Migrants in the Nineteenth Century: Fugitives or Families in Motion?

Abstract

The author critically examines the transiency thesis which states that the rapid turnover of local populations in the nineteenth century was largely a result of rootless individualistic wandering. He argues instead that migration was often undertaken within family and kinship networks or by whole families. Evidence from studies in the United States Canada Great Britain and France is presented in support of this position and three circumstances in which migration under family sponsorship was especially likely are identified. (ANNOTATION)