Part 1 

 
Summary of family history: 
My grandfather’s family from my father’s side is mainly from Sweden, and my 
grandmother’s family is from Northern Ireland, as well as Sweden. My father and mother 
were both born here in the United States. My mother was raised in Madison and my father 
in the New Haven area. Both my grandparents families migrated to the United States 
around the same time, the 20’s. I have a very large family and so did my great 
grandparents. Their main motivation was job opportunities and they thought they could 
have a better life if they came to the United States. My dad’s great grandfather was in the 
baking business, and my grandmother who is still alive today is also a baker. And his great 
grandmother came from Sweden, not exactly sure what they did here. My dad’s 
grandmother worked at Yale University, and my dad’s grandfather was a painter. Today, 
my dad works at Eversource and works as a gas engineer and goes on calls if there is a gas 
leak anywhere. My mom is adopted so she isn’t sure about her family history, but today 
she works at a law firm and was a law teacher at Quinnipiac before she got a job just 
working at the law firm.  
 
Part 2 
 
Source 1: 
https://www.swedishfreak.com/culture/swedish-history/sweden-in-the-20th-century/ 
---This source talks about what life was like in Sweden in the 20th century and this may 
help me find out maybe underlying reasons why my family came to the U.S. and if there 
were an push factors that caused them to immigrate. Or if it was just for job sake. 
 
Source 2: 
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/exhibition/dublin/main.html 
---Now going into the Irish part of my family, what was life in Ireland like.  
 
Source 3: 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/geography/migration/migration_trends_rev2.
shtml 
----Generally why people migrate  
 
Source 4:  
https://www.embraceni.org/migration/why-do-people-migrate/ 
---also generally why people migrate 
 
Questions: 
1. Were there any push factors in general in 20th century Sweden that caused people 
to leave? 
2. Was there good money making in Sweden, or was job pay low? 
3. How was Sweden’s decline in several aspects eventually cause people to migrate? 
4. What are the most popular reasons people migrate? 
5. Why do people migrate?  
 
Part 3 
 
Proposed topic: The push and pull factors of migration 
Topic: swedish emigration  
Things to search:  
● Farming and agricultural struggles in sweden 
● Sweden’s development or lack of development  
● sweden ‘s mass emigration in the 19th century and why  
● 1851-1910 major emigration 
 
THESIS: 
The causes and effects of mass emigration from Sweden from 1851 to 1910 included population
growth, agriculture, and epidemics.

Writing down my ideas to get them all out, could use this as an intro 
Swedish emigration from 1851 to 1920 was an effect of several hardships. Population 
growth was a factor that not only was a struggle in its own, but was a cause of epidemics 
and diseases that spread throughout Sweden. Epidemics and diseases caused the citizens 
of Sweden to go to America, for obvious reasons of not wanting to get sick. The annual 
harvest began to decrease and some epidemics spread to the plants and caused 
agricultural struggles. The labor market was not producing as many jobs as people 
desired, they were bound for jobs in America. The decrease in amount of people in 
Sweden when they left was a major blow to the labor market as well. Now there weren’t 
as many people to work jobs.  
 
-emigration was a major blow to the labor market 
-epidemics (maybe caused my too many people in one place)  
-population growth  
-farming and agriculture  
 
Family story ------> details () ------> research -----> thesis  
 
personal----->history------>thesis about something interesting  
 
Immigration- go TO a place  
Emigration- LEAVE a place