The young emigrant's first port of call in the New World was the home of the Gubitz family, relatives on his mother's side who ran a grocery store in Utica. During his English lessons, which every new arrival had to take, Carl met his later wife Josephine Beerhalter. She came from the same part of Germany, and had emigrated from the region around Aalen in Württemberg.

"Carl, Josephine & friends": the young lovers probably had a very happy and carefree time.

Carl soon moved further west to Rochester, hoping he would have good employment opportunities in the precision mechanics industry there. He ended up getting a job in the development department of the Hawkeye Works. There he concentrated on designing lenses for binoculars and cameras. He continued taking classes at a technical school, and ended the private studies with great success. From January 1936 onward, Carl Bayer worked as a design engineer for Hawkeye/Eastman Kodak.

Now that he felt he had a safe job, Carl married his girlfriend Josephine in April 1927. Their wedding certificate was in German, revealing the importance to them – at least privately – of their origins.