“Anyone interested in regional culture soon comes to appreciate studies of population origin. Birthplace information for early settlers provides the best measure available for migration patterns. It also has proved important in understanding past and present variations in agricultural practices, architecture, political behavior, and even the growth of cities. Douglas Meyer has devoted his scholarly life to tabulating and interpreting ... Read moreheretofore unpublished birthplace data from the 1850 Illinois census. We should be grateful for his efforts.”—The Annals of Iowa “Meyer’s work provides impressive evidence of the demographic, economic, and settlement dynamics in the state of Illinois in the middle of the nineteenth century, out of which emerged a distinctive Midwestern culture that would subsequently influence national culture.”—The American Historical Review Show Less