MARTIN, ALBERT
(1808-1836). Albert Martin, Alamo defender and officer of the Alamo garrison, son of Joseph S. and Abbey B. Martin, was born in Providence, Rhode Island, on January 6, 1808. He moved to Gonzales, Texas, in 1835, by way of Tennessee and New Orleans, following his father and older brothers. In Gonzales he ran a general store. At the outbreak of the Texas revolution,qv Martin was one of the "Old Eighteen," defenders of the Gonzales "Come and Take It" cannon.qv He was part of the Texas force that besieged San Antonio de Béxar (see SIEGE OF BEXAR) in the autumn of 1835. By December 19, 1835, he was back in Gonzales recovering from a foot injury inflicted by an ax.
Martin returned to Bexar sometime before the Alamo siege. On February 23, 1836, the first day of the siege, he was sent by Lt. Col. William B. Travisqv as an emissary to the Mexican force. He met Gen. Antonio López de Santa Anna'sqv adjutant, Col. Juan N. Almonte,qv who rejected Martin's invitation to come to the Alamo and speak directly to Travis. On the following day, Martin left the Alamo carrying Travis's famous letter "To the People of Texas." He passed the message to Lancelot Smitherqv in Gonzales. Martin returned to the Alamo with the relief force from Gonzales and arrived on March 1, 1836. He died in the battle of the Alamoqv on March 6, 1836.
Norwegian Immigration to the United States
Emigration from Norway to the United States occurred in great numbers throughout the nineteenth century and into the early twentieth century. During the early 1800s, the majority of Norwegian emigrants were family units from rural Norway. Single people left Norway as well, but more men left during this period than women. By the mid-1860s, extensive emigration was taking place, and more and more of these individuals were younger, often unmarried, individuals. By the late 1800s, the profile of the average emigrant had change from rural family units to single men from the city. However, no matter where these people came from, they all had their own reasons for choosing to leave Norway and come to the United States.
Danish Immigration to the United States
For centuries, small groups of Danes had visited and lived on the shores of the New World. Danes had joined Dutch expeditions to navigate the Hudson River in the 17th century, and in 1728 the Danish explorer Vitus Bering charted the Alaskan straits that bear his name. The New Amsterdam colony was home to many prominent Danes, including Jonas Bronck, whose land north of Manhattan Island became widely known as Bronck's, and, eventually, the Bronx. In addition, small numbers of Danes fled the established Dutch Reform Church to join larger, usually German, religious communities on the East Coast.
The greatest surge of Danish immigration came, however, in the wake of a small group of missionaries who arrived in Copenhagen in 1850, spreading the word of a new faith from America. In the following years, several thousand Danes converted to Mormonism, and roughly half of those converts left for the United States—nearly 20,000 by the end of the century. Once in the U.S., most joined their fellow believers on the trek to the distant territory of Utah, an arduous journey of many months, usually made on foot. The terse, handwritten diary of Danish immigrant John Peter Rasmus Johnson conveys some sense of the hardships of the trek, as the travelers endured disease, dangerous weather and terrain, and attacks by bandits, anti-Mormon vigilantes, and hostile Native Americans. By the end of the 19th century, Utah was home to the largest community of Danish immigrants in the United States.
Sweden Immigration to the United States
In 1638 the Swedish government employed the experienced Dutch explorer, Peter Minuit, to help them establish a colony in America. Soon afterwards two vessels owned by the Swedish West India Company arrived with 50 colonists and established a small settlement in Delaware Bay. They named the town Christina in honor of Sweden's young queen.
The Swedes became involved in the fur and tobacco trades and this brought them into conflict with the Dutch and English settlers. Peter Stuyvesant, the Dutch governor of the New Netherland colony arrived in 1655 with a formidable armada and took the Swedish settlement by force.
It was not until the 19th century that Swedes began to think again about settling in America. In Sweden there had always been a shortage of good land to farm. It was estimated that over 40 per cent of Swedish soil was unproductive. This situation was made worse by an increase in population. One of the main reasons for this was a fall in infant mortality from 21% in 1750 to 15% in 1850.
Scotland 
Ireland 
England 
Spain 
Italy 
Germany 
France 
Ulster 
Portugal 
Scandinavia 
Canada 
New Zealand 
Australia 
United States 
Slovakia 
Wales 
Wallonia 
