Immigrant Passengers First View of the Statue of Liberty

Immigrant Passengers First View of the Statue of Liberty

Immigrants to America Nearly fifty million people have come to America. Within three Significant periods: 1. Pre-1820. An estimated 650,000 individuals arrived in America with only a small number of persons of Slavic Decent. The majority (60 percent) were English and Welsh.

II. 1820-1880. Over ten million immigrants came from northern Europe. this included a significant number from Austria and Hungarian Lands. While some of the new arrivals settled in large eastern and mid-western cities, most migrated to the Midwest and West.

III. 1880-1920. More than twenty-five million immigrants, primarily from southern and eastern Europe arrived. The largest numbers (in order) came from Germany, Italy, Ireland, and Austria-Hungary. Many of these immigrants settled in the larger cities, including New York City, Chicago, and Philadelphia.

Why did they Leave? Economic Hardships i. Land availability Farms split into smaller parcels ii. Living and Working for large estates provided inadequate compensations to live in comfort. Religious Freedom i. Catholic Faith was predominate religion ii. Protestants still had to submit Births, Marriages and Deaths or other important Life events to the Catholic Church to be recognized as an official and recognized recording of the event. Wars and Mandatory Military Conscription i. Demands of Government changed over time. ii. 7 years active duty and up to 10 years of Reserve status before marriage. Recurring Epidemics i. Small Pox ii. Cholera iii. Tuberculosis

Czech / Slovak Settlements in Wisconsin According to the 1860 US Census, Wisconsin had 7,060 Czech Settlers. i. Czechs who moved to Wisconsin had primarily an agricultural background. ii. The climate, though severe with long winters, was similar to home. iii. The soil was adaptable to the raising crops with which they were familiar. iv. The Czech Wisconsin weekly Slavie promoted the virtues of Wisconsin. Wisconsin Czech Destination Points: i. Milwaukee, Racine, Caledonia, Manitowoc and Kewaunee along the lake. First Czech Language Newspapers in the U.S. were published in Milwaukee & Racine. First Czech Language Schools came into existence. Oldest Czech organizations of Slovanska and TJ Sokol existed here. ii. La Crosse and Prairie du Chien along the Mississippi River. iii. Watertown attracted German Catholic emigres from the Lanskron / Lanskroun Region Google Search: Ed Langer Czechs in Watertown, Wi for detailed information on this group.

Primary Ports of Embarkation to America Hamburg Germany i. Used by 90% of emigrants from Eastern Europe. ii. Passenger Records in Hamburg: Direct Passage lists Hamburg to American Ports Indirect Passage lists Hamburg to England or Other Destinations Hamburg Police Registers of city residents Passports Issued

Bremen Germany i. Primarily used by Czechs from Western Bohemia Easier to reach by train than Hamburg ii. Passenger Records from Bremen: All lists from 1875 to 1908 were destroyed due to lack of space in their archives. All other lists with the exception of 3017 passenger lists created between 1920 1939 were lost in World War II. Transferred to Moscow at end of WWII, returned to Bremen Chamber of Commerce between 1987-1990 E-mail Inquiries can be made to: kwesling@gmx.de

Other Ports: I. Le Havre, France Only Ships crew lists known to exist I. Antwerp, Belgium Indexes Exist beginning 1840 ( FamilySearch.org ) I. Stettin, Germany Some passenger lists available under record group Pommersches Polizeiprasidium (Pommern Police Headquarters) covering years 1869-1892. (FamilySearch.org ) I. Rotterdam, Holland Passenger Lists from 1900-1940 on microfilm.

Hamburg List July 7, 1876 Steamship Uranus departing for Hull England

New York Passenger List July 17, 1876 Steamship Bothnia sailing from Liverpool England

Steamship Bothnia

U. S. Ports of Arrival

Recordings and Regulations After 1820 Federal Government began to regulate immigration. Official lists of Passengers were required. Some Cities, States, Ports and Shipping Lines began to keep their own arrival records. Passenger Lists before 1880 rarely list place of Origin. Children who were often not recorded on earlier lists were now included in the arrival lists. No official lists were kept until the late 1800s for border crossings from Canada & Mexico.

Castle Garden was in operation from August 1, 1855, to April 18, 1890. It was originally built as a fort called the Southwest Battery, designed to defend the New York habour during the War of 1812 with England.

Ellis Island Immigrant Depot January 1, 1892-1924 Caught fire on June 14, 1897 / Rebuild completed Dec. 16, 1900

Searching for an Ancestor in Passenger Lists ENGLISH Given Names Andrew Carl - Charles Ernest Frank Frederick Agnes Bernice Elizabeth Faith CZECH Given Names Ondřej Karel Arnošt František Bedřich Anežka Bronislava Alžběta Věra

Searching for an Ancestor in Passenger Lists Bishop Carpenter Cartwright Cross Fisher King Taylor Weaver English Surnames Biskup Tesar Kolar Križ Rybar Krall Krejčí Kadlec Czech Surnames

Sample Passenger Lists Andreas Family July 15, 1850 Bremen to New York

Nemec Family April 19, 1875 Bremen to New York

Vaclav & Marie Jonas October 29, 1899 Bremen to New York

Josef Macek November 19, 1922 Hamburg to New York

http://www.stevemorse.org/ Sampling of Database Searchs

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