Most of this information I obtained from the Web: The reasons why immigrants came to America are many and varied. Men usually came because farming opportunities were becoming scarce in Europe. Perhaps women came because the men were coming and also because womanly occupations (maids, governnesses, etc.) were no longer readily available in the “old country.”

I wish I knew what prompted Augusta to come to America. I speculate that it was the hope of finding employment as a domestic. Whatever her motivation, it took a lot of courage to venture to an unknown land on her own. It’s almost a certainty that Grandma (Lotten), Alma, Karl, and Arvid followed her to America on her testimony of the availabity of jobs to be had here. I do not know what occupation Karl or Arvid chose when they arrived, but I know that Grandma worked for a family in New England and I wouldn’t be surprised if Alma also found a similar position.

From the web I found out that the hours worked in domestic service, unregulated by any legislation, were undoubtedly longer than in factory work. It was calculated in 1873 that a house-maid’s day extended from 6 A.M. until 10 P.M., during which she had two-and-a-half hours for meals and an hour-and-a-half in the afternoon for needlework - a total of four hours “rest.” This meant twelve hours of actual work, longer by two hours than a factory woman’s day. On Saturday, when the factory hand worked two hours less than usual, the servant worked longer, and on Sunday, when the factory worker could rest completely, the servant was still required to work almost a normal day. Eighty hours of actual work a week, against fifty-six for the factory worker, may well be a fair estimate for the late nineteenth century, and must have been exceeded in many single-handed households.

Augusta and Grandma (Lotten) almost certainly arrived at Castle Garden, and Alma, Karl, and Arvid almost certainly arrived at the Barge Office; you can read the following to find out what an immigrant usually had to endure upon arrival and why there is no record of their arrival.