Luxembourgish Americans

Americans of Luxembourgish birth or descent

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Ethnic group

Luxembourgish Americans

Total population
47,129 (2019)[1]
Regions with significant populations
Illinois · Wisconsin · Michigan • Minnesota · Iowa · California · South Dakota · Ohio · Pennsylvania · New York · Florida · Indiana · Kansas · Missouri · Louisiana
Languages
American English · Luxembourgish · German · French · Yiddish · Hebrew
Religion
Roman Catholicism · Judaism · Lutheranism
Related ethnic groups
German Americans · Belgian Americans · French Americans · Swiss Americans

Luxembourgish Americans are Americans of Luxembourgish ancestry. According to the United States' 2000 census, there were 45,139 Americans of full or partial Luxembourgish descent.[2] In 1940, the number of Americans with Luxembourgish ancestry was around 100,000.[3]

The first families from Luxembourg arrived in the United States, around 1842, fleeing from the overpopulation and economic change in the newly independent country. They worked in the field, as was traditional in their country.[4]

Luxembourger Americans are overwhelmingly concentrated in the Midwest, where most originally settled in the 19th century. In the 2000 census, the states with the largest self-reported Luxembourger American populations were Illinois (6,963), Wisconsin (6,580), Minnesota (5,867), Iowa (5,624), and California (2,824).[5]

## History

[edit]

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A Luxembourgish American couple from Wormeldange, Luxembourg, photographed in Minnesota circa 1890.

Between the mid-19th century and the early 20th century, approximately one-third of the Luxembourgish population emigrated. Luxembourg was, at the time, a poor country with an economy dominated by agriculture.[6] The United States was a popular destination for Luxembourgers, as it was for many other European emigrants of the period. The number of Luxembourgers who emigrated to the US in the 19th century is thought to be around 60,000–70,000.[7]

Emigrants leaving for the United States in the German port of Hamburg, 1874

Substantial Luxembourgish emigration to America took off from about 1845, for several reasons. Advances in medicine caused the rate of infant mortality to decline. This resulted in overpopulation. The lack of work in industry led many to despair. The country could no longer feed its population. In the large families of the time, the dividing up of inheritances led to fragmentation of land ownership. The portion of each child was reduced to a few hectares, which was barely enough to feed a family. Selling one's portion to the elder brother, however, provided enough money for the other siblings to pay for the voyage to America and to start a new life there.[7]

Traveling was becoming easier in this period as well. Previously, it had taken as long to go from Luxembourg to Paris as from there to America. After a while, the news came to Europe that there was much unused land available in America. The Homestead Act offered fertile land for low prices. Many therefore took the step of attempting a new start, since staying in one's home country would mean death by starvation.[8]

Luxembourgers arriving in the United States would not necessarily be registered as such by the authorities, but instead as Belgians or Germans. After arriving in New York, Luxembourgers tended to move on to Chicago, as well as Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. A small number stayed in New York.[7]

In 1871, just after the Great Chicago Fire parishioners of St. Michael's Church in Chicago formed the first Luxembourger American organization in the United States, the Luxemburger Unterstützungsverein (Luxembourg Mutual Aid Society).[9] Other organizations followed including the Luxembourg Bruderbund and the Luxembourg American Cultural Society.

Nearly 1000 Luxembourgish Americans fought for the Union Army during the Civil War, including whole companies of Luxembourgish descendents from Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota.[10]

## Notable people

[edit]

Lists of Americans

By US state
By ethnicity

* Afghan
* African Americans
* African-American Jews
* Alabama Creoles
* Albanian
* Algerian
* Amish
* Anglo-Americans
* Angolan
* Antiguan and Barbudan
* Arab
* Argentine
* Armenian
* Asian
* Assyrian
* Australian
* Austrian
* Azerbaijani

* Bahamian
* Baloch
* Bangladeshi
* Barbadian
* Basque
* Belarusian
* Belgian
* Belizean
* Beninese
* Berber
* Bermudian
* Bissau-Guinean
* Bolivian
* Bosniak
* Bosnian
* Brazilian
* British
* Bulgarian
* Burmese

* Caucasian peoples
* Chechen
* Circassian
* Georgian
* Californios
* Cambodian
* Cameroonian
* Canadian
* Canarian
* Isleños
* Louisiana Isleños
* Cape Verdean
* Catalan
* Caribbean
* Garifuna
* Indo-Caribbean
* Central Asian
* Afghan
* Kazakh
* Tajikistani
* Uzbek
* Chamorros
* Chilean
* Chinese
* Fuzhou
* Hakka
* Hoklo
* Hongkonger
* Colombian
* Congolese
* Coptic
* Cornish
* Cossack
* Costa Rican
* Croatian
* Cuban
* Cypriot
* Czech

* Danish
* Dominican Americans (Dominica)
* Dominican Americans (Dominican Republic)
* Dutch
* Dutch West Indian

* Ecuadorian
* Egyptian
* English
* Equatoguinean
* Eritrean
* Estonian

* Faroese
* Fijian
* Indo-Fijian
* Filipino
* Finnish
* French
* French-Canadian
* French Polynesian
* Frisian
* Fula

* Gabonese
* Galician
* Gambian
* German
* Ghanaian
* Greek
* Greenlandic
* Grenadian
* Guatemalan
* Guinean
* Guyanese

* Habesha peoples
* Ethiopian
* Eritrean
* Haitian
* Hmong
* Honduran
* Hongkongese
* Hungarian

* Icelandic
* Igbo
* Indian
* Bengali
* Gujarati
* Indo-Caribbean
* Indo-Fijian
* Malayali
* Punjabi
* Tamil
* Telugu
* Indonesian
* Iranian
* Iraqi
* Irish
* Irish Travellers
* Israeli
* Italian
* Iu Mien
* Ivorian

* Jamaican
* Japanese
* Jews
* African-American Jews
* Guamanian Jews
* Melungeon Jews
* Old Stock Jews
* Puerto Rican Jews
* Syrian Jews
* Jordanian

* Kalmyk
* Karen
* Kashubian
* Kazakh
* Kenyan
* Kittian and Nevisian
* Korean
* Kurdish
* Kuwaiti

* Laotian
* Latino
* Latvian
* Lebanese
* Liberian
* Libyan
* Liechtensteiner
* Lithuanian
* Louisiana Cajun
* Louisiana Creole
* Luxembourg

* Macedonian
* Malawian
* Maldivian
* Malian
* Maltese
* Malaysian
* Manx
* Māori
* Marshallese
* Mauritanian
* Métis
* Mexican
* Melungeon
* Melungeon Jews
* Micronesian
* Moldovan
* Mongolian
* Montenegrin
* Moroccan

* Native American
* Native Hawaiian
* Nepalese
* New Zealand
* Nicaraguan
* Nigerian
* Igbo
* Yoruba
* Nuevomexicano
* Norwegian

* Old Stock

* Pakistani
* Baloch
* Punjabi
* Sindhi
* Palauan
* Palestinian
* Panamanian
* Paraguayan
* Peruvian
* Polish
* Portuguese
* Puerto Rican

* Romani
* Bashalde
* Romanian
* Russian
* Russian Mennonites
* Rusyn

* Saint Lucian
* Salvadoran
* Sammarinese
* Samoan
* Saudi
* Scotch-Irish
* Scottish
* Senegalese
* Serbian
* Sicilian
* Sierra Leonean
* Singaporean
* Slovak
* Slovene
* Somali
* Sorbian
* South African
* South Asian
* Bangladeshi
* Bhutanese
* Indian
* Indo-Caribbean
* Indo-Fijian
* Nepalese
* Pakistani
* Sri Lankan
* South Sudanese
* Spanish
* Hispanos
* Sri Lankan
* Sudanese
* Surinamese
* Swedish
* Swiss
* Syrian

* Taiwan
* Tajik
* Tanzanian
* Tejanos
* Thai
* Tibetan
* Togolese
* Tongan
* Trinidadian and Tobagonian
* Tunisian
* Turkish

* Ugandan
* Ukrainian
* Uruguayan
* Uzbek
* Uyghur

* Venezuelan
* Vietnamese
* Vincentian
* Virgin Islander

* Welsh

* Yemeni
* Yoruba
* Yugoslav

* Zimbabwean

* Category

* v
* t
* e

The Pond—Moonlight by Edward Steichen, one of the most expensive photographs ever sold

Further information: Category:American people of Luxembourgian descent

* René Arend (1928–2016), McDonald's first executive chef[11][12]
* John W. Beschter (1763–1842), Jesuit missionary and briefly president of Georgetown College[13]
* Chris Evert (born 1954), tennis player and winner of 21 Grand Slam titles[14]
* Red Faber (1888–1976), baseball player and Baseball Hall of Fame inductee[15]
* Hugo Gernsback (1884–1967), inventor and science fiction writer[16]
* Raymond E. Goedert (1927–2023), Auxiliary Bishop emeritus of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago
* Dennis Hastert (born 1942), Republican politician and former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives[17]
* Theodore Hesburgh (1917–2015), priest and academic leader, former president of the University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana[18]
* Paul O. Husting (1866–1917), Democratic politician and former United States Senator for Wisconsin[19]
* Vincent Kartheiser (born 1979), actor known for playing Connor in Angel and Pete Campbell in Mad Men
* Richard F. Kneip (1933–1987), Democratic politician and former Governor of South Dakota
* Paul Lauterbur (1929–2007), chemist and winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
* John L. May (1922–1994), clergyman of the Roman Catholic Church; served as Bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mobile and then as Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis, died in office
* Arno Mayer (born 1926), historian and professor at Princeton University
* Nicholas Muller (1836–1917), Democratic politician and former United States Representative from New York
* Gene Scholz (1917–2005), professional basketball player
* Edward Steichen (1879–1973), photographer, painter, art gallery and museum curator
* Alex Wagner (born 1977), journalist and author
* Tim Walz (born 1964), governor of Minnesota, 2024 Democratic Party nominee for vice president.[20]
* Matthew Woll (1880–1956), trade unionist and former Vice President of the AFL-CIO
* Loretta Young (1913–2000), actress and Best Actress Academy Award winner
* Bernard J. Cigrand, dentist and father of flag day

## See also

[edit]

* United States portal
* Luxembourg portal

* European Americans
* Luxembourg Brotherhood of America
* Luxembourgers
* Luxembourgish Brazilians
* Luxembourgish Canadians
* Luxembourg–United States relations

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Table B04006, People Reporting Ancestry, 2019 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, United States Census Bureau
2. ^ "QT-P13. Ancestry: Census 2000 Summary File 3 (SF 3) – Sample Data". United States Census Bureau. 2000. Archived from the original on 10 February 2020. Retrieved 29 July 2006.
3. ^ "De L'état à la nation 1839–1989" Imprimeries St. Paul. p. 145.
4. ^ Encyclopedia of Chicago: Luxembourgers. Posted by Kathleen Neils Conzen.
5. ^ "US population by ancestry and state". United States Census Bureau. 2000. Retrieved 29 July 2006.
6. ^ ""Luxembourg-USA – A Story of Migration" Begegnung mit der Vergangenheit" (PDF) (in German). Luxemburger Wort. 2 July 2007. p. 25. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
7. ^ a b c Cortés, Carlos E. (2013-08-15). Multicultural America: A Multimedia Encyclopedia. SAGE Publications. ISBN 978-1-4522-7626-7.
8. ^ "Migration in Luxemburg" (PDF) (in German). www.architecturaltheory.eu. p. 72\. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 October 2013. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
9. ^ "Luxembourg's history: Luxembourgish immigration to Chicago". www.rtl.lu (in Luxembourgish). Retrieved 2023-03-03.
10. ^ Luxembourg America -19th, 20th and 21st centuries - roots and leaves association 2015 page 89.
11. ^ "Ex-Chef of Exclusive Club Plans McDonald's Menu". Toledo News. April 4, 1985. Retrieved 18 December 2024.
12. ^ Okun, Janice (7 October 1988). "RENE AREND, MCDONALD'S CHEF MEET THE INVENTOR OF CHICKEN MCNUGGETS". Buffalo News. Retrieved 18 December 2024.
13. ^ Woodstock Letters (PDF). Society of Jesus. 1901. p. 350. Retrieved 18 December 2024.
14. ^ "Vol. 4 Luxembourgers in the United States: Chris Evert". washington.mae.lu. 3 May 2021. Retrieved 18 December 2024.
15. ^ "Red Faber". Society for American Baseball Research. Retrieved 18 December 2024.
16. ^ "The Luxembourger behind science fiction". Luxembourg Times. 18 December 2024. Retrieved 18 December 2024.
17. ^ Hastert, Dennis (2004). Speaker : lessons from forty years in coaching and politics. Washington, D.C.: Regnery. p. 14\. ISBN 978-0-89526-126-7. Retrieved 18 December 2024.
18. ^ O'Brien, Michael (1998). Hesburgh: A Biography. CUA Press. p. 5\. ISBN 978-0-8132-0921-0. Retrieved 18 December 2024.
19. ^ "Vol. 8 Luxembourgers in the United States: Paul O. Husting". washington.mae.lu. 4 February 2021. Retrieved 18 December 2024.
20. ^ Roberts, Duncan (24 August 2024). "US vice president hopeful Tim Walz's Luxembourg heritage". Luxembourg Times. Retrieved 24 August 2024.

## External links

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Luxembourg diaspora in the United States.

* Luxembourgish in the United States
* English Language contact in the Luxembourgish linguistic enclaves in the Midwest of the USA
* Amira Ouardalitou researches the Luxembourgish language in the New World
* Luxembourgers in America
* Luxemburgisch in den USA: eine empirische Untersuchung- Amira-Louise Ouardalitou
* US Luxemburgisch in den USA
* Letzebuergesch an Amerika vum Henri Fischbach
* Englischer Sprachkontakt in den luxemburgischen Sprachinseln im Mittleren Westen der USA - Master thesis Amira Ouardalitou

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European Americans

Central Europe|

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Eastern Europe|

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Northern Europe|

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Southeast Europe|

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Southern Europe|

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Western Europe|

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Other Europeans|

* White Americans
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By region|

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