That's So Cheesy!: Luxembourg American Cheese Factories

Luxembourg immigrants to America in the 19th and 20th Centuries were overwhelmingly an agrarian people. Most immigrants were poor farmers who emigrated to the New World in hope of a better economic existence. It is no wonder that these immigrants and their children continued in agrarian occupations including crop and dairy farming, truck farming and horticulture. In regions of America where dairy farming was strong, a number of Luxembourg immigrants and their descendants, with an entrepreneurial bent, began dairies, creameries and cheese factories. These institutions were in high demand as farmers had no way of keeping their milk cooled, so milk needed to be consumed or processed quickly. Turning milk into butter and cheese was the perfect solution. In regard to dairies and creameries, Luxembourg American family names such as Bares, Antoine, Wester and Oberweis come to mind. In regard to the production of cheese, names of Luxembourg Americans family that come to mind include: Baker, Pauly, Antoine, Mertz, Burmesch, Wetor, Bley, Jacoby, Schanen, Schockmel, Wester, Ternes, Marx, Wiltgen, Feierstein, Ansay, Wellenstein, Possley and Pierron, to name a few.