With the July 4th holiday right around the corner, we often think about barbecues and fireworks, but the date also conjures up the ideas of patriotism and what it means to be American. But what is the quintessential American story?
The quintessential American story
As a personal historian, I have had the privilege of working with many families over the years, exploring their histories and learning about their ancestors. Nearly everyone wants to know about that first ancestor who came to the land we now know as the United States of America. I have worked on family histories that can trace back to ancestors that were on these shores centuries ago. There are stories about ancestors who owned the property next to Benedict Arnold’s family, who traveled with William Penn, and who helped established communities like Easthampton, Block Island, and other areas in the eastern United States. Ancestors who lived during the American Revolution and witnessed the fierce desire for independence are high on the list of cool stories. As such, we tend to equate those early founders with the quintessential American story.
The immigrant story
But for me, the most American of American stories is the immigrant story. Full disclosure: I am a third generation American on my paternal side and fourth generation on my maternal side. I had grandparents and great-grandparents who were born in foreign lands, but who chose to make a new life in the U.S. I grew up with the stories of the hardscrabble life patched together by my not-very-distant ancestors, especially about when they first immigrated to this country. They didn’t know the language. They didn’t have wealth to fall back on, and didn’t have jobs lined up. They didn’t know where they were going to live or how they were going to put food on the table. They only had a few dollars to their name, the clothes on their backs, and what they could fit into a small suitcase. They came with nothing. But they had hope. Hope that they could make a life for themselves and for their families. Hope that their children would have a better life, an easier life than they had. Hope that their children would receive a good education. Hope that America would provide them with an even playing field, where hard work would be rewarded. Hope that they could establish roots, buy a home, and raise a family in a safe environment. They had the belief that in America, they could freely pursue the promise of life, liberty, and happiness. They chose to become Americans.
Statue of Liberty
Years ago, my family and I trekked out to New York City and saw the Statue of Liberty, that beacon of freedom. It was an awe-inspiring sight. I couldn’t help but think about the millions of people whose first impression of the county was Lady Liberty, who stood in the harbor as a warm welcome to the masses of poor and often desperate immigrants. There is a reason Emma Lazarus wrote those famous words: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”
Ellis Island
While the Statue of Liberty was amazing, another part of the same National Park Service site, Ellis Island and the National Museum of Immigration, resonated even more. While Ellis Island wasn’t the only immigration processing center in the country, it was the largest and most active station, acting as the gateway for more than 12 million immigrants from 1892 to 1954. It was the place where they began their American stories. Those stories still echo in the halls of the Ellis Island buildings. There is a reason that Ellis Island was called the “Island of Hope,” and that feeling is still palpable within those walls.
My family immigrant stories
I have ancestors that came through Ellis Island. My paternal grandmother was just four years old when she immigrated from Poland in 1912 with her mother and her younger sister. They were joining my great-grandfather, who immigrated six months earlier. He came first so he had time to find a job and establish a place to live before his family joined him. He took that leap of faith, even though he had just $25 in his pocket when he stepped off the ship. But more than money, my great-grandparents had hope – hope that, in America, they could build a better life.
My paternal grandfather also chose to become an American. His immigration story is murkier, as the family lore holds that he came to the United States on the R.M.S. Carpathia, working as a crew member, perhaps as a cabin boy, in his teens. His naturalization papers indicate that the ship arrived on July 4, 1904. Although he was supposed to continue his work aboard ship and travel back to Europe, his desire to immigrate was so great that he sneaked off the ship and entered the country on his own. It is unclear whether he went through legal channels to enter. Even at such a young age – he was still really a child, after all – his yearning for the freedom and opportunities only America could offer made him desperate enough to do anything he could to get into the country and start making a life for himself. He worked whatever jobs he could find – factory worker, miner, farm laborer, merchant marine on the Great Lakes. Like so many other immigrants, he worked hard. He made sacrifices so that the seven children he and my grandmother eventually had could have a better life.
Honoring immigrant ancestors
So, on this July 4th, I am remembering the immigrants whose blood, sweat, and tears have built this country. I am honoring my immigrant ancestors, your immigrant ancestors, and all the immigrants who chose to be American, who worked so hard to build lives for themselves and their families, creating the cities and towns that we live in today. The United States of America was built on the backs of immigrants, those people who had the bravery to forge a new life in a strange place, the hope of the American dream, and the audacity to seek not only life and liberty but also the pursuit of happiness.
On this anniversary of the founding of America, I encourage you to explore the immigration stories in your own family history.
For more information
For more information on Ellis Island and the National Museum of Immigration, visit the National Park Service website: https://www.nps.gov/elis/index.htm
