COMING TO AMERICA

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Coming to America have you ever stop to wonder what there life was
like. Did they feel scared, did they have enough to heat, did they
feel warm are just cold these are just some of the things i wonder
today.



In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, millions of
Europeans left their loved ones and all that felt familiar to come to
America in search of a new life. Starvation and poverty drove people
to abandon everything they knew. Irish tenant farmers left the
"Emerald Isle" in droves after the Potato Famine of 1845-1847. In
Great Britain, more than one third of the population departed over a
75-year period, as the government encouraged its poor citizens to
immigrate to ease over population and indigence concerns. Others
immigrated for religious reasons. Willing to face a perilous journey,
the immigrants all shared a secret dream, a hope. America had no king
they heard. Poor men could become rich in the vast land of
opportunity. Untouched acres waited for homesteading and gold spilled
from the ground. America embodied a dream worth pursuing, a risk worth
taking. But as they bravely bid their families good bye with long
tearful embraces and left the shores of their beloved homelands, the
journey was just the bdginning. A long treacherous sail across the
Alantic lay ahead providing myriad hours to contemplate the harsh
reality that many would be turned away even if they survived the trip.
With little more than the coats on their backs and a few coins in
their pockets, many immigrants were welcome to America by the Statue
of Liberty, a glorious vision that replaced the long journey's
miseries with hope. Alas, for some, this joy faded quickly at Ellis
Island, as the newly arrived immigrants were herded into holding pens
and forced to wait for hours, days, or weeks before learning their
fate.

In Operations from January 1892 until November 1954, the Ellis Island
Immigration Station sits in New York harbor at the mouth of the Hudson
River, one mere mile from the tip of Manhattan, but a lifetime away if
an immigrant didn't get permission to pass through the immigration
gates. Only the steerage passengers were required to go through health
inspections, as first and second class cabin passengers had their
medical examinations on board and most were sent their way. The rest,
called the "great unwashed", had to be sorted before being released
into the "Empire City".

The first order of business called for a physical examination. As the
immigrants walked through the Great Hall, some were marked with chalk
symbols determining their status. Doctors conducted "six-second
physicals", identifying medical conditions at a glance. Next, the
immigrants were asked a series of questions, including name,
occupation, and financial worth. (With good health and a little money,
a man was considered a desirable immigrant and the doors of the
Promised Land flew open.) Poor immigrants also had to pass reading,
writing, and history exams. The wealthier ones did not. Only 12
million of the 17 million immigrants who arrived at Ellis Island
between 1892 and 1924 were able to "touch" American soil. For the rest
who were sent back, Ellis Island was known as "Heartbreak Island" or
"The Isle of Tears." But for most it was the beginning of a new
adventure and a chance to live the American Dream.

In the era of sailing ships they came. In the era of steam ships they
came. And when the great ocean liners dominated, still more came. How
did your ancestors arrive on American shores? Most likely by ship. In
the 1840s, nearly 3,000 trans-atlantic voyages were made, carrying
more than 650,000 Irish escaping the famine. Immigrants traveled in
wooden sailing ships like the three-masted barque Dunbrody, primarily
a cargo vessel meant to carry timber from Canada and cotton from the
southeastern U.S. Once the cargo was unloaded, shipmasters quickly
converted teh storage compartment into a makeshift steerage for
travelers. Loose boards, laced over the bilges, served as temporary
flooring, and rows of cramped berths were fitted with straw for
bedding. The ship companies would pack the immigrants in like cattle,
eager to take their money.

It took one to two months on average to sail across the Atlantic, good
weather permitting. Sometimes the ships sank due to faulty
navigational tools or the captain's ineptitude. Supplies of food and
water frequently ran out. Crowded into dark and dank quarters, the
already sick and hungry passengers contracted typhus and cholera in
alarming numbers. So many died at sea that these transporters of human
cargo became known as "coffin ships" or "fever ships." Later,
Immigrants came in steamships like the iron-hulled England. In the
spring of 1866, a great tragedy occurred as the ship headed to New
York. Hundreds died from a cholera outbreak and quarantines were
imposed. On into the twentieth century before the age of the
airplane, Immigrants first saw Ellis Island from the bows of the
Britannic, the Lusitania, and the Queen Elizabeth marvels of steam
engine transportation and great symbols for their nations. What's
even more astonishing? Our forebears, who endured such perils at sea,
then had to start from scratch and make a new life in America.


Personal Comment: That is quite a journey in deed, Now seeing like
how i can't swim i would be worried something would happen with the
ship and i drown odd the ship is closer to water than a plane to the
ground, yet i am not afraid to fly. Personally i think thats just
awful packing people in like cattles the price they paid for coming to
America, so we that come after them can have a chance for a better
life. What are you doing today with that this chance for a better
life?