Everyone in America came from somewhere else. Even the "native" American's ancestors immigrated from Asia, possibly across the Bering Strait. Admittedly they immigrated thousands of years ago, and were here long before the European immigrants, but they immigrated non-the-less.

Most people left their homelands and immigrated to America (or to anywhere, for that matter) for one (or more) of three reasons:

1. Adventure
2. Better opportunities in the new land
3. To escape religious or political persecution

Leaving Home

A the shipping trade developed most of the cargoes going from America to Europe were bulky - lumber, raw wool, tobacco, etc. Cargoes from Europe to America were lighter - finished cloth, spices, etc. Consequently, the shipping companies found themselves with cargo space on the west bound voyage. The solution was to carry human cargo and the major companies advertised their fares in many cities and towns throughout Europe.

The first step was getting from the village or town of origin to a major port. This leg of the journey was often done on foot. Once the port was reached a potential emigrant may have spent some time in the port area before actually shipping out. Major ports were: Bremerhaven and Hanover in Germany, Liverpool in England, Queenstown in Ireland, Naples in Italy, La Havre in France. Contrary to what might be expected not all Germans went out of the German ports. Some took passage to Liverpool or Queenstown and left from there. Conversely some Irish and English left from the German ports.

Consequently, the first step of the journey could take quite some time.

Not dated.

Queenstown was the main port of emigration for the Irish. Something like 3 million Irish left Ireland through Queenstown.

To see more images of Queenstown and for a description of the Irish emigration experience go to Irish Emigration , now or at the bottom of the page.

Daily Sailings - City of Dublin Steam Packet Company, Liverpool to Dublin in Eight Hours"

Not dated.

Not dated.

Before the 1850's immigrants from Europe came by sailing ships. The length of the crossings varied according to the winds, tides, and other factors. The estimates for crossings under sail range anywhere from four to twenty-four weeks with an average trip of 8 weeks.

Later ships, still under sail but fitted with paddle wheels and steam engines, took about six weeks.

Steamships started crossing the Atlantic in 1850. The length of a voyage from Bremen to New York by steamer took about seventeen days. By the mid-1860's most immigrants were coming by steamer. However, up until the 1870's many people still traveled by sail. Steam ships up until WWI took 2 to 3 weeks. By 1920 the trip across the ocean took one to two weeks.

The overwhelming majority of immigrants traveled in steerage where there was no lighting and passenger were packed in as tightly as space would allow. Steerage passengers had to provide their own bedding. Each passenger got a berth that was 18 inches wide by 6 feet long. The berths were often in tiers up to four rows high. Frequently they were poorly build and rickety. Men and women who were strangers to each other before the start of the journey were berthed together. In 1852 a new law required that men be berthed separately.

The trip was not a dry one. Water seeped into the steerage through holes that were supposed to be for ventilation. Most passengers were sea sick the first few days out and only in rough weather afterwards. It was impossible to come on deck in bad weather. The hatches would be battened down and passengers in steerage would have to remain below in the dark and rocking ship. There was on average one toilet for every hundred passengers. Frequently the toilet was on deck, where they could not be reached in rough weather. In high seas they were sometimes washed overboard. Because of the close quarters in which they lived, passengers often suffered from illnesses like trench mouth, body ulcers, and lice. Conditions were frightful. Immigrant ships were recognized by the smell.

Early ships were often called "coffin ships" because of the frightful conditions and the numbers of people who died during the crossings. In 1847, 1,879 immigrants died on the voyage to New York. Eventually government supervision of sanitation regulations improved conditions.

While French and British shipping companies made their passengers cook their own meals, German shipping companies provided meals for their steerage passengers. The menu: Sunday---salt meat, meal pudding and prunes. Monday--- salt bacon, pea soup and potatoes. Tuesday---salt meat, rice and prunes. Wednesday---smoked bacon, sauerkraut, and potatoes. Thursday---salt meat, potatoes and bean soup. Friday---Herring, meal and prunes. Saturday---salt bacon, pea soup and potatoes.

The principle ports from Germany were Bremen (later Bremerhaven), Hanover, and Hamburg. In the early 19th century Le Havre was also a major port of embarkation for many Germans. Others used a complicated but competitively priced route form Holland to England, crossing England by rail and embarking at Liverpool.

Ships carried cotton, tobacco and timber on the eastward journey and human cargo on the westward journey.

Postcard dated 1906.

Early manifests frequently do not offer enough information to distinguish between one Katie Walsh from Ireland and another Katie Walsh from Ireland, making it very difficult to pinpoint early dates of immigration. Later manifests contained more information including addresses of relatives in the old country and relatives in the new country making it somewhat clearer who was who. Even later manifests included hight, hair and eye color and other information. The date of immigration determines how much information can be cleaned from the ship manifests.

There is a very popular myth that names were changed at Ellis Island. This did NOT happen. The manifests were made at the port of imbarkation so the name on the manifest was determined in whatever port the immigrant left from, NOT when they arrived in the USA.

The trip was not necessarily over when the ship reached New York Harbor. By 1846 all vessels coming into the harbor had to undergo a quarantine inspection. The ships were anchored near Staten Island. All passengers were examined and if found sick were sent to the quarantine hospital on Staten Island. If there were sick passengers onboard the ship had to remain in quarantine for 30 days. It wasn't the most effective quarantine system in the world as two days a week visitors were allowed, and hundreds came by ferry from the city to Staten Island to visit. In 1847 there were 600 cases of small pox, 30,00 of typhus, and sixty cases of cholera at the quarantine hospital.

The upper part of the image shows the quarantine hospital on Swinburne Island. Swinburne Island, a man made island off the shore of Staten Island, is currently unused.

Until 1855 ships disembarked their passengers as soon as they cleared quarantine. Passengers were not offloaded directly to the docks but into lighters which took them to shore. Immediately upon his arrival the immigrant was besieged by all sorts of scam artists and thieves who robbed luggage, sold phony tickets to points west and generally made live miserable for the immigrant. Julius Lindemann, Catherine and Louis Furst arrived during this period.

In October of 1858 the German Societies of the United States called for Congress to pass a bill for the protection of emigrants on ship board and after their arrival in the United States. They asked for separate sleeping quarters for females and males, except for married couples, that only qualified surgeons be employed as ships doctors, a guarantee of the safe delivery of luggage, and to control the purchase of rail and canal boat tickets to points west in the United States.

Because of the large increase in immigration in the mid 1800's and in an effort to protect the newly arriving immigrant from scam artists, the State of New York opened an immigration processing center at Castle Gardens on August 1, 1855.

Castle Garden, located at the lower tip of Manhattan, is now the Castle Clinton National Monument. Built in 1807 as an artillery defense fort to protect the New York harbor it was called West Battery. After the war of 1812 the name was changed to Fort Clinton. Originally it stood about 300 feet off shore and was connected to the mainland by a causeway. It has gradually been connected by landfill to Battery Park. In 1824 the fort was enclosed and became a popular theater called Castle Garden with a seating capacity of 6,000. After Ellis Island was opened in 1892 the building was turned into an Aquarium. It was closed in 1941 for the construction of the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel and the Aquarium subsequently moved to the Bronx Zoo. Robert Moses wanted it demolished but there was enough opposition that it was preserved and in 1950 it was declared a national monument and became the property of the U. S. Department of Interior. It was restored in the 1970s and now contains the ticket offices for the ferries to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

The complex that made up Castle Gardens immigration center included outbuildings, hospital, offices all enclosed by a large wooden fence.

The ships let the first class and cabin passengers off at a pier and then proceed to Castle Garden where the steerage passengers disembarked. All immigrants had to land at the depot, which was closed to everyone else, like the scam artists and thieves. Each immigrant had his name checked against the ship manifest, underwent a brief medical exam, passed through customs, and had his name registered as having entered the country.

Gleason's Pictorial, Boston, Saturday January 10, 1852.

The Labor Exchange - Emigrants on the Battery in front of Castle Gardens, New York

Harper's Weekly August 15, 1868

The Labor Exchange - Interior View of the Office at Castle Gardens, New York

Harper's Weekly August 15, 1868

The Harpers Weekly article that accompanied this picture claimed that a person's nationality could be determined by their dress.

"It is curious to see such a heterogeneous crowd land. The Swedes are usually distinguished by their tanned-leather breeches and waistcoats, and their peculiar before mentioned exhalations; you can not miss the Irishman with his napless hat, worn coat, and corduroy trousers; the Englishman you know by his Scotch cap, clay pipe, and paper collar. The Teuton you detect at once by his long-shirted, dark blue woolen coat, high necked and brass-buttoned vest, and flat military cap or gray beaver. Indeed, one of the officers told me that he could tell exactly what part of Germany each individual came from his dress alone, and I believe he could. Then there are the Bohemians (the genuine ones) with their many-colored scarfs and glaring jackets for the women, and natty military caps for almost all the men; the French in their blue linen blouses; and finally the Norwegians ;in their curious national dress, consisting of a gray woolen stiff-necked jacket, which covers only about one-third of their back, whine in front it slopes down to a greater length, and is profusely ornamented with huge silver buttons set so close together that they overlap each. Their breeches, of dark woolen stuff, there from reach nearly up to their neck behind, only a small strip of jacket with an enormous still collar between. You can not properly say a Norwegian in a pair of breeches, but a pair of breeches with a Norwegian in them. This, of course, only applies to the farmers from the interior parts of the country, the "Dalkeller" and "Troensere, " etc."

Ship arrivals were published in the paper so friends and family knew when to come and meet the boat.

Services were provided to exchange money into US currency, purchase railroad tickets (if the immigrant was going on to further points), forward luggage (if needed) and generally give aid and assistance to the immigrant. There was a telegraph office and a mail service. Many immigrants had letters waiting for them with money enclosed for the next step of the journey. Multilingual assistants were available to resolve the myriad of problems that arose. A frequent problem was that the immigrant would have the wrong or insufficient information to get him to his final destination. For example he may have the address "Farmington, United States". How to determine which of the 21 states that had towns named Farmington was correct? This happened at a later date with the Parnegians who had the address, "Lawrence, Rhode Island" instead of Lawrence, Massachusetts. How many people ended up somewhere entirely different from what they started out for?

The amenities at Castle Gardens included two wash rooms, one for men and one for women. There was hot water, soap and towels, all free to the immigrant. The garden was heated in the winter and in warm weather there was a cooling fountain. There were no beds at Castle Gardens and immigrants were encouraged to go on their way the same day they had arrived. People were however, permitted to sleep in the galleries. Sometimes as many as 3,000 spent the night. Castle Garden remained the New York processing center for immigrants until Ellis Island opened in January 1892.

Castle Gardens also contained a "labor exchange" where jobs were posted and where a newly arrived immigrant might find employment.

Inspection of luggage by costumes officials. The first picture is of the "immigrant's baggage" and the second is of "cabin passengers' baggage on the dock"

Harper's New Monthly Magazine, June 1884

"Landing Immigrants at Castle Gardens"

Harper's New Monthly Magazine, June 1884

The light corners that are sticking into several of these images are because the arrangement of the page has the images overlapping.

I have another image of Castle Gardens with all of the same support buildings that is from the Illustrated America dated 1890. That image is not as clear as this one.

Posted 1910

Printed on back:

The Aquarium, formerly known as Castle Garden Fort, is located at the foot of Battery Park, and is open to the public daily from 9 a. m. to 5 p.m. Here can be seen in large glass tanks, the most valuable and complete collection of fish, seals, turtles and other deep sea inhabitants in existence. At the entrance of the harbor is the Statue of Liberty and a little further up is Ellis Island through which all immigrants landing in New York City must pass.

Posted 1910.

Notice in the two 1910 images all of the surrounding buildings seen in the 1890 images have been removed and new buildings have been erected on the pier. I believe that these new buildings serve the passengers coming from Ellis Island.

• 99,605 Germans
• 66,204 Irish
• 41,090 English
• 23,453 Swedes (90% of whom went west to farm)
• 2,870 French
• 5 Greeks
• 5 Chinese from the Celestial Empire
• 23 Africans
• 4 Australians
• 7 people from Turkey
• 2 people from Jerusalem

The 1871 Harpers Weekly article says that many of the older people arriving from Ireland could not understand or speak anything but Irish.

In 1881, 941 steamships, carrying 441,110 steerage passengers were processed through Castle Garden.

Between the time in opened in 1855 until its closure in 1891 about 7.5 to 8 million immigrants entered the United States though Castle Garden. Most of manifests from the ships that brought their passengers to Castle Gardens have been microfilmed and can be viewed at the National Archives Research Center in Manhattan.

Among those who entered through Castle Gardens were: Charlotte, Erxmeyer (in September 1871), Wilhelmina and Marie Erxmeyer (in August 1872), Melusine Erxmeyer (in December 1872). They were all born in Walsrode Germany and departed from Bremen. Peter Goehle (born in Herrnshiem Germany left from Liverpool and entered the US in 1873) Lydia Land (and her 7 children, Albert, Percy, Arthur, Harry, Adelaide, Polly and Walter all born Batley, England left Liverpool and entered in 1877).

Among those who might have past through Castle Garden were Henry Blanck circa 1870, the various other members of the Erxmeyer family in the early 1870's, Fritz Kettler, Hanna Peter (Peterson), perhaps the Walsh brothers, Thomas and Michael, Johann and Sophie Petermann, and their infant son, Johann, circa 1882, and Martin and Maggie Langan in 1890.

In 1873 an immigrant did not need a passport or visa to enter the US.

In the 1870 a passage to America cost a German labourer about three months wages.

As immigration increased the facilities at Castle Gardens were not large enough to accommodate the numbers of immigrants who were trying to enter the country.

While Ellis Island was being prepared as the new immigration center the Barge Office was used as a temporary facility. It was used again while repairs were made after a fire on Ellis Island. The dates of the use of the various facilities were:

• Aug 1, 1855 - April 18, 1890...Castle Garden

• April 19, 1890 - Dec 31, 1891...Barge Office

• Jan 1, 1892 - June 13, 1897...Ellis Island

• On June 14, 1897 the building on Ellis Island was destroyed in a fire so the Barge Office was again used for immigrants. The passenger records were kept elsewhere and were NOT lost in the fire.

• June 14, 1897 - Dec 16, 1900....Barge Office

• A new building on Ellis Island opened on Dec 17, 1900.

• Dec 17, 1900 - Dec 31, 1924....Ellis Island

Posted 1912

Harper's June 1884

Note: Ellis Island opened January 1, 1892.

Ellis Island was opened on January 1, 1892.

All immigrants (including the Irish Langans in 1892 and the Armenian Azarians in 1920/21) who came into the port of New York between 1892 and 1924 went through Ellis Island. However, due to a fire on June 14, 1897 that destroyed the complex the island was closed until December 19, 1900. During this period the Barge Office was again used to process imigrants. The process for inspecting the imagrants during the years 1897 to 1900 was the same.

After a ship entered New York Harbor, immigration inspectors and United States health officers boarded the ship. All steerage passengers were transfer from the ship by ferry to the island. Passengers debarked with their luggage and were tagged with a card that included the page and line number corresponding to how their names appeared on the ship's manifest. On the main floor of the main building passengers were advised to check their luggage before going through the inspection process. They could keep their bags with them if they wanted, but it was easier to go through the inspection without dragging one's possessions. Next they walked single file up the grand staircase, which enabled health inspectors to do a quick check for lameness and other physical problems that would appear while moving. On the second floor was the registry room where US health officials examined the immigrants. Immigrants were checked for contagious eye diseases and about fifty other ailments and conditions. Health officials marked the outer garment of anyone with a health problem with a letter in chalk: an E for eye problem, an H for heart, a B for lameness, etc. About 20% would receive chalk marks and be held for closer examination. After the physical exam passengers lined up for the legal inspection conducted by the immigration inspectors. Immigration inspectors, assisted by interpreters when necessary, questioned each immigrant to confirm the information that had been declared before sailing as it was listed on the ship manifest. The questioning lasted two or three minutes and 80% of the immigrants had no problem with it. If there was some problem, the immigrant was sent before a special inquiry Board. The Federal Immigration Act of 1917 required that every immigrant over the age of 14 could read. The test consisted of reading a passage from the Holy Scriptures from the given passenger's culture and language. Most immigrants found ways of passing the test even if the could barely read. Once these examinations were finished the immigrant was free to leave. However, unaccompanied single women and their children were not allowed to enter the US by themselves and had to wait until a male relative came to fetch them. Lucy Azarian and her three daughters, Annik, Heghine, and Zabel were detained until Abram Azarian came to fetch them.

Between 1892 and 1924, 16 million immigrants passed through the Ellis Island, an amazing 71% of all immigrants who came into the United States during that time period.

Matthias, Penelope, James, and Bridget Langan went through Ellis Island when it first opened in 1892. The Azarian family went though Ellis Island in the early 1920's.

No date.

Printed on back.

Ellis Island

Immigration Depot since 1892, where all immigrants are landed and examined before being admitted to this country. Undesirables are deported at the expense of the steamship company that brings them. Visitors are admitted to the balcony free. Ferry connections form the Bowery.

Post card dated 1958.

The Statue of Liberty was dedicated on October 28, 1886. It was one of the first sights immigrants had when arriving in New York Harbor.

Not posted

Printed on the back of this stereo card:

Ellis Island is a small island in the harbor of New York not far from the Statue of Liberty. Here are brought all immigrants who come into America through the port of New York. In order to understand the working of the government machinery about a port, imagine yourself an immigrant on board a large in-coming ship.

The vessel first puts into its pier where American citizens and others whose landing is not to be questioned, get off. All immigrants are kept on board, you among them. A ferry pulls alongside the ship and you are taken aboard it. This boat takes you to Ellis Island. Perhaps your ferry that you see draws alongside the Ellis Island Pier. You will note the immigrants stepping for the first time on American soil.

Before you are free to go to your friends, you must undergo a government inspection. With many others you pas into narrow aisles formed by iron railings. At the end of each of these aisles, in a booth, stands a government inspector. When you finally reach him, you under a careful examination.

You give you name, your age, your occupation, tell who your friends are, where they live, and what you expect to do*. You must have a certain amount of money on your person in order that the Government may be assured that it will not have to support you when you land. You are also given an examination by special doctors. If you fail to satisfy the authorities on any of these items, you will not be admitted.

More immigrants come through the port of New York than any other port in America. In 1914 there were received at Ellis Island, 1,218,490 immigrants, 33,041 of whom were debarred.

The Next Stage of the Journey

The majority of immigrants did not stop in their port of debarkation. Just as some emigrants left from ports not in their home country (like Germans leaving from Liverpool) many immigrants did not arrive in the port where they intended to settle. For instance Joseph Walsh whose final destination was New York City arrived in the port of Philadelphia. And conversely, Lydia Land and her children whose final destination was Philadelphia arrived in the port of New York.

New York was by far the largest port of entry for those arriving from overseas to the east coast.

Many would not stop in New York even for the night but would immediately make their way to the trains and boats headed west. There were no trains that terminated in Manhattan so it was necessary to get from Castle Garden or Ellis Island to the train stations in New Jersey where Jersey City and Hoboken were the terminals for the trains headed west, northwest, and south.

Christian Weekly March 28, 1874

Castle Garden, With Immigrant Transfer Barge

Christian Weekly March 28, 1874

Eventually bardge transfer from Castle Garden directly to the Hoboken and Jersey City was instituted. The signs on this barge reads:

Railway Emigrant Transfer, from Castle Garden to Erie Railway

Erie Basin Bahn
Einwanderer Beförderung
Castle Garden Nach Der Erie Eisenbahn
Cleveland, Cincinnati, Louisville, S. Francisco, Detroit, St Louis, Chicago, St Paul

The naturalization laws are somewhat complicated. However, the basic facts and how they effected most immigrants were simple.

One of the most relevant laws was the immigration act of 1802 which specified that "free, white aliens" could be admitted to citizenship if:

1. They declared their intention to become citizens in a state, territorial, or federal court at least three years before becoming a citizen.
2. Took an oath of allegiance to the United States.
3. Had lived for at least 5 years in the United States and at least one year in the state in which they were applying for citizenship.
4. Renounced allegiance to the foreign government they had left.
5. Satisfied the court they were of good moral character and were willing to follow the principles set forth in the constitution.

Under this act all foreign born children became citizens with their father. This did not require the father listing the names, ages and places of birth of his children. Women's citizenship was more complicated and her citizenship could be determined by either her father or her husband, depending on various criteria and where she lived.

Aliens, male and female, were allowed to own property in many areas of the United States. In some areas alien males were given the right to vote after they had completed the Declaration of Intention, (even though they were not citizens). Although women and children were citizens they could not vote.

Many immigrants came from countries where they had no citizen rights - Irish Catholics - Germans from Kingdoms and Duchies.

By an Act of February 10, 1855 wives of alien citizens were granted citizenship with their husbands. This did not require the husband listing any information about his spouse. Women could not vote until the 19th amendment of Constitution was ratified in 1920.

Some minor change occurred over the years, but no major changes were made until 1906. After 1906 it became mandatory for the applicant to provide the name, age, birth place, marriage date and place of a spouse and the names, ages and birth places of minor children. Children who reached their majority (?) before the father became a citizen had to apply in their own right. There are numerous cases of aliens thinking they had become citizens under their father citizenship only to discover years later, or maybe to never discover, that they were not citizens all along.

After 1906, regardless of the court in which the alien became naturalized, the courts used a standard for the Petition of Naturalization and the Certificate of Naturalization. These forms required much more information than previously and consequently are much more interesting to the genealogist. They include the applicants age, occupation, personal description, date and place of birth, citizenship, present and last foreign address, ports of embarkation, and entry, name of vessel date of arrival, spouses name, names and ages of children with their places and dates of birth and finally the residency at the time of application. Veritable gold mines of genealogical information.

Women continued to receive their citizenship through their husbands until 1922. After 1922 they had to apply on their own behalf. Women were granted the right to vote by the 19th Amendment of the Constitution which was passed in 1919 and ratified August 18, 1920.

What about children? Did they continue to be under their fathers?

The Immigration of the Land/Blanck Family

The earliest immigrants in the Land/Blanck story came to America from Germany around 1847. The most recently arrived immigrants in the story came from Turkey in the 1920s. All of them represent in one way or another, classic American immigration stories.

Most individuals did not migrate in isolation. From ancient times people moved in family groups. The same was true of the major immigration movements to America.

The passenger lists are full of single men and women. However, the chances were good that these single people were part of a group of relatives, friends, and neighbors who immigrated within a few years of one another and settled in the same area. This type of immigration is known as chain migration and is still occurring today.

Peak immigration years or the "crests of the migration waves" from Western Europe were 1849-54, 1869-73, and 1882-83.

German Ancestors Who Arrived in America Circa 1847

The first individuals in this story to arrive in America were Germans who immigrated in the middle of the 19th century. Julius Lindemann, Catherine Furst, and Louis Furst, all immigrated from Germany circa 1847. Julius and Catherine were married in New York and their children were born in New York.

They entered before the State of New York established immigration facilities at Castle Gardens.

German Ancestors Who Arrived in America in the 1870s

Henry Blanck and the Erxmeyer family came from Lehe, Germany to settle in Hoboken, New Jersey in the 1870s.

Peter Goehle, born in Hessen-Darmnstadt, Germany, immigrated to the United States on August 25th, 1873 on the R.M.S. Batavia from Liverpool and Queenstown and settled in New York City.

Peter Goehle was definitely processed through the New York State immigration facilities at Castle Gardens. Most likely Henry Blanck and the Erxmeyers also entered the United States through Castle Gardens.

German Ancestors Who Arrived in America in the 1880s

The 1880s were a period of peak immigration from Germany. Among the arriving immigrants were Frederick Kettler from Freisland and Bernhard Petermann and his family from Oldenburg.

Johanna Peter (or Peterson) is believed to have arrived from Norway around this time.

Frederick Kettler, Johanna Peter, and the Petermanns all spent some time in Brooklyn before settling in Hoboken, New Jersey.

Frederick Kettler, the Petermanns and Johanna Peter most likely came through Castle Gardens.

English Ancestors to New York State 1850 and Philadelphia 1870s

The first known members of the Land family to emigrated were:

1. James and Samuel Sykes who were in Ithaca, New York in the 1850s and subsequently moved to Canada.
2. Samuel Land, the son of John Land and Mary Dyson, and his wife, Mary Ann Law, (the sister of Samuel's step mother, Lydia Law Land) and their children who immigrated to Philadelphia circa 1871.
3. William the son of John Land and Mary Dyson, who was in Philadelphia between 1871 and 1875 and returned to England.

   I do not know where any of them entered they entered the United States.

Law Land, his wife, Elizabeth Sykes, and their child, Clarence immigrated to Toronto Canada circa 1882. Law and his family subsequently moved to Detroit Michigan circa 1892, to New Jersey, circa 1895, and finally to Smithtown, Long Island in 1900. I do not know where they entered Canada or the United States.

Elizabeth Sykes' brother, Samuel, immigrated to Toronto with his family on August 19, 1882 through Liverpool to Quebec. Another brother, Robert, immigrated to Toronto circa 1885. I do not know where they entered Canada.

Law Land's mother, Lydia, and several of her children immigrated though New York to Philadelphia in 1883. They entered the United States through Castle Gardens and most likely went by train to Philadelphia.

Irish Ancestors Who Arrived in the 1890s

The Langans and the Walshes came from Ireland in the early 1890's.

Maggie and Martin Langan could have come in though Castle Gardens circa 1890. Mathias, Penelopa, James and Bridget were among the first arrivals at Ellis Island in April 1892.

Joseph and Fanny Walsh immigrated to the United States on the British Princess, which left Queenstown, County Cork, Ireland on May 17th, 1894 and arrived in Philadelphia on May 29, 1894. I assume they traveled by train from Philadelphia to New York City

The Azarians in the 1920s

The Azarians, who were ethnic Armenians, came to America from Turkey through Ellis Island the early 1920's.

• Catherine Furst, a Goehle ancestor, from Bavaria (Germany) circa 1847 - not listed on the Castle Garden Web site.
• Julius Lindemann, a Goehle ancestor from Brunswick (Germany) circa 1847 - not listed on the Castle Garden Web site.
• Henry Blanck, a Blanck ancestor from Hanover (Germany) circa 1870 - not listed on the Castle Garden Web site.
• Melosine Erxmeyer, a Blanck ancestor from Hanover (Germany) in 1872. - not listed on the Castle Garden Web site. However, she must have entered through Castle Garden as I have found her immigration record.
• Peter Goehle, a Goehle ancestor from Hesse Darmstadt (Germany) in 1873 - not listed on the Castle Garden Web site. However, he must have entered through Castle Garden as I have found his immigration record.
• Bernard and Sophia Petermann, a Land ancestor from Oldenburg (Germany) circa 1882 - not listed on the Castle Garden Web site.
• Fritz Kettler, a Blanck ancestor from Friesland (Germany) before 1883 - not listed on the Castle Garden Web site.
• Hanna Petersen, a Blanck ancestor from Norway before 1883.
• Maggie Langan, a Walsh ancestor from county Mayo, Ireland, circa 1890 - not listed on the Castle Garden Web site.
• Lydia Law Land, an English ancestor from Yorkshire, England in 1883, and her children who are the only ones so far listed by the Castle Garden Web site.

Ancestors Who Entered the United States Through Ellis Island, New York City

• Mathias and Penelope Langan and thier children James and Bridget, Walsh ancestors, from County Mayo Ireland, April 1892. They are NOT listed by Ellis Island. However, I have found the ship manifest.
• Abram Azarian, an ethnic Armenian from Constantinople, Turkey, October 1920.
• Lucy Azarian and her daughters, Anna, Mary, and Alice, ethnic Armenians from Constantinople, April 1924

Ancestors Who Arrived Through Other Ports

• Joseph Walsh, a Walsh ancestor from County Mayo, Ireland, entered the United States through the port of Philadelphia in 1894
• Law Land and Elizabeth Sykes, Land ancestors from Yorkshire, England, first went to Toronto Canada circa 1882. They subsequently entered the United States with several of their children, including their son, Percy, through Detroit, Michigan, circa 1892