The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 66, July 1962 - April, 1963 Page: 213

Foreigners in the Principal Towns of Ante-Bellum Texas

of foreign born." A Brownsville hotel, operated by Italian-born
C. Angelino, included as boarders three Mexicans, two French-
men, one Turk, one Louisianian, and one Floridian.7
Occupationally, the foreigners were engaged in practically every
type of endeavor, although they showed a greater affinity for some
occupations than for others. The bulk of the Irish, for example,
were engaged in some form of manual labor, the Germans and
French were primarily merchants or skilled craftsmen; the
English tended to be merchants and machinists; and the Mex-
icans were primarily laborers or cartmen.l There were numerous
exceptions to these generalizations, as indicated by Table 2, which
TABLE 2
OCCUPATIONS OF FOREIGN MALES IN HOUSTON, 86o0
Country o
Germany 69 92 49 33 9 13 4 13 27 23
Ireland 14 94 9 5 2 2 1 12 23
England 5 7 7 4 3 8 4 12
France to 1 9 3 1 1 12
Belgium 1 1
British West Indies 1
Canada 3 2 1 5
Cuba 1 1 1
Denmark 2 2
Holland 1
Italy 1 1 4
Malta 1
Mexico 3 to 2
Newfoundland 1
Poland 2 3 2
Portugal 1
Scotland 2 2 1 4 2 1 4
Spain 2
Sweden i 1 1
Switzerland 1 4
lsIbid., Galveston county, City of Galveston, 3rd Ward, 1o3.
17Ibid., Cameron county, City of Brownsville, 2nd Ward, 32.
1sOlmsted, A Journey Through Texas, 16o, commented that most of the Mexicans
in San Antonio appeared to be engaged in the carting business.

213