Bountied European Immigration
BOUNTIED EUROPEAN IMMIGRATION
Known as bountied European immigration, this practice commenced in May of 1834 with the arrival of 64 Germans after a 108-day journey from the town of Bremen. They were recruited by the brother of Mr. Solomon Myers, the German Jewish owner of a coffee estate in St. George's (now part of Portland). Myers received financial support from the Jamaican Assembly to cover shipping costs and help settle his first group near Buff Bay in a district that became known as Bremen Valley. It failed miserably. Many of the 25 men, 18 women and 21 children left, some moving on to Clarendon to join the police. So Myers tried a second time, importing 506 Germans again from Bremen with the Assembly's support. After 37 days, they arrived in Port Royal in December 1834. Myers kept 20 for himself and divided the remainder among planters from St. Ann's Bay, Montego Bay, Manchester, St. Elizabeth and Clarendon. At this time, other planters began to import Europeans from England, Scotland and Ireland. Like the Germans, many did not wind up staying in agricultural work. They moved into domestic service and left the interior for towns.
By the end of 1834, the Assembly appointed a recruiter, a Prussian named William Lemonius. He was charged with organizing the importation of German and English labourers and work towards the establishment of a colonial government project involving three European Townships in the island's interior. In 1835 the third wave of Germans arrived, again from Bremen. Of this 532, almost half were sent to form the Cornwall township of Seaford Town, the first of three townships slated for settlement, even though only 17 of the cottages slated to be ready for them on arrival were completed. More joined them in 1836 from the second lot organized by Lemonius. The other two townships were earmarked for Middlesex in St. Ann, near to the St. Mary border and Altamont on the Portland coast.
|[pic] |
|Many of the homes
Known as bountied European immigration, this practice commenced in May of 1834 with the arrival of 64 Germans after a 108-day journey from the town of Bremen. They were recruited by the brother of Mr. Solomon Myers, the German Jewish owner of a coffee estate in St. George's (now part of Portland). Myers received financial support from the Jamaican Assembly to cover shipping costs and help settle his first group near Buff Bay in a district that became known as Bremen Valley. It failed miserably. Many of the 25 men, 18 women and 21 children left, some moving on to Clarendon to join the police. So Myers tried a second time, importing 506 Germans again from Bremen with the Assembly's support. After 37 days, they arrived in Port Royal in December 1834. Myers kept 20 for himself and divided the remainder among planters from St. Ann's Bay, Montego Bay, Manchester, St. Elizabeth and Clarendon. At this time, other planters began to import Europeans from England, Scotland and Ireland. Like the Germans, many did not wind up staying in agricultural work. They moved into domestic service and left the interior for towns.
By the end of 1834, the Assembly appointed a recruiter, a Prussian named William Lemonius. He was charged with organizing the importation of German and English labourers and work towards the establishment of a colonial government project involving three European Townships in the island's interior. In 1835 the third wave of Germans arrived, again from Bremen. Of this 532, almost half were sent to form the Cornwall township of Seaford Town, the first of three townships slated for settlement, even though only 17 of the cottages slated to be ready for them on arrival were completed. More joined them in 1836 from the second lot organized by Lemonius. The other two townships were earmarked for Middlesex in St. Ann, near to the St. Mary border and Altamont on the Portland coast.
|[pic] |
|Many of the homes