Some of the earliest emigrants to America came from the state of Württemberg, Germany. It is the area of Germany from which the number of emigrants surpassed any other state. Anyone in America now who has ancestors from Württemberg and would like to trace their roots can rejoice because church records exist in almost every village. Very few of the church records, Lutheran or Catholic , were destroyed in the wars of the 20th century. For the most part the records go back to the early 1600s and some even earlier. Some of the records were destroyed during the Thirty Years War (1618-1648). Citizens from surrounding countries, specifically Switzerland, migrated to Württemberg because of the devastation of this war, to settle certain areas. Others came from France and Austria.

Many early emigrants to Pennsylvania and other Eastern states (Virginia, North Carolina, Maine, New Jersey and New York) had their origins in Württemberg. The books by Strassburger and Hinke and Rupp show ship passenger lists of these early emigrants. There were many captains, who destroyed the lists of passengers upon arrival in the new land. Some of the church records in Württemberg show the phrase made by a pastor “left to America, the new land or the Carolinas”. For emigration records a series of 8 volumes called Württemberg Emigration Indexes can be accessed through Ancestry.com. These are names of people, who applied for emigration legally to receive permission to leave the country and get a release from being citizens of Württemberg (clearance from military duties and possible debts or those who needed financial assistance and also those who had committed some crime). Many other Württemberg emigrants left the country over night with just a passport which was acceptable to ship captains. Those emigrants leaving in the 1700s usually gathered in a town close to the River Rhine and then took passage on the Rhine to The Netherlands. Later emigrants came via Le Havre, France, which was also reached via the Rhine River. Other ports were Bremen and a smaller portion of travelers left via Hamburg. In the 19th century these ports were reachable by train.

Emigrants were required to bring equipment on board, such as eating utensils, bedding in form of straw sacks and some food items. Often the promises made by agents and ship captains were not held and travelling became an arduous adventure. In a letter written by an emigrant in America back home advised travelers to bring a jug of whiskey which would help during seasickness.

It is believed that early emigrants followed the push and pull factor. For them lucrative salaries would have been pulling them while little prospects at home would have pushed them into emigration. Germany experienced unfavorable weather conditions in the 1800s that brought about food crises. Lack of food brought about elevation of prices. With a continually increasing population, some areas experienced devastation. When sons on top of that were not able to inherit the ancestral farm to support themselves and their families, emigration was one way out.

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