Iowa Ethnic Groups

United StatesIowaIowa Ethnic Groups

The First Residents of Iowa

Many tribes and bands of Indians lived or traveled through "the beautiful land" of Iowa. A timeline is available at Iowa History detailing the eventual turn over of land from the Indians to settlers. Between 1833 and 1851 after a series of treaties extinguished Indian claims to the land, the first permanent white settlements were made in eastern Iowa. Reservations, agencies and the half breed contract are all discussed in the Iowa Indians page.

Iowa's Ethnic Fabric
In 1860 there were 674,913 Iowans. Immigrants made up 106,081 of the population. Here are the totals for each nationality with a small number of settlers from other countries.

In 1890 there were 324,669 settlers from other nations. Less then one thousand were representing various other countries.

African American
Iowa’s first constitution of 1846 required blacks to pay a $500 bond to enter the state and barred them from voting, holding office, serving in the state militia, attending public schools and marrying whites. After 1865 that the African American population tripled mainly emigrating from neighboring states.

Different occupations brought the African American population to Iowa. Lead mining, laying tracks for the railroad, and in the river towns of Burlington, Davenport, Keokuk and Sioux City, they worked as deckhands on ships that traveled up and down the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers.

Buxton was a coal mining town that was racially harmonious. In 1905, more than one half of the 5,000 inhabitants of this community were African-American. The others were comprised of immigrants from Russia, Belgium, Bohemia, France, Germany, and Norway.

When Fort Des Moines became the site of the Colored Officers Training Camp in 1917 the African American population greatly increased. Many of these families chose to stay in Des Moines after World War I ended in 1918. Many African-American leaders came from this area.


 * Black Iowa
 * African American History
 * African American Railroaders

Dutch
Large numbers of Dutch farmers and craftsman searching for religious freedom left Holland for the lush land in central Iowa. Pella was settled by 800 Dutch immigrants. With encouragement from those in Pella more Dutch families immigrated and Orange City was settled in the mid 1800's. Once these settlements were well established, letters and printed material sent home to Holland generated a constant stream of immigrants to the area. This went for 85 years until 1930 when the Great Depression and immigration quotas but a stop the influx of the Dutch.
 * Biographies of Early Pella Settlers
 * Dutch Language History

French
French explorers were the first white men to settle in Iowa. They were there when France ceded the land to Spain. Once they settled on mining more French Canadians immigrated to the area. In 1857 a group of Icariens, about 40 members, crossed the Mississippi and headed west to form a colony Icaria, near Corning, Iowa.
 * The Icariens

German
In the 1840’s Germans began to arrive in Iowa. The “forty-eighters” of 1848 brought more German immigrants due to political unrest. Then in 1860, with the conscripting of young men into the army, they, along with their families fled to the welcoming land of Iowa. Keokuk, Burlington, Muscatine, Davenport, Lyons, and Dubuque were destination settlements for Germans.
 * Forty-Eighters
 * Germans
 * The Oldest Germans of Iowa - 1895
 * German Officers in the Union Army Civil War Officers
 * The Germans of Iowa And Their Achievements Extract of Biographical Sketches

Amana Colonies
In 1841 the German Government was getting extremely intolerant of the Inspirationist congregations so they sent men to America to find them a new area to colonize. They settled first in close to Buffalo, New York in a community they called Ebenezer. Needing a more secluded area, they eventually settled in the fertile land of Iowa along the Iowa river, Amana  Colonies  In 1855 the first village, Amana, was laid set up. Six more villages had been established by 1863.

Amish and Mennonite
The Amish or sometimes known as Mennonite Amish, originally came from three countries, the Palatinate region of Germany, Alsace now in France, and German speaking Switzerland. This group of Amish and Mennonite immigrants came to Pennsylvania with the Palatine groups in the 18th century. They spoke Pennsylvania German commonly known as Pennsylvania Dutch. The Amish are a subgroup from the Mennonites. After arriving in Pennsylvania the immigrants split into different settlements in Iowa among other states.
 * Mennonite Church in the United States
 * Mennonites

Irish
Bellevue, Charleston (now Sabula) and Concord Township in Dubuque county were all large Irish settlements. Another large percentage of Irish were among the early immigrants to Bankston, Farley and Dyersville. A few families, about fifty Irish settled along the Maquoketa River near Cascade in 1842. Emmitsburg was founded by a large group of Irish and has as it's sister city Dublin, Ireland.


 * Irish Towns In Iowa
 * Settlers of the Irish Frontier
 * The Fenian Movement
 * Percentage of Iowa's Population Born in Ireland 1870-1950

Jewish
Between 1848 and 1878 nearly 1000 Jewish settlers immigrated to communities along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. Their talents as cobblers, milliners, grocers, tailors, teachers, doctors and lawyers were welcomed to this new frontier. This Jewish population were mostly from Germany, immigrating to escape anti-Semitism from their native land. After 1900 the Jewish grew in population due to the influx from Eastern Europe, mainly Russia and America's East Coast.

Swedish
Burlington, in Des Moines county, was a type of port of entry for Swedish immigrants arriving in Iowa, once arriving several choose to stay swelling Burlington's Swedish population to about 200 by 1846.

The first complete Swedish settlement in Iowa was Cassel colony (New Sweden) in 1845. This was followed in 1846 by Swede Point, later called Madrid, in Boone county. A few smaller settlements prang up around the area of Madrid, at Boonesboro, Moingona, Pilot Mound, Boxholm, and Ogden.


 * First Swedish Colonies in Iowa

Websites

 * African American Communities
 * German Immigrants in Western Iowa Protestant Church Records
 * German Immigrants in NE Iowa Protestant Church Records
 * Germans of Iowa FHL Microfilm number for this book is #1036447
 * Iowa Ethnic Groups
 * Largest ethnic groups in Iowa
 * The Germans of Iowa And Their Achievements
 * Persons Best Qualified to Emigrate