After arriving at Ellis Island, immigrants spent an average of two to five hours before getting the go-ahead to embark on a new life in the United States.Posted on 01/02/2017 6:33:33 AM PST by NYer
align:left;">These newcomers were the first to be processed at the brand-new, federal government-run facility, where a total of 12 million immigrants over 62 years were registered and then given medical and legal checks before being allowed onto the mainland.
(This was only for third-class passengers, of course—those in first and second class were given a quick inspection on the ship, then allowed to proceed to New York City.)
After arriving at Ellis Island, immigrants spent an average of two to five hours before getting the go-ahead to embark on a new life in the United States.
Two percent, however, were turned back across the pond for a variety of reasons: bad health, mental issues, anti-American sentiment.
Capturing the faces of many of these new arrivals in their native dress was chief registry clerk Augustus Sherman, who was also an amateur photographer.
Sherman took about 250 photos of people he encountered between 1905 and the 1920s.
“The people in the photographs were most likely detainees who were waiting for money, travel tickets or someone to come and collect them from the island,” stated The Public Domain Review.
Sherman took the photos for his own enjoyment. “Augustus Sherman was fascinated by where the immigrants were coming from and their traditional clothing,” states the National Park Service.
“He usually photographed immigrants that were detained briefly and used mostly dull backgrounds so the immigrants themselves were the main focus.”
“Though originally taken for his own personal study, Sherman’s work appeared in the public eye as illustrations for publications with titles such as ‘Alien or American,’ and hung on the walls of the custom offices as cautionary or exemplary models of the new American species,” explained a summary of a book that collected Sherman’s Ellis Islands photos.
Regardless of how they were used a century ago, these photos are incredible portraits of what some of the people who made it to Ellis Island looked like.
Dressed in folk outfits from their native countries, they have unsmiling yet hopeful faces.
For more about what it was like to arrive in New York City as an immigrant in the 19th and early 20th centuries—first at Castle Garden, then at Ellis Island—check out The Gilded Age in New York, 1870-1910.
[Countries of origin: 1. The Netherlands; 2. Greece; 3. Romania; 4. Italy; 5. “Hindu” is how the boy is described]
HA !!!
Got ya all beat...
My ancestors were on the New Netherland !!!
New York’s answer to the Mayflower...
Ditto. My German ancestors initially settles in Ward 14 around 1856. Following the death of that great, great grandfather, his wife moved up to Yorkville, another German community. He was a music teacher. Thanks for another interesting link.
Name change was the “norm” on Ellis Island. An uncle’s family, Jews from outside Warsaw, sent the OLDEST brother to America, complete with a L*O*N*G Polish name. He worked very had to send money to bring the next brother to America. Then TWO worked to bring in number THREE and so forth, until all five brothers becase Americans, lived and prospered.
One, I don’t know his position in the 5, married INTO my family, thus I know that-—
Five Polish Jewish brothers came to America one at a time and in America, walked off Ellis Island with FIVE totally different last names. I have been told by many different groups that this was actually almost “normal”
Is that guy in the dress from “Trans”ylvania? ;)
It took my parents a long time to get permission to come here legally.
yes, the article claims that only steerage went thru Ellis all others were checked on board and allow to go straight into NY, that may be true for some but not for Italian and Irish immigrants traveling 1st and 2nd class, they went thru the Island.
My maternal grandfather came through Ellis Island in 1912 from what is now the Czech Republic. The transcribers screwed up transcribing his name into their database so it’s difficult to find him. I had written to them back in 2014 to fix this but nothing so far. They have his first name as his last name and vice versa with his last name totally mistranslated. I guess they can’t read cursive because the primary source document is correct.
thx ...
Doubtful you will have any success with Ellis Island. However, through Ancestry.com, you can correct the record for others who search for him. I had a similar problem. My great great grandmother was Irish, married to a French man. When asked by the census worker for the family’s name, she responded with an Irish brogue and was misspelled. Later, the transcriptionist misinterpreted the letter “v” as an “r”, rendering the original name as unsearchable. This is now corrected in the Ancestry search engine.
It may have taken longer but the decision to come to American was their choice. They adopted this country as their own.
Fabulous history! That is probably why he was chosen as a director for Ellis Island. You must be so proud.
I reside in the northeast where many European immigrants set down their roots. Like your great grandfather, they labored long and hard to build up sufficient resources to support their families. Last summer, though, I noticed an influx of hispanics who are following the same regimen. They take on the most difficult jobs, working under very challenging conditions, to perform the work young Americans shun. I have no problem with anyone who comes here and works hard to achieve their goal. God bless them.
God bless them and ... you! They (and you) recognized that America was the land of opportunity and that success is earned not awarded.
Gus was on my Mom’s side.
Dad’s people came from Nova Scotia, then the USA.
They were Scotch/Irish/Welsh...
Btt all 4 of my grandparents came through Ellis island.
Went to her home town only to find yet another spelling.
Yes, and it was a very good decision :)
That’s normal. In the past, many people were illiterate and/or had to record information based on what they were told. My great, great grandmother’s name was Bridget but on several records, she is listed as Delia.
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