52 Ancestors Week 7: Immigration

Question

From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 7

The theme for Week 7 is "Immigration." For many people, genealogy starts with a desire to know where our family came from. This week, consider an immigrant ancestor: where they came from, why they came, or how different their life was between their "old country" and their new one.

Neil Diamond intensifies.

Comments

Some immigrants had an easier time than others: https://allroadhaverhill.blogspot.com/2024/02/52-ancestors-week-7-immigration.html

Answer 1

At a young age, I was given a bible which had a family tree inside. I filled out what I knew about the family and asked my mother to help me with the rest. I was curious about my ancestral background. I had only ever met my maternal grandfather, so was always told "not to bother him", so I never had any conversations with him. I asked my mother where we came from and she told me she guess we were "Irish". I've been looking for that connection for more than 50+ years. One of these days I will. I have found roots back to Germany, Scotland, England, and France, but I want to find my Irish roots! Grandma??? Nellie May Thomas is where I think I will find it but I'm stuck. Go figure!

Answer 2

In Canada my parents are the immigrant ancestors, the family emigrated with 6 of their 7 children from England to Canada in 1966.

The youngest child was born in Canada.

In England there are several immigrant ancestors on my maternal side, they all arrived in England from Ireland between 1845 and the latest date of 1867 when my  2x GGF married, he could have been in England earlier but his marriage is the first record.

Why did they leave Ireland? They came from 2 Irish counties Galway and Roscommon that were significantly impacted by the Potato famine.

Co. Galway lost 125,000 people or 28% of its population between 1841 and 1851

‘Co Roscommon was one of the hardest hit counties during the famine, losing 31% of its population’.

In the years immediately following their arrival in England many found jobs in coal mining and related jobs, in later years some found jobs in the 'potteries' in many varied jobs related to the manufacture of bone china plates, cups, tea pots etc.

I'm not sure that their early years in England were a dramatic improvement over their life in Ireland, but they did have enough to eat most of the time, and their children did have much better opportunities than their parents.

Though my 2x GGF was still working in the coal industry at age 69 in 1911.

Answer 3

My background is fairly generic. Most came from England, most came for opportunities that the new world afforded them that were not available where they called home.  Many of my ancestors immigrated during that window of history where slavery was exploited. Most were planters therefore, enslavers. Having thousands of acres and large labor force at their disposals had to be vastly different than the old country. I draw this conclusion from one of my eighth great grandfathers who, like many, came to a 'new world' to meet kinfolk already here. It is logical to assume those families associated with other families that were 'like minded' which would account for so many of my ancestors being planters. Life as it was 300 years ago was as vastly different then as it is today and as different as it was 600 years ago.

Answer 4

My mother's family immigrated from 1861-1886 to Canada from the Province of Pomerania, later part of Germany, now Poland. They settled in the farming community of McNab Township near Arnprior, Ontario. For several years I had tried to locate the birth name of my 2nd great grandmother who was Mrs. Maria Streich, wife of Charlie Streich.

Mom had thought her name was Marie Ristow.  Two Canadian records listed her as Marie Okarns and Marie Roivus.  Researching these names (which were incorrect) led nowhere.

Finally, Wayne Ziebarth on Ancestry, searching for his 2nd great grandmother's birth name, found Marie's Prussian Emigration Record, pointing to the difference in information on Emigration from county of origin records. Immigration to new country records just listed Marie's married name. 

Answer 5

Our most recent immigrant to the United States was my paternal grandmother, Della Madeline Bowes Weinheimer, https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Bowes-605 , who came to Buffalo, as an eight year old girl, with her family in 1906, from Toronto.  Her immigrant ancestors from England, Scotland, Ireland, and Germany came to Canada between 1831 and 1852.  Her husband's German and Alsatian French ancestors came to Western New York in the 1830's and 1840's.  His Grandmother's New Netherland ancestors came to New York in the 1600's.  

My maternal grandmother's family were German and German speaking French immigrants who came to western New York around the 1850's.  Her husband's ancestors include Pilgrim Great migration immigrants from the early 1600's, New Netherlands immigrants from the 1600's, and many mysteries from Central and Western New York.

I have enjoyed learning about them all, and greatly appreciate the contributions of fellow WikiTreers who have shed new light on so many of these immigrants.

Answer 6

Rome-Edinburgh-London-Dublin, Ireland

My 4^th great-grandfather, Domenico Corri 1745-1826 was a musical composer born in Rome. Corri studied music in Naples with Nicola Porpora. His father was a confectioner at a papal house in Rome for Cardinal Portacarro.  In Aug 1771 Domenico and his wife ‘La Minatrice Bacchelli’ who he had married in 1770 arrived in Edinburgh having been recruited by the Edinburgh Musical Society initially for three years. Corri launched a couple of businesses during his time in Edinburgh, including a music publishing company that dissolved due to financial troubles around 1790. One business was Corri & Sutherland Bridge Street Edinburgh  (Music Sellers to Her Majesty). The couple had five children born in Edinburgh. Younger brother Natale Corri joined them in Edinburgh in 1784.

In 1793, Natale opened Corri’s Rooms, a concert venue situated at the top of Broughton Street, Edinburgh.

In 1790 when Sutherland died the company ceased to exist. Around that time Domenico and his family moved to London and began publishing vocal music in Soho while retaining business premises in Edinburgh.

His son-in-law Jan Ladislav Dussek joined the company in 1794. When Corri, Dussek & Co. went bankrupt, Dussek fled England for Germany, leaving behind his family, and his father-in-law (Corri) apparently in a debtor's jail in Newgate. The business was later taken over in 1804 by his son Philip Corri. Philip Corri estranged from his wife attempted to elope with one of his music students. On the night before they were to depart for America, the police found them together and reunited the young girl with her family. Philip left for America, changed his name to Arthur Clifton on 31 Dec 1817 and married a quaker woman on 1 Jan 1818. Domenico's daughter Sophia Corri Dussek was well known as a soprano and composer of songs and she had her London debut at the prestigious Salomon concerts in 1791 with Franz Josef Haydn directing from the harpsichord.

Another of Domenico’s son’s Haydn Corri, moved to Dublin. Ireland. He was the organist at Dublin’s Pro Cathedral for almost twenty years.

Answer 7

My choice would be my grt. grandmother Kittie Broyles ancestors. They came from Germanic region of Europe in 1717. The story is rather infamous now. They were on the ship called "Scott" which was originally invited to Pennsylvania by William Penn. The ship was delayed for quite sometime due the fact that the captain was in debtors prison. It was reported that Spotswood paid the captain's debt so he was released. The ship sailed, but not to Pennsylvania. It went to Spotsylvania, VA. Apparently, the passengers were used as collateral. They became indentured servants. Upon learning this an appeal was made to the King, who basicly said tough.They settled in Germana for a time.Upon serving their indenture, they migrated further west. Eventually, to Tennessee. I doubt that they  originally spoke much English and did not fully understand what they were getting into. My 2nd grt. grandfather, Manley Broyles, was "drafted" into the Civil War in Tennessee. At the conclusion of the war, he married and moved west. Eventually, ended up in CA & OR.

Answer 8

Our earliest ancestor,  Gerret Jansen Van Campen [VanCampen-17] sailed west as a soldier for the Dutch West India Company. Family legend says that he was in Curacao with Stuyvesant. Like most good legends, documentation is a little thin. Records show that he was able to send to the Netherlands for a wife and that they lived in what is now Kingston, NY. It looks like about 1 in 10 of my ancestors was convinced, that the land two ridge lines closer to the sunset was better and some were only stopped by the Pacific Ocean.

Answer 9

Some 1.3 million Swedes migrated to the United States during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries due to the economic and social circumstances in Sweden, notably in the case of my great grandfather Nils Andersson, the Swedish crop failures of 1868-69.

The youngest of six sons (four living) of Anders Jansson of Bråten Farm near Lake Långtjärn in Lilla Skärmenäs, Brunskog, Värmland, Nils (born 27 March 1849) was destined for life as a farm laborer on the family farm.  When his father died aged 55 in 1861, his eldest brother Jan took over the farm, and elder brothers Olof and Anders were still young men. 

Unlike many of my relatives, Nils migrated to America in 1872 aboard the Brig Henrik Wergeland as a single man, not as part of a family group.

He settled in Brainerd, Crow Wing, Minnesota, where he met and in 1875 married the 23-year-old daughter of recent (1871) Norwegian immigrant and Brainerd shoemaker Erik Eriksen. Nils and Emma Eriksen met at the Swedish-Lutheran Church in Brainerd.  Ultimately they had 3 sons and 7 daughters, including my grandmother Selma Anderson Leyde.  All of the daughters became school teachers.

In 1875, Compton Township, Otter Tail, Minnesota was organized, and the young family moved there where Nils farmed for about 20 years, supplementing his income with work on the Northern Pacific Railway then laying track through the area. 

By 1900, he had moved his family to the newer city of Wadena, a railway hub for the expanding Northern Pacific Railroad where he first found casual work with the railroad as a day laborer and then regular work in the Railway workshops.

But when Nils was aged 57 (1906), a much-loved 13-year-old son died and as the years dragged on, Nils started finding physical labor harder and harder and necessary absences from the railroad more frequent. Without the customary support of an extended family, he became more and more depressed and concerned about his ability to support his family.  On 28 May 1918 at the age of 69, Nils took his own life.  His death certificate records his cause of death as “strychnine poisoning”.

Answer 10

All of the immigrants that I have on my father's side are more distant.

My most recent immigrant ancestor was my mother, who first immigrated from Germany to Chile about 1948 and then to the U.S. about 1958.  I was at her naturalization ceremony one July 4 at Monticello.

Answer 11

I am an immigrant. From England to Canada in 1956 and from Canada to the US in 1959.  My father, a research physicist ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._B._Gunn ), was part of the scientific "brain drain" of scientists from Europe to North America.

Answer 12

My dad, John Urbach, was 5 years old when he and his parents, Franz Urbach and Anna Federn, came to the United States from Vienna, Austria in 1939. My grandfather died when I was a baby so I didn't know him. My grandmother and my dad never talked about their in Vienna. I do know that my dad was told that they had to speak English and he couldn't speak German anymore. I wish that I had asked my grandma questions before she died. I don't know if she would've answered them but I will never know.

Answer 13

Most of my grandparents were born across the pond from a little Swiss town of Villars-Bouquin right by the French border,  or a little town of Oriolo Italy.

  The best history is my material grandparents. Violet Ray-12638 age (18) and her brother George Ray-12788 (16) who came on a  ship in 1920 bound for America. She was going to Chicago to become a nanny and George was going to Kankakee, Illinois to become a farmer. That's not the story I will be writing  about it's about 2 star-cross  lover aboard  a ship during rough Dec seas in 1924. Yes, Violet went back a second time, this time to pick up her sister in law Clara. On the way back to Chicago, she meet a very handsome Frenchman name Ferdinand Francois Rouquier on  board. He was on his way  to Chicago to become a chef at a private downtown club. On his way to Chicago, Ferdinand was not a passenger like Violet, but one of the many cooks aboard the ship. This was his first trip on rough seas.  He became sea sick and he could't work. One day, while he was on deck, he spotted a young  girl on board speaking French to a passage. So, he went over and started talking to them.  They all became ship board  friends. Finally,  Ferdinand broke down and  told them his story about being sea sick and his first time on board ship. Now, he needed money for his voyage to America. He asked if Violet knew anyone in America that  could help. She said YES. She would ask her employer when they got to the port in America.  Of course her employer helped.  So, this is not the end of the two star cross  lovers story no way! On May 7, 1927 they were married  in Kankakee where her brother George and sister Theresa lived. They both went one more time across the pond but not to Europe but to South America. But that's another story to tell.

Answer 14

Well on my mom's side who were from Hungary and the Czechoslovakia regions and came over in between 1890-1900 believe they were sensing things were getting bad and wanted to get out of the country before another war started.

On my dad side they mostly came over pre 1750 so they just basically wanted to get a fresh start. They came over as Indenture servants, stowaways, to common people looking for a fresh start for their family.

Answer 15

My most recent immigrant ancestor would be Henry Trenner Sr. Family lore is that he was a Hessian Soldier that was captured the day after Christmas in 1776 when Washington crossed the Delaware. He was allowed to work for a local German farmer. Fell in love and married the farmer's daughter after he chose to stay in America. Hessien Soldiers were offered 50 acres of land to change sides.  For those that were 2nd, 3rd, etc sons that would probably never inherit anything in Hesse, this was a lot.

Answer 16

Currently I am working quite a bit in the German State of Thuringia. So I went into the Unconnected list of it and looked for a person who emigrated to the USA. I found Georg Weber, One of his sons had 12 children, and I thought: "With one of his children there has to be a connection." And I was right  The grandson Leo married someone with the LNAB "Young". Fortunately, her mother has an unusual surname. And Hazel's halfsister is connected.

Answer 17

I became interested in genealogy because I desired to know where our family came from. Over many years I have learned that my family lines have immigrated to the United States primarily from England, Ireland, and Scotland. Further DNA help has added Germany, Wales, Italy, and France.  Who knows what else!

Answer 18

My husband's primary family came from Denmark, Ireland and England. He is the 3rd generation from Denmark.