SYRACUSE

Not many people think of Onondaga County, New York when they think of Glarner immigrants arriving at the port towns of the United States and fanning out across the country’s interior. Yet a significant and flourishing community of German-speaking immigrants did exist in Onondaga County almost from the days of its earliest white settlers. Those searching for Glarner ancestors in America should not overlook the possibility that their people ended up or spent some time in Syracuse before they further travelled on the Erie Canal to Wisconsin or other parts in Western US. Many Glarner immigrants to Wisconsin and Illinois proceeded from New York by steamboat up the Hudson, via the Erie Canal to Buffalo and the Great Lakes to the port of Milwaukee.

Syracuse is a city in Central New York sited on the former lands of the Onondaga Nation. Officially incorporated as a village in 1825, it has been at a major crossroads over the last two centuries, first of the Erie Canal and its branch canals, then on the railway network. The city grew on the back of its salt and chemical industries, and later as a center of manufacturing and engineering.

The Original Pioneer Settlers of Syracuse

Gabriel Blumer (1809-1883) emigrated 1833 from Schwanden to Syracuse and married there Anna Mary West from England.

Article under constuction

Documents about Syracuse

Historic Maps

Link to the Onondaga County 1874