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Germans In Sacramento, 1850-1859, Carole C. Terry

Psi Sigma Siren

During the 1850s in Sacramento, German-born immigrants banded together in an ethnically based neighborhood where they created a sub-culture of "German-ness," practicing their own particular rituals and customs. At the same time, these foreign-born joined the Anglo-American majority to addresses the chaos and disorder brought on by the dramatic increase in Sacramento's population due to the discovery of gold in 1849. Contemporary accounts such as newspapers, directories, histories and unpublished manuscripts confirm the existence of this strong community and its attempts to duplicate institutions they remembered in Germany and ethnic settlements in America. Despite their small numbers, they influenced the …