According to the National Park Service, some 40% of Americans living today are descended from immigrants who came through Ellis Island.
My paternal grandparents came through in 1921 and 1923 from Austria.
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I wonder what percentage would be for some other ports like Galveston or Philadelphia.
I have one set of great grandparents from Estonia that came through Ellis Island and settled in Minnesota. I have another set from Russia that came in through Galveston and settled in St Louis before moving back to Galveston.
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The museum on Ellis Island os fantastic. Definitely worth the trip if you’re in the NYC area.
That’s a wild stat. Very cool.
I’m one of the 40%.
My maternal grandfather, Francesco Parigi, (later naturalized as “Frank” Parigi) came here in the early 20s with his Brothers.
I visited the Ellis Island museum over a decade ago and got printed copies of his ship manifest and ellis island immigration paperwork.
A cousin of mine is now using our common ancestry (she is a great grandchild as opposed to a grandchild like me) to try and get Italian dual citizenship.
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I looked into my ancestry before, partly curious where I might be eligible for a dual citizenship. It is interesting and of course with some of my family, still a bit murky as far as where some were actually born & lived vs. where they got on the boat. I didn’t get too deep into it though.
It’s pretty much impossible to really know without tracking through dna. You may think you know your tree but that’s not always the case. I’ve seen this play out firsthand in more ways than one.
You can do a search and do a screenshot of the entry manifest:
Tracing Your Ancestors
Today, the island operates as part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument and houses the National Immigration Museum. If you are looking for family history, you can search for your ancestors’ original arrival records and ship manifests through the Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island Foundation database for free.
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Well, when I had my DNA analyzed on CRI Genetics, it found, to no great surprise, that I was 50% Italian.
DUH!!!
The other 50% proved to be a huge mix though. My Dad’s DNA was VERY mixed.
As I said, if you know an ancestor’s name that went through Ellis Island, you can go to the museum there, and have their records printed out.
According to family lore my grandfather was rejected at Ellis, got back on the boat, which went to Canada. He got off there and made his way down to the US. Joined the military in 1913 to get his citizenship (that part is documented).
Counts?
(Not really)
Interesting about Ellis Island.
I am guessing counting all four grandparents, it is likely one line came through (40% likely). Got me asking a few questions.
Some of my maternal grandfather’s family may have had some come through Ellis before coming down to Texas. Then once here the rest came through Galveston. I think my great grandfather likely came through Galveston (his wife did) putting me in the 60% group.
Know little about either grandmother line. Think both lines were in the country longer (ie before Ellis opened in 1892).
Paternal grandfather’s line (family name side) came across before Ellis Island was ever bought by the Ellis family.
Well, consider this.
My maternal grandfather came in through Ellis Island, as mentioned.
But his wife, my maternal grandmother, also Italian-American, took a slightly different path. Her parents came in through a different immigration station in New Orleans, then went to Beaumont.
Ellis Island wasn’t the only immigrant processing center at the time.
It was simply BY FAR the largest.
Yea I forgot about New Orleans but I knew Galveston and Philadelphia were. I had relatives come through each.
I’m not but my wife is.
Great-Great Grandparents came from Holland to New Orleans, then settled in NE Texas
Similar to figuring out how the family (multiple brothers and wives) came across.
Were they married before coming over and came over at separate times so he could find work first, or did they meet here?
In my case a couple of brothers came over first to find a place to settle (eventually Texas), then had the rest of the family follow, hence port of Galveston for many.
Nah.
They met after he arrived in Beaumont (she was born there).
However, her parents were from the same town in Italy (Cefalu, Sicily) as my Grandfather; they were all part of an Italian immigrant community in Beaumont.
Besides my Austrian paternal half that came through Ellis Island my mother’s ancestors were Scotts and Irish that came through New Orleans and settled in southwestern Mississippi in the 1700s. Her father’s family Bible had a notation in it that two brothers born in 1781 and 1782 were killed by Indians on October 5, 1802.