength of the Roman Catholic church in their country. Even though the laboring class is the largest, the fact that not one was controlled by a padrone in the investigation of 1915 and 1916 in California indicates that they possess a true Amercan standard with respect to independence.
(5) While some of the Portuguese of New England have entered the manufacture: industries the greater part of them have entered agriculture, and are to be found principally in the two colonies of New Bedford and Portsmouth. Here they have settled for the most part upon small farms and are chiefly engaged, so far as the raising of market products is concerned in potato growing. In spite of the comparatively low natural fertility of the soil and the competition with outside producers, principally those of New Jersey, and because of their hand culture, for which the soil is especially adapted, and because of their longer hours of labor and the fact that their wives and children are willing to enter the fields they are gradually making a success of their agricultural ventures. On practically all of these farms they are able to raise sufficient general agricultural produce to supply their own needs. To quite a considerable degree they have taken up their work on the abandoned farms of New England. In California we find their economic status is in general similar to that of the New England district. Because of the somewhat
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different type of agricultural work and because of the more extensive use of farm machinery the women and children are not as extensively employed in the f ields as is the case in the New England section. On the whole the Portuguese in California are undoubtedly somewhat more progressive than those in Massachusetts. However, in both of these places we find good examples of the fact that their energy and perseverance are bringing them an abundance of success.
(6) The Bravas or “Black Portuguese, therefore, because of their nomadic traits and their low standard of living are at the present time the principal labor supply in the cranberry district of New England. In this district the labor supply has been in succession; the Americans, the Finns, the Poles and the Italians, all of which are now generally to be found in permanent employment in the various manufacturing industries or upon the farms. Because of the general character of the Bravas we can expect that they will be for sometime to come the principal labor supply on the cranberry bogs. In comparison with the white Portuguese we find them somewhat lower with regard to education and morality, and less desirable as immigrants to our shores.
(7) We find from the standpoint of business standing the Portuguese are progressing rapidly in our economic life. Considerable agricultural lands are owned by them, against which few mortgages are held. Their truck farms are supplying the large cities near which they are located with considerable farm produce. A few of them are entering the manufacturing industries and business houses located in the cities near their homes. We find also from the standpoint of their social standing that they main- tain a comparatively high standard of living, and are held in good social esteem by the American among whom they settle, or with whom they have business or social relations. For the most part their social life centers around certain organizations connected with the Roman Catholic church, of which most of them are members, and it is here where both young and old meet for their social entertainments. Politically they sometimes exercise considerable influence on local questions, being usually controlled by some political organization such as the Naturalization Club of New Bedford. Thus, we see that on the whole these people are fast entering our economic life, which is largely due to the native aptitudes of the Portuguese themselves and to the public school system of which they take advantage whenever it is possible.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
References Directly Relating to Portuguese Immigration
Barrows, I. C. A Portuguese Agricultural Colony, Charity (now Survey), v. 15, pp.. 693-695, Feb. 17, 1906. New York: The Charity Organization Society.
Bell, Aubrey Fitz Gerald. In Portugal, 1912. New York: John Lane Company.
Benjamin, S. G. W. Portugal and the Portuguese. Atlantic Monthly, v. 40, pp. 539- 47 and 659-68, October 1877. Boston: Houghton & Co.
Blackburn, Rev. W. M. Exiles of Madeira, 1860. Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Publication, pp. 1-216.
Brooks, S. Lessons of Portugal, Harper’s Weekly, 52:16, March 7, 1908. New York: Harper & Brothers.
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Hoffman, P. L. Portuguese Population in the United States. American Statistical Assn., v. 6, pp. 327-336. Boston: American Statistical Assn., 1898.
Hume, Martin Andrew Sharp. Through Portugal. New York: McClure, Phillips & Co., 1907.
Keller, A. G. Portuguese Colonization in Brazil, Yale Review, Feb. 1906, v. 14. New Haven: Tuttle, Morehouse & Ta lor & Co. , pp. 374-410.
Koebel, W. H. Madeira: old and new, 1909. London: P. Griffiths.
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Moore, Isabel. Portuguese Folk-Songs, Journal American Folk-Lore, July, 1902. Boston, Mass. : Houghton, Mifflin & Co., v. 15, pp. 165-169.
Norton, Rev. Herman. Persecutions at Madeira, From 1843 to 1846. New York: The American and Foreign Christian Union, 1857, p. 1-285.
Peck, Emelyn Foster. Portuguese in Martha’a Vineyard, New England Magazine, New Series 31:207-210. Boston: American Company, 1904.
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Russell, R. H. Portuguese Pilgrimage, il. Harper’s Weekly, July, 1910, 121: pp. 187-97. New York: Harper & Brothers.
Semple, Ellen Churchill. Influences of Geographical Environments, 1911. New York: Henry Holt & Co. Pp. 153, 381, 413, 422, 432, 439, 446, 448.
Stephens, Henry Morse. The Story of the Nations – Portugal, 1891. New York: G. P. Putnam’s sons, pp. 144, 145, 146$ 147, 285, 295, 150, 153, 346, 390, 399, 419.
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Watson, Gilbert. Sunshine and sentiment in Portugal, 1904. London: Edward Arnold.
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Massachusetts Immigration Commission Report of 1914. “The Problem of immigration in Massachusetts. ” Boston: Wright & Potter Printing Co., pp. 1-280.
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Adams, T. S. and Sumner, H. L. Labor Problems. New York: The MacMillan Co., 1905.
Addams, Jane. Newer Ideals of Peace, 1907. New York: The MacMillan Co. Twenty Years at Hull House. New York.- The MacMillan Co., 1912.
Brandenburg, Broughton. Imported Americans, 1904. New York: Frederick A. Stokes Co.
_______. The Tragedy of the Rejected Irnmigrant. The Outlook, Oct. 13, 1906, pp. 361-65. New York: The Outlook Co.
Bushee, F. A. Ethnic Factors in the Population of Boston. American Economic Assn, Third Series 4:2, 1903, pp. 299 and 477. New York: The MacMillan Co.
Fairchild, H. P. Distribution of Immigrants, Yale Review, Nov. 1907, pp. 296-310. The Yale Publishing Assn., New Haven.
_______. Irnmigration, 1913. New York: The MacMillan Co.
Fetter, F. A. Population or Prosperity, Am. Economic Review, Supplement vol. 111, No. 1, March, 1913, pp. 5-19. Princeton: The American Economic Review.
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Raskin, Frederick J. The Immigrant, New York: Fleming H. Revell Co., 1913.
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Henderson, Charles Richmond. An Introduction into the State of the Dependent, Defective and Delinquent Classes, 1893. Boston: D. C. Heath & CO.
Pamphlets on Immigration. Vol. 1, 1864. Common Sense Applied to the Immigration Question by C. T. Hopkins of the California Immigration Union. San Francisco- Turnbull & Smith.
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