Thread: Legal immigration in the early 1900's

I was reading a face book posting about the whine. "I have lived here since I was a little child and I know no other way"

That got me thinking about how did my ancestors arrive here. Well, mine help settle Jamestown in the 1600's, so we have been here a long time. For others though and probably in much better conditions in the 1900's then the 1600's.

http://old-photos.blogspot.com/2009/08/ ... -ship.html

I will use for example the late 18th to the early 19th centuries, since it well documented with pictures and stores in modern English, that If they came from Europe in late 18th to the 1900's then they were on converted slave ships. We have to put ourselves in their time period of rotten food, cramped living conditions, polio, disease, salmonella poisoning etc... Tossing dead people over the railing or keeping them in the hold, until they arrived in the United States. (imagine the smell from that!!!) Either way is horrible to imagine to see a family member go. Then lets not forget: Deaths in Quarantine, 1909-1911. "People who died in Quarantine in New York Harbor contains the names and information of over 420 individuals — 85% of whom were children under the age of 13 years old"

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.anc ... uarantine/

Ellis Island Quarantine stations from the surrounding Islands. AKA (Plague houses)

http://www.ellisisland.se/english/quara ... ewyork.asp


Then when they got here! Oh Boy! They had to work and work just to eat and try and care for their family, there were NO "Social Services" Like healthcare, welfare, unemployment. If they didn't work, they didn't eat, PERIOD. Maybe a soup kitchen in the bigger cities like New York!

If they were from a non-English speaking country, they had to learn English very quick, since minorities such as the polish and Italians were already looked down upon since they were "Europeans" Lets not forget about the Irish potato farmers who were forced to flee, since they had no food and the famine killed millions of Irish.
http://www.historyplace.com/worldhistor ... uction.htm

These people were LEGAL immigrants!

There is so much out there about immigration and what conditions were like and what people went through to get here. Where where the water stations and safe houses on ships ?

No more whines..

Those are the people that had the integrity to come here legally, face the challenges and succeed. Our population of the foreign born comes here illegally, while our government looks the other way. Too many of them lie, cheat and steal their way to some sort of prosperity in their minds, while dropping an anchor baby each year for every sort of social service benefit awarded for the kids and scream about splitting up families just to play on our heart strings. Yeah, poor, poor immigrants -- unfortunately too many of them are illegal.

They had the guts, the will and ambition to succeed and were not looking for a handout, it was "make it on own" or die trying! Thats the difference, they were not a burden to society, like the illegal trash that comes here. I cant make here, then I will drop everything and be a burden on American society. Go home and work! Why? When then can sit home here (America) be protected and get money for doing nothing.

I have had some ancestors that came through Ellis Island -- one a doctor who could not pass the medical exams in this country due to language limitations. He worked on farms and learned to be a mechanic. The determination was to succeed, no matter how menial the job was, and the proudest day in his life was the day of citizenship.
So many today come here for nothing else than our money, caring nothing about what this country stands for. They just see us as a money tree that grows a bunch of new leaves to be picked when one gets pulled off, with no questions asked.

They had one expatiation, to work! No matter what the job, the pay or conditions. They wanted to be a part of the big picture their new country, their new homeland. Many even went to war in WW1 and WW2 and didn't survive, but they fought for what they believed in. You can be an illegal alien and join the US Army, at least you could, I am not sure anymore, it is the way a path to citizenship. Out of the illegals that come home, those are the only ones that garner any respect from me, people that will fight and die for a cause they believe in, for a country they are not a citizen to. On the flip side, they also reap the rewards of becoming a citizen after they serve. I agree with that.

I am not sure that current mentality exists today in illegal immigrants. Like you said, grab the money from the liberal money tree and run, or better yet sit and collect more.