Ellis Island and Immigrants

Ellis Island was originally a island with a tavern on it for fishman.  After Samuel Ellis passed away , the island is used to store ammunition and for military use during War of  1812 and later for the Civil War.  After 1790 the government made it easy to become a citizen and the wave of people started to travel to America.  In 1892, Ellis opened for immigration and the laws were tighted. They didn't let in the sick, lunatics, prostitutes or idiots! (Their words!)

Ellis Island is a place where many of our ancestors arrived when they immigrated to America after 1892.  It was a federal immigration station that opened in 1892 and closed in 1954 - then became a military post for a while.  My Grandpa Wilhart was actually stationed there for a while during WWII. Millions upon Millions of people arrived at this station to pass through to America!  Most migrated to escape war or poverty in their own countries.  The passengers were tagged with information from the ship they traveled on because most didn't speak english.  They had to pass inspections for medical and legal reasons to determine if they were fit for entry into the USA.  Ellis Island was busiest during 1900-1914 and they estimate between 5,000 to 10,000 people could pass through the station every single day!  That is just mind boggling!  About 80 percent passed through in matter of hours successfully, but many were detained for long periods of time and sometimes turned away and sent elsewhere.

The Ellis Island history states that they estimate about 40% of all current US citizens can trace at least one of their ancestors to Ellis Island!  I am extremely lucky to have several ancestors, including several of my Great grandparents and several of their siblings, and even my Great Great Grandparents too.  I am going to show below some of the information you can find from the Ellis Island website.  Now, I found my information many years ago, and I've revisited the site and see that they have changed it. Infact, I'm even finding it more difficult - though it seems simple.  The problem is, many people misspelled their names. In the old search we could search with partial names, or from areas they migrated from.    They cool thing you can find are manifests and ships they sailed on.  

I highly recommend that if you find a relative to see if they have their name put on their walls.  You can pay to have it put on, and you will receive a certificate.  Few of my ancestors are on the walls there, and its pretty cool!

Here are a few of my ancestors that traveled through Ellis Island.  

Guglielmo Tedesco traveled with his brothers to America.

Passenger records from Ellis Island:
Name: Tedesco, Guglielino
Ethnicity: Italian
Date of Arrival: 25 mar 1903
Age on Arrival: 16 years
Marital Status: Single
Ship of Travel: Ravenna
Port of Departure: Naples, Campania, Italy
manifest states: He had $12.00, he was a tailor, traveled with brother Francesco who was 22 yrs.  Their sponsor was Pasquale Tedesco (Brother) of 60 Mulberry St, New York (This is Patsy).

Ravenna Ship

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Adeline Rohr
From Ellis Island History:
Ethnicity: Germany
Date of arrival: March 11, 1892
age:9 months old
Passenger ID: 104578150095 Frame 369 Line number 385

From Ellis Island History:
Ethnicity: Germany
Date of arrival:May 31, 1906
age:15 years old
U.S . Citizen

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August Rohrs - Adelines Father
From Ellis Island History:
August Rohrs
Ethnicity: Germany
Date of arrival: March 11, 1892
age: 29 Years

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Marichen Dorthea Voss - Adline Mother
From Ellis Island History:
Ethnicity: Germany
Date of arrival: March 11, 1892
age: 23 Years
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Hulda Niemi
*Detailed  Passenger information from "Institute of Migration" site. 12/2001
Age 6
Port of Departure: Hanko
Place of destination: Covington
State of destination: MI
Country of destination: USA
Price of ticket: FIM 180
Ship from Finland: Astraea
Date of Departure from Finland: 17.10.1900
Ship from England: *
Date of departure from England: *
Ocean Line : Beaver Line
List and page: 21/74
remarks: Mk Anna, Alina ja Hjalmar Kytöniemi. (traveled with mother and siblings)

Passport information:
Birth: 1892
Occupation: Torpp.tr (Crofter's daughter)
Home Parish: Karvia
Province: TUR
Passport Date: 24-09-1900
Passport number: 1309
Passport valid (Year: Month): 5:0
Destination: Ulkomaat
remarks: Ph äiti Anna Lisa s. 1855 (mother is Anna Lisa b: 1855)

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Anna Lisa Kortes - Hulda's Mother
*Detailed  Passenger information from "Institute of Migration" site. 12/2001
Age 45
Port of Departure: Hanko
Place of destination: Covington
State of destination: MI
Country of destination: USA
Price of ticket: FIM 180
Ship from Finland: Astraea
Date of Departure from Finland: 17.10.1900
Ship from England: *
Date of departure from England: *
Ocean Line : Beaver Line
List and page: 21/74
remarks: Mk  Alina, Hjalmar ja hulda  Kytöniemi.

Passort information:
Birth: 1855
marital status: 2 (Married)
Occupation: Torpp.vmo (Crofter's wife)
Home Parish: Karvia
Province: TUR (Turku & Pori Province)
Passport Date: 24-09-1900
Passport number: 1309
Passport valid (Year: Month): 5:0
Destination: Ulkomaat  "Abroad"
remarks:Sp 2 lasta (Same passport 3 children)
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It is free to search on Ellis Island website.  http://www.libertyellisfoundation.org/ I highly encourage everyone to look up ancestors, try several ways to spell the names as well.