Ellis Island

My parents were here last week (yay!), and we went to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Being a history nerd-o, I really enjoyed both (even with all the tourists). Many European-descended types in America have some sort of Ellis Island story, mostly about relatives who came through the glass doors of that imposing fortress, and some who were never allowed to leave. Some died there, some were born there, some were deported--one of the worst stories I heard was of an elderly woman who had to go back to her homeland because she had a growth on her finger, and they didn't want her to infect Americans (it probably didn't help that she was old, female, and poor). Her entire family had emigrated* here and she had to go home alone, and none of them ever heard from her again. Most first and second class passengers passed through without a problem, and then those in steerage waited..and waited. If they didn't pass the physical test, then they waited for other tests, for days.(thanks to the Ellis Island site and the National Parks Service for providing these images. Minus people, the room looks much the same.)

Most of my maternal relatives emigrated in the 1880's, which was before Ellis Island was the entrance point to the United States. (At that time it was Castle Gardens/Castle Clinton, which is in Battery Park, and where my then-7 year old great-grandmother remembered picking the flowers.) However, my maternal grandfather's mother came through Ellis Island in 1893. Her name was Anna; hence, my name is Anna.

(not my relatives, but they are someone's relatives, and I am borrowing them for awhile.)

When Anna entered the United States she was 19 years old. She was alone. Young, unaccompanied women were considered a serious threat when entering the US in this time period, as they could have turned to prostitution or other unsavory means of supporting themselves in the big city. So I'm guessing someone must have met her there, or she was able to get around that rule, because in short order she got to a small town outside of Mt Jewett, PA and had married, given birth to a son, been widowed, and remarried by 1896. What was most odd about Anna's journey is that there were only 340 passengers on her ship from Liverpool, which could have held 2000. Who were they? Were they mostly young? Why leave Europe then?

I don't know anything about Anna's family or parents or much of her life in PA. She had 8 children all told, and after her husband died in a gas explosion (very young) she had to raise the children by herself, which included sending 3 of them (my grandfather included) to an orphanage in Meadville to make sure they had enough to eat. I hope her time at Ellis Island was quick, painless, and not too frightening. Although how could it not have been? Doctors with sedate suits, handlebar mustaches, practiced hands, and button hooks (BUTTON HOOKS) which they stuck under your eyelids to make sure you weren't infectious? People quizzing you about money and what you have in your bags and who is meeting you there and what your plans are? Feeling sick and hungry and homesick? How COULD it be non-awful?

Although, maybe I am just weak. I am moving to Indiana in four months and the thought of finding an apartment and meeting new people makes me feel ill. I am not hardy, and could very well have thrown up on the ferry to Ellis Island, never mind a 2 week journey on the Atlantic Ocean. Like every other tourist who visited the Island in search of their past, I am spoiled by the excesses of this country, excesses which my Anna, my matriarch and my ancestor, never experienced. Was her life in this country better than Sweden? I hope it was. And hey, I'm here because of it, so I'm glad she was here too. I picture her sweeping into Ellis Island, acing her mental test, marching to the ferry with aplomb, and setting off for New York City and promise and adventure. I walked in her footsteps last week. I sensed her terror and excitement, and I wished I knew her.

*Emigrated is when you leave a country to go to another. Immigrated is when you enter another country or new location. I honestly had no idea which of these to use until I looked them up about 5 minutes ago. Kind of like how until my senior year in high school I thought a Molotov cocktail was a drink.