Thursday, January 26, 2006

Ellis Island

Have you been wondering you wish you knew more about your heritage? The purpose of this post is to inform others about EllisIsland.org and the benefits it provides. As you may know, over 20 million immigrants were processed at Ellis Island during 1892 - 1924. If you have family that came from across the Atlantic during that period, there's a chance that you can find their records. The site contains detailed graphs, the history and tips on researching your genealogy, just to name a few resources. Below is just some of the information I've discovered about my paternal Grandma's family via EllisIsland.org. If you decide to research your ancestry, I hope your experience will be as enlightening as mine has been.

In the fall of 1893, my Great-grandmother, and her 15 children, daughter in law & granddaughter, left Bremen, Germany in hopes of a better life in America. Among the siblings was my Grandma who was 1 1/2 at the time. They arrived via The Spree on January 11, 1894. Upon arrival they were processed through Ellis Island, as were millions of other immigrants. If you'd like to see the text version of the actual ship manifest, click here.
My Great-Grandfather, Johann Haas, left Germany in the summer of 1893 on The Darmstadt. If you click on the link, notice the misspelling of his last name. This made it extremely difficult for me to find his records. I speculate he came early to make sure the USA was a place that his family could have a farm & settle down. Here is a copy of the original ship manifest for The Darmstadt.

I can vividly remember my feelings the first time I saw my ancestor's names & on the ship manifest. To see a picture of the actual ship they travelled on sent chills down my body. I was dumbfounded that my Great-grandmother brought all of her children & extended family by herself. When I see the pictures of Ellis Island, the families that passed through; I can't help but visualize my Grandma's family. They must have been filled with anticipation and also a sense of being lost. I imagined how the older children must have watched over the younger ones; held their hands in the halls of Ellis Island. The long lines & hours they must have spent in them. I felt such a closeness with my relatives. This made me look further into this side of my family. What I found was they were but a small part of a group of immigrants known as The Black Sea Germans...

(to be continued)

Technorati tags: ellis island, genealogy, bremen, germany, immigrants, black sea germans

posted by jane at 6:55 PM