Immigrant and Entrepreneur: The Atlantic World of Caspar Wistar, 1650-1750 (review)

At first glance Caspar Wistar's early years, in what he called the "small, wretched village" of Waldshilsbach in the German Palatinate, stand in stark contrast to his successful life in America as a brass button maker, merchant, land speculator, and glassmaker. Growing up poor, with little education, and seemingly destined to follow his family's profession as a forester, Wistar embodies, in many ways, the prototypical American success story. He arrived in Philadelphia, in 1717 at the age of 21, with nine pence in his pocket. Benjamin Franklin-like, he used most of that money to buy a meal of bread. To support himself he labored for sixteen months doing "very hard work"—hauling ashes for a soap maker. Yet, Wistar went on to come enormously influential and wealthy; by the time he died in 1752, his net worth was 60,000 Pennsylvania pounds at a time when elite men were worth on the average only 24,000 pounds.

It would be logical to attribute this meteoric rise to the economic opportunities available in Pennsylvania, known at the time as the "Best Poor Man's Country." Beiler, however, demonstrates that Wistar's story is more complicated than this. She argues that Wistar's European background provided necessary capital that he used "creatively and effectively" to advance himself in the New World. Thus Wistar's story adds complexity to the usual understanding of early America as a place of opportunity because of scarce labor and plentiful, cheap land. This was true, of course—Wistar made a fortune in land deals—but his experience also emphasizes that immigrants had additional opportunities available to them through commerce and existing transatlantic trade networks.

Beiler emphasizes the dramatic contrast between Wistar's two worlds by neatly dividing the work into two sections, yet in each part she skillfully draws parallels with the other to demonstrate how European experiences informed Wistar's actions in America. Part I, "Wistar's Palatine World," provides a window into life in the forest villages of the Palatinate in the seventeenth century and establishes the social, economic, and religious background of the Wistar family.

Wistar's grandfather Andreas Wüster, a forester in Neunkirchen, used his government position to attain a measure of success and improve, albeit tenuously, his social and economic standing. Hans Caspar Wüster, Andreas's son and Caspar's father, also worked as a forester. Though he married well, real success eluded him. Foresters had difficult jobs, caught as they were between the dictates of their work (preserving timber and game for state use) and the needs of their often-impoverished neighbors who were prohibited free use of the woods and the game in it. Hans Caspar Wüster became embroiled in public disputes with another official and was charged with overstepping his authority and using his position for personal gain.

His father's struggles, along with the promotional information that was circulating in the Rhineland, were factors in the younger Wistar's decision to emigrate, and Part II places Caspar Wistar in his American world. These chapters detail Wistar's establishment of professional connections in Pennsylvania, his wildly successful real estate investments, his use of transatlantic trade networks, his role as cultural mediator for German immigrants in America, and, finally, his establishment of the United Glass Company.

Rather than assimilating totally into British North American culture, Wistar melded assimilation with skillful application of knowledge and skills brought from Europe. To advance in his business dealings (and to ensure his right to buy and sell land) he was naturalized in both Pennsylvania and New Jersey. To become part of the uppermost social and political circles, he switched to the Quaker religion and married the daughter of a Quaker justice of the peace. In making these choices Wistar was applying lessons learned from his father and grandfather, who had shown by example the value of using good...