Friday, June 26, 2009

Ellis Island and the Wall of Honor

There is a wall of honor at Ellis Island with the names of immigrants. For a small fee you can have names inscribed on the wall.
It is kinda cheesy, but then again, the money raised goes toward maintaining both the Ellis Island museum and the Statue of Liberty.

So I added Maria Charlotte Svahn and Gustaf Emil Belin... ya never know, someday one of our kids may go looking for them.

I have no idea how long it takes for the names to actually be added, so don't go running out there tomorrow looking for them!

2 comments:

Biddie said...

How did you find out about this?

Michael-Ann said...

Hi ya Mom! I found the Ellis Island website back during my last round of trying to research family stuff... I am so bad with this research, keeping it all straight is a real problem for me. I have to force myself to stay focused on one chain.

I can see why people write books about this, as I go along I find myself overwhelmed with following up on leads. And then when you think you may have one, its a long wait before information comes back.

Your family tree is going to be a WHOLE different story... i wonder what all will come to light?

Going back to the original subject of your question, Ellis Island, I have this book of portraits. Photos taken by this one fellow who was documenting immigrants. Such wonderful photos... It is fascinating to look into the eyes of these people and see the levels of determination, desperation, pride, fear of the unknown... etc etc...

No one could fathom such leaps of faith into a new world these days.

I don't even have the ability to articulate what sorts of emotional responses I have when I look at the pictures, read through the passenger lists, census, and death certificates.

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