text:
Coming to America
Take a Journey Through Ellis Island
Annie Moore was lucky.
Because the 15-year-old Irish girl was the first immigrant to pass through Ellis Island, on Jan. 1, 1892, she was treated more like a celebrity than one of the "huddled masses yearning to breathe free" described on the nearby Statue of Liberty. Fresh off the boat from County Cork, Annie entered America bearing a $10 gold coin from the state immigration commissioner.
The 12 million immigrants who came after her in the next 32 years enjoyed a less red-carpet introduction to America. Herded like animals, probed by doctors, interrogated, tested, sometimes separated from their families and even sent back where they'd come from, the "wretched refuse" of Europe's teeming shores came to think of Ellis Island as "island of hope, island of tears."
But they made it, most of them, following Annie Moore to the promised land and remaking America in their image. Today, more than 100 million Americans have at least one ancestor who came through Ellis Island.
Gauntlet to a New Land
For your immigrant ancestors, having their name on a ship's manifest was the culmination of a dream -- and often the beginning of a nightmare. A steerage ticket to America cost about $25, which might be two years' wages. That bought a crowded, 3,000-mile voyage of two weeks to a month as human cargo, suffering seasickness and unsanitary conditions on a diet of thin soup and bread.
Harder still than the voyage was leaving behind everything and everyone you knew. Julia Gonipow, who emigrated from Lithuania in 1899, remembered, "The day I left home, my mother came with me to the railroad station. When we said goodbye, she said it was just like seeing me go into my casket. I never saw her again."
But they said their goodbyes and endured the trip to reach, as one British cartoon put it, "the U.S. Ark of Refuge," where they'd find "free education, free land, free speech, free ballot, free lunch." They left behind joblessness and poverty, conscription and persecution. Though English, Irish, Germans and Scandinavians had led the migration to America for most of the 19th century, by the time Ellis Island opened in 1892 immigrants from Italy, Russia and Austria-Hungary had joined the flood. By 1907, these three groups accounted for 75 percent of the traffic through Ellis Island.
On arrival, first- and second-class passengers were cleared onboard by immigration officials. Steerage passengers were hustled onto a ferry to Ellis Island. At its peak in 1907, Ellis Island was handling more than 11,000 immigrants a day.
Wearing numbered tags that matched a page of the ship's manifest, the immigrants came up the steps from the pier into the ornate, red-brick and limestone, Beaux Arts main building. First stop was the Baggage Room. Here they could check their meager possessions, a sampling of which can be seen today in Ellis Island's Treasures from Home exhibit: wool gloves from Norway, eyeglasses from Scotland, an apron from Romania, a ladies' fan from Italy, a battered teddy bear that came to America from Switzerland with Gertrude Schneider, age 10.
From the Baggage Room, the immigrants went up to the Registry Room, the great, two-story main hall with its vaulted, terra-cotta-tiled ceiling and American flags. Even as they mounted the stairs, Public Health Service doctors would be watching for signs of infirmity. In what became known as "the six-second physical," the doctors scanned for ailments that might disqualify a newcomer. A chalk mark on the clothes identified those to be detained for further examination: "H" for heart problems, "L" for lameness, "E" for eye disease -- particularly the highly contagious trachoma, which doctors checked for by turning the eyelid inside-out with a buttonhook.
Intelligence was tested, too. A typical question might be, "Would you wash stairs from the top down or from the bottom up?" -- which once brought the sharp response, "I didn't come to America to wash stairs."
At the far end of the Registry Room waited the legal inspectors. Working with an army of interpreters, they tried to weed out anarchists, polygamists and immigrants unable to support themselves in their new land ("S.I. -- L.P.C.," these were coded: "special inquiry -- likely to become a public charge"). About 10 percent of immigrants were held for a hearing; today, visitors to Ellis Island can relive this experience by serving as a mock hearing board, deciding an "immigrant's" fate in a reenactment.
According to one of the most often-told tales about Ellis Island, the harried inspectors also changed immigrants' names, through misspelling or simplification. But Sharon Carmack, author of the forthcoming A Genealogist's Guide to Discovering Your Ethnic Ancestors (and a contributor to Family Tree Magazine), debunks this legend: "No evidence whatsoever exists to suggest this ever occurred, and I have challenged countless people who insist their ancestor's name was changed on Ellis Island to provide me with proof. So far, no one has been able to. Ö Inspectors compared the names the immigrants told them against what was recorded on the passenger lists. These lists were created at the ports of departure. There was no reason to record or change anyone's surname once they arrived. More likely, immigrants themselves changed their names after they settled in America to avoid prejudice and to blend more easily into American society."
The average stay at Ellis Island was less than a day. Some, however, had to stay overnight in crowded dormitories, or were quarantined in the island's hospital. Families got separated, and anxious parents might wait weeks to be reunited with their children. More than 3,500 immigrants died on Ellis Island, and more than 350 babies were born.
Ultimately, about two out of every hundred would-be new Americans were turned away. All immigrants' steamship tickets, in a nice little subsidy for the steamship companies, were required to be for a round trip. A heartbroken handful completed the ticketed journey.
A Nation of Immigrants
Most who came to Ellis Island, however, went down from the Registry Room to the railroad ticket office and the free ferries to New York and New Jersey, to begin a new life. Immigrants bound for Manhattan met their relatives -- many of whom they'd never seen -- at the "kissing post." Katherine Beychok, a Russian Jewish immigrant in 1910, remembered meeting her father for the first time: "I saw a man coming forward and he was so beautiful. Ö And I fell in love with him and he with me."
Gaining entrance to America, another immigrant recalled, "was as if God's great promise had been fulfilled."
Once beyond the gateway of Ellis Island, though, immigrants found that life could be every bit as hard as it had been back home. An old Italian story posted in today's Ellis Island museum puts it this way: "I came to America because I heard the streets were paved with gold. When I got here, I found out three things: First, the streets were not paved with gold. Second, they weren't paved at all. Third, I was expected to pave them."
But pave them they did -- and build our cities and make our laws and enrich our culture. Irving Berlin came through Ellis Island from Russia in 1893; Al Jolson, from Lithuania, in 1894. Knute Rockne arrived from Norway in 1893. Felix Frankfurter came from Austria in 1894, followed by Maria Von Trapp and family in 1938. Sol Hurok came from the Ukraine in 1906. Isaac Asimov came from Russia in 1923.
They gave America their children, too. For example, among the 600,000 names inscribed on Ellis Island's American Immigrant Wall of Honor are the parents of one Francis Albert Sinatra.
"It touches a human chord in the great spirit of adventure," says the foundation's Stephen Briganti, "how these people made it possible for us to be Americans. They are our history."
Immigrants entered through other ports, too -- San Francisco, Boston, Baltimore and more. But the greatest influx during the greatest human migration in history came through Ellis Island. In 1903, for instance, 706,113 of the 951,227 immigrants began their American life at the Port of New York. And today, Ellis Island is the only national monument dedicated to the immigrant experience shared by so many of our ancestors.
In 1990, the Ellis Island Immigrant Museum opened in the former main building, restored at a cost of $170 million. You can retrace your ancestor's footsteps and see how Ellis Island and U.S. immigration changed over the years. You can also hear more than 1,700 oral-history interviews of immigrants and former Ellis Island employees.
Soon, as part of the American Family Immigration History Center, you'll be able to add your own memories and family treasures to Ellis Island. In phase two of the project, the Living Family Archive, visitors (both in person and via Internet) will be invited to contribute scanned copies of family documents, records and photos. These files will be stored for posterity along with the newly computerized ship passenger lists.
It's all part of discovering and preserving our roots, which for so many of us run through this "island of hope, island of tears." Like 15-year-old Annie Moore, who's immortalized in a statue in Ellis Island's museum, our ancestors sailed under the Statue of Liberty's lamp and to this "golden door." Most weren't as lucky as Annie, and it was a long time before many of them would see a $10 gold piece.
But we're all lucky that they came.
David A. Fryxell, former editor in chief of Writer's Digest magazine, is the publisher of Desert Exposure, a monthly tabloid serving southwestern New Mexico. He has also been editorial director of Family Tree Magazine, America's most popular magazine on discovering, preserving and celebrating your family history.


text:
- July 30, 2014
Chef Harry Christensen, owner of Harry's Continental Kitchens, has been in the food-service business on Longboat Key since 1979. A native of Green Bay, Wis., Harry first started his cooking career working at the Green Bay Packers' training camp cafeteria.
Christensen and his wife, Lynn, moved to Florida after working at the Waldorf Astoria, in New York. In 1979, Christensen, at age 24, opened Continental Kitchens, a gourmet take-out and deli. Since then, Christensen's Continental Kitchens has expanded to offer catering, fine dining for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and a convenience store offering quality produce, meats and prepared meals. The business still offers its deli and take-out services, as well.
For more about Harry's Continental Kitchens, visit harryskitchen.com. Enjoy a recipe and demonstrational video for Christensen's Steak Harwood below. For more about Sarasota-Manatee Fresh Originals, visit freshoriginals.com.
Steak Harwood
• 2 4-ounce filet mignons, seasoned with Harry's Rub
1 tablespoon butter
1 pinch chopped garlic
1 pinch chopped shallots
2 ounces Dijon mustard
2 ounces brown sugar
6 ounces port wine
2 ounces demi-glaze
1. Season filets with Harry's Rub and sear on both sides.
2. Top each with mustard and brown sugar.
3. Finish in a hot oven to caramelize sugar and cook to required temperature. (According to foodsafety.gov, minimum internal temperature of beef should be 160 degrees Fahrenheit.)
4. Sautée shallots and garlic with butter.
5. Deglaze pan with wine and demi-glaze and reduce sauce.
6. Top filets with sauce.
To get more In The Kitchen recipes and watch more In The Kitchen videos with The Sarasota-Manatee Originals, click here.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
A1 Duo Kit AirTTL-Canon
The Profoto A1 is designed with light shaping capabilities; it has a unique round head with a soft, smooth fall-off that makes it easy to create a natural and beautiful light. The A1 also offers a built-in LED modeling light that makes it easy to set the light and understand how light and shadows work together.
And it's extremely easy to use. The user interface is large, clean and clear. Like all Profoto products, it's intuitive to use and you don't need to read a long instruction manual to understand how it works. AirTTL remote is also built in to the A1. With AirTTL and HSS you create professional results fast and easy and with the remote you can seamless connect to other Profoto flashes and control them easily from the A1.
Profoto A1 is not only an on-camera flash, it's also very effective off-camera as a standalone unit. The A1 has its own Li-Ion high capacity exchangeable battery that lasts up to four times longer than AA batteries with no performance fade, and a facility to recharge quickly. So you can shoot for longer with confidence. A1 can keep up with you because it recycles four times faster than other on-camera solutions – that's 1.2s at full power. Put simply, you'll never miss a shot.
For compatible cameras, see the Technical specifications tab.Air Remote built-in.
- Rechargeable and exchangeable Li-Ion battery.
- 1.2s recycling time.
- TTL/MAN switch.
- Built in motor-zoom with hand control.
- Auto focus (AF) assist.
- Large Hi-Res display.


text:
Shell – 24″W x 16″H – Peel and Stick Wall Decal by Wallmonkeys
- ALL orders CUSTOM printed. When you place an order, the image is made in the USA, just for you!
- Printed on WHITE, premium, self-adhesive, re-positionable fabric paper.
- No nails, frames or glue. No professional installation required.
- Simply peel and stick! Easy to remove and re-apply.
- BE SURE you ordered the right size for your intended use!!
WallMonkeys wall graphics are printed on the highest quality re-positionable, self-adhesive fabric paper. Each order is printed in-house and on-demand. WallMonkeys uses premium materials & state-of-the-art production technologies. Our white fabric material is superior to vinyl decals. You can literally see and feel the difference. Our wall graphics apply in minutes and won't damage your paint or leave any mess. PLEASE double check the size of the image you are ordering prior to clicking the 'ADD
Price: $ 33.99
Related Pond Filter Products


text:
Message Board
Hamlin Garland Message Board
Talk about the novels, new and used books that Garland has written!
Author Garland's Book Reviews
Rose of Dutcher's Coolly
Garland's 1895 novel tells the story of a beautiful young farm girl who finds her world too confining, and how she manages to break out into the larger intellectual life of the city. The story begins with Rose Dutcher's childhood and the death of her mother. Her doting father provides for her every wish. As she grows older she begins to show a much greater intelligence than those around her, and her father allows her to go off to the university i...


text:
Everything natural, modern, rustic and luxurious – you'll find it at Four Seasons Resort Mauritius at Anahita, a secluded and spacious luxury resort where you can spend all day coasting across the water in your own sailing boat, tour a former sugar plantation, make friends with a giant tortoise, and afterwards fall asleep under the stars. In the heart of the Indian Ocean, Four Seasons Resort Mauritius welcomes guests to a luxury tropical sanctuary, where greetings of warm smiles and gentle lagoon breezes fill each day. Whether you're playing a complimentary round on the thrilling oceanfront finish of the Ernie Els-designed golf course or splashing with the family by the lagoon, the stylish open-air resort invites relaxation, romance and endless possibilities for adventure amid the dramatic landscape and the vibrant colours of Mauritius.
Check in: 1500 hrs
Check out: 1200 hrs
Size(in sq. m.): 780
Accomodates: 10