During the active years of Ellis Island, 83,000 ship arrivals were recorded. Between 1880 and 1914 about two million Jewish immigrants arrived from Europe, with most passing through Ellis Island. Until the age of flight, immigrants arrived by sea, first on sailing ships and after the middle of the 19th Century, on steamships. This presentation focuses on the ships on which our ancestors traveled, discussing the shift from sail to steam and the governmental regulations which made ship travel safer and more civilized. It will address the experience of our ancestors in getting to the port of embarkation, being processed for passage, life aboard the vessel, on Ellis Island and in getting to their final destination. It will also address various myths related to our ancestors' emigration travels.

 

Hal writes and lectures extensively on diverse genealogical topics, including border changes, migration, citizenship, safe computing, locating relatives and Jewish culture and history. He has identified over 4,000 relatives back to the mid-1700s in modern Ukraine. Other roots reach into modern Moldova, Poland, Belarus and Russia. He has served as president of the IAJGS and has been honored with its Lifetime Achievement Award. Professionally, he is an IT Director in healthcare, a part-time university instructor and director of a transition to work training program for recovering addicts. Check out his growing series of articles on safe genealogical computing.