My Norwegian grandparents, Paul and Dagmar Sevaldsen, came to the United States through Ellis Island. Paul arrived first on the "Bergensfjord", of the Scandinavian lines, in 1923. He was ferried from the ship to Ellis Island itself where he joined the many other hopeful immigrants to be questioned and inspected before entry. Perhaps knowing and experiencing what he did and not wanting his young wife to endure the same, he worked extra hard to send his wife and young daughter cabin tickets. Those in cabins were considered "cleaner, richer and less likely to be a health risk or financial burden to the country" and were cursively inspected on board the boat and disembarked directly from the boat to New York harbor. Grandmother was very proud of that!
Ellis Island is a federally owned island in New York Harbor, within the states of New York and New Jersey. The first Ellis Island Immigrant Station opened on January 1, 1892, The first arrival was Annie Moore, a 15-year-old girl from County Cork, Ireland, who’d come to the U.S. with her two brothers to join their parents in New York City. As the nation's busiest immigrant inspection station from 1892 to 1954, it processed approximately 12 million immigrants to the United States through the Port of New York and New Jersey. The last immigrant came through Ellis Island in 1954 and he was Arne Peterssen, a 48-year-old merchant seaman from Narvik, Norway. A year after Peterssen was processed, the Feds declared Ellis Island as surplus property and all but abandoned it. The historic buildings, already in disrepair, kept deteriorating until a decade later, when President Lyndon B. Johnson incorporated the island into the Statue of Liberty National Monument.
Today, the island is part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument, a U.S. national monument, that contains a museum The north side of the island hosts a museum of immigration, accessible only by ferry. The south side of the island, including the Ellis Island Immigrant Hospital, is abandoned but accessible to the public through guided tours. Below is a news article from my grandmother's home town in Norway. It details a visit made to the Statue of Liberty National Monument and Ellis Island that was made by two of my grandmother's Norwegian nieces, who told the personal story of my grandparents arrival at Ellis Island.
Another blogger has written a well documented and interesting post, complete with pictures about Immigration to the United States that is well worth the read. Check it out?
Thank you, Maggie Land Blanck,
I could not have done better!
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