From ship to citizenship: Finding our immigrant ancestors

How can you learn where your ancestors lived before they arrived in the United States?  Keren Weiner, a noted genealogist from Pittsfield, Mass., spoke to the Rhode Island Jewish Historical Association on Oct. 18 at Temple Habonim, in Barrington, as part of the Bonnie and Seebert Goldowsky lecture series.

Weiner explained that the Hebrew phrase on the bottom of many tombstones means “may he/she be bound in eternal life”; finding out more about your ancestors is a way to fulfill that wish. 

While there are many paths to information, it is not always easy: ship manifests are one source, but before 1906 the amount of information they held was scanty. Naturalization papers are another source, but, again, before 1906 they did not always have much information, even omitting home towns and family relationships. Fortunately, various websites, such as ancestry.com, explain what ship manifests mean and list government sources available to the public.

Weiner told the story of one young pregnant woman who wanted to come to Chicago from Mexico City in the early 1900s but was detained at the border by the Americans.  There were many pages of appeals, all available, which gave a huge amount of information not only about her reason for coming, but about her family situation, her father’s business, etc. Ultimately she prevailed, and Weiner had spoken to her son, who was then 91!

An interesting fact is that the belief that names were changed by the inspectors at Ellis Island is a myth.  The inspectors had to write down the exact name as it appeared in the ship records; when people became naturalized citizens, they often changed their name.

For more information, contact Keren at kweiner2@gmail.com, or the Rhode Island Jewish Historical Association at info@rijha.org.