This book examines the reasons for British immigration to America, nd what challenges they faced on arrival.

From the passenger lists of ships arriving in U.S. ports, Erickson reconstructs the changing social and demographic profile of the English newcomers and compares them with emigrants from other parts of the British Isles and from continental Europe. One new essay contrasts the English immigrants to the United States in 1841 with those who went to Canada and Australia, examining through immigrant letters and memoirs their motives for coming, their hopes and expectations, their problems of adapting. Another discusses the particular experiences of emigrant English women. In a new essay she considers a sample drawn from county histories of emigrants from the very heartland of the Industrial Revolution, the county of Lancashire, to trace their occupational careers and migrations on both sides of the Atlantic. Her introduction explores current knowledge about this exceptional emigrant stream and comments on promising areas for future research.

This four-volume reset edition collects immigrants' letters, immigration guides, newspaper articles, county history biographies, and promotional and advisory pamphlets published by immigrants and travellers, land and railroad companies.

This four-volume reset edition collects immigrants' letters, immigration guides, newspaper articles, county history biographies, and promotional and advisory pamphlets published by immigrants and travellers, land and railroad companies.