Mel Brooks Says Uncle

When Mel Brooks was presented with an Ellis Island Family Heritage Award last week, a video clip was played to commemorate his father's arrival in America.

It was a moving tribute, with old family photos shown while "That's Entertainment" played.

One problem.

"That photo was not of my father," Brooks said after taking the stage. "That was my great-uncle." He went on to say that while his uncle was a good-looking man who "wore a nice hat," as seen in the snapshot, his father, Max Kaminsky, was better looking. [Link]

Well, He Did Write the History of the World

The 2008 Ellis Island Family Heritage Awards will be handed out tomorrow morning. Once again, I've been passed over. Apparently you have to have accomplished something worthwhile in your life to even be considered.

The 2008 Ellis Island Family Heritage Awards Honorees:

LITERATURE
Mary Higgins Clark — The Bronx-born bestselling suspense writer has sold over 85 million books in the U.S. alone and credits her Irish heritage for her storytelling talent. Mrs. Higgins Clark’s newest novel is “Where Are You Now?”. Her father came from Ireland in 1906.


BUSINESS
The Forbes Family — “Forbes,” the oldest of the nation’s major business magazines, was founded in 1917 by Scottish immigrant B.C. Forbes, who first arrived in America in 1904. B.C.’s descendants continue to manage Forbes Media Inc., a privately held company which publishes “Forbes” in eight foreign languages, reaching five million readers worldwide.


EDUCATION
Donna E. Shalala — President, University of Miami, Dr. Shalala has more than 25 years of experience as an accomplished scholar, teacher and administrator. Under President Clinton, she served eight years as U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, becoming the longest serving HHS Secretary in U.S. history. Her paternal grandfather came from Lebanon in 1900.

ENTERTAINMENT
Mel Brooks — Director, producer, writer and actor, Mel Brooks has created many comedy film classics as well as the popular television show “Get Smart.” His latest project is “The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein” currently playing on Broadway. His father emigrated from Austria as a child in 1896.

Sean From the Shtetl

Schelly at Tracing the Tribe writes today about the old "They changed our name at Ellis Island" myth. The linked article tells the apocryphal story of a Jewish immigrant who ending up with the name "Sean Fergusson."

“It’s like this,” the second Jew said. “My name was Moshke Rabinowitz. The first time I arrived at Ellis Island, I failed the eye test, so the doctors sent me back to Europe. There my eyes were treated and cured, and I decided to try again. But what would happen, I thought, if I turned up a second time as the same Moshke Rabinowitz? They’d already know me and send me back again. And so I decided to call myself Yankl Katzenstein. Still, what if someone recognized me? And so there I was, standing in line at Ellis Island and getting more and more nervous all the time, and when it’s finally my turn I’m so flustered that I can’t remember my new name. The immigration official asks me what it is, and I can’t think of it; it’s simply escaped me. ‘Oy, kh’hob shoyn fargesn!’ I say. ‘Sean Fergusson?’ the official repeats, and writes it down on the form.”

In Yiddish, of course, kh’hob shoyn fargesn means “I’ve forgotten.” [Link]

A Special Stone for Annie

You might remember that Annie Moore Schayer—the first person to pass through Ellis Island—was buried in an unmarked grave in Calvary Cemetery, Queens. The Irish Echo reports that the money raised to mark her resting place is being well spent.

After a personal appeal by New York City's commissioner for public records, Brian Andersson, Cardinal [Edward] Egan waived the existing prohibition against the use of limestone headstones at Calvary.

Limestone imported from Ireland will now be used for Annie Moore's planned headstone, Andersson told the Echo. [Link]

Update: Megan has more here. You can contribute to the memorial fund here.

Genealogy Hack: Ellis Island Images

This is a new irregular feature here at The Genealogue. Let's define a "genealogy hack" as a tip or trick that solves a specific problem and increases one's productivity as a genealogist, whether online or out in the real world. If you have a hack to share, submit it here or send it to hacks [at] genealogue.com.

Ever try to bookmark a manifest page from the Ellis Island website using your right mouse button? If so, this will look familiar:

Here's an easy way to get around this limitation. Left-click on the manifest, and then use this keyboard shortcut: Shift + F10. When the menu pops up, select "Bookmark This Page" (in Firefox) or "Add to Favorites" (in IE).

Saving the manifest image in Firefox is simple using this technique. From the menu that pops up select View Page Info > Media. Then click on the entry that looks like this:

Click Save As, and give the image a name that ends in .gif.

Genealogue Challenge #88

Annie Moore was the first one through the doors when Ellis Island opened in 1892, but someone else bought the first railroad ticket sold at the immigration station.

Who was she, how old was she, and where was she headed?

(Almost) Forgotten Ellis Island

Lorie Conway has filmed a documentary about the 22-building hospital complex at Ellis Island. There are also a Forgotten Ellis Island book and website.

Ms. Conway found that hundreds of thousands of patient records had essentially disappeared; she hopes that her film will turn up new clues as to where they have been moved.

Over years of research, Ms. Conway said, she was able to find only one complete patient record — that of Ormond J. McDermott, an Australian who was not trying to immigrate, but merely visit to New York, in 1921. He accidentally left his passport on a ship, and was detained at Ellis Island while the authorities investigated his claims to be a sales apprentice, rather than a contract laborer. While on Ellis Island, he developed scarlet fever; he died. Mr. McDermott’s file ended up at the State Department after his father, part of an influential Australian family, filed a complaint and asked for an investigation. [Link]

Did Ellis Island Admit Dismembered Woman?

Dr. Hawley Crippen was hanged in England in 1910, having been found guilty of poisoning his wife and burying her dismembered body in his cellar. DNA tests now show that the remains were not those of his wife, Cora.

The team concede that they may never discover what happened to Mrs Crippen, but several intriguing clues emerged during the research. Cora sang on the British stage under the name of Belle Elmore. Ten years after the trial, a singer with a similar name was registered as living with Cora's sister in New York. Records show that the same woman entered the US through Ellis Island from Bermuda in 1910 shortly after Mrs Crippen disappeared.

"Are Belle Rose and Cora Crippen one and the same?" asked Mr [John] Trestrail. "We can't prove any of that - that is another investigation". [Link]

Born to Write Fiction

Novelist Natalie Danford comes from "a family of great mythologizers."

My paternal grandfather created this whole story that he had come over here when he was 12 and that he didn’t speak any English and pulled himself up by his bootstraps. Many years ago, after the Ellis Island records went online, my father idly punched in his own father's name and it turns out that my grandfather came here when he was three with his entire family.

On my mother's side, we always thought that my great-grandfather left Russia because he didn't want to be conscripted into the Czar's army, obviously a pretty bad deal if you were Jewish. One of my mother's cousins did genealogical research in the late 1970s; it turned out that he actually killed somebody and hopped a boat. [Link]

Could It Be Annie Moore Dramatic?

Megan Smolenyak had the (as she describes it) "surreal" experience of watching a play in which she was a character.

There I was in the front row watching intense, borderline neurotic "Megan" (yeah, that was definitely accurate!) and her quest for Annie Moore, the first immigrant through Ellis Island. And there were the right and wrong Annies, Annie's brother Anthony, Megan's assistant Melinda (sort of a combination of my husband Brian, my virtual assistant Alyssa, and others who are forced to deal with me on a consistent basis), two of Annie's kids, and Weber of Ellis Island.

Immigration Expert Running for Senate

Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning is challenging Senator Chuck Hagel in the next Republican primary. He says that Hagel is all wrong on immigration.

I've got a picture here on my desk of my great great grandfather and my great great grandmother who came to Ellis Island in 1861 and ended up in Nebraska, in the little town of Bruning, by the way. They came in the right way… [Link]

The immigration station at Ellis Island didn't open until 1892, which suggests that Bruning's ancestors bypassed the station at Castle Garden to slip into the country undetected. If Mr. Bruning thinks that that is the "right way" to enter this great land of ours, I have to wonder how many fugitive Taliban leaders he's harboring in his basement.

(As it happens, Bruning's ancestors actually did pass through Castle Garden in 1861, before settling in Thayer County, Nebraska.)

Like Your Ancestors, Except Sexier

Golden Door—an award-winning film about sexy immigrants heading to Ellis Island—is now showing in selected cities.

On a perilous steamship journey from his Sicilian village, the widower Salvatore Mancuso (Vincenzo Amato) encounters a ravishing, mystery-shrouded Englishwoman, Lucy (Charlotte Gainsbourg, The Science of Sleep) — as the Old World literally collides into the New with seductive results.

Amid a harrowing crossing, an unexpected love story unfolds all the way to the halls of Ellis Island, where both Salvatore and Lucy will stop at nothing to make it through the GOLDEN DOOR to the America of their imaginations.

According to IMDb, there is "brief graphic nudity," so I may have to see it twice.

Ellis Island's Very Busy Day

April 17th will be the 100th anniversary of the busiest day in Ellis Island's history—a day when 11,747 people passed through the immigration station.

A usual day saw some 5,000 immigrants processed. It was the highpoint of 1907 when 1,285,349 immigrants entered the United States, with Ellis Island processing nearly 80 percent of those new arrivals. The country would not welcome as many immigrants again until 1990. [Link]

By way of comparison, on a typical day in 2006 [pdf] U. S. Customs and Border Protection processed 1.1 million passengers and pedestrians—240,737 arriving by air, 71,151 by ship—and 327,042 incoming privately owned vehicles.

Kissing is Cultural

This quotation is from a brief article in Ancestry Magazine on the Kissing Post at Ellis Island—the spot where new arrivals were reunited with their families.

The Italian kisses his children but scarcely speaks to his wife, never embraces or kisses her in public. The Hungarian and Slavish people put their arms around one another and weep. The Jew of all countries kisses his wife and children as though he owned all the kisses in the world and intended to use them all up quick.

—Maud Mosher, 1910, matron at Ellis Island

Ellis Island to Be Destroyed

An important part of the "Ellis Island experience" is only visible at low tide. The ferry that shuttled millions of immigrants from the island to Manhattan between 1904 to 1954—the Ellis Island—sank at its moorings in 1968.

For nearly 40 years, the remains of the ship have wasted away just a few hundred feet from where boatloads of tourists hop on and off newer ferries to visit the museum and trace the paths of their ancestors. At low tide, the corroded hull of the Ellis Island can still be spotted poking through the surface.

In June, the park service intends to have divers slice the ferry into pieces that can be hoisted onto barges, park service officials said. “There’s not much there at all,” said David L. Conlin, an underwater archaeologist for the park service. But he added that there were “a couple of pieces we’re very interested in,” including the engine and propellers. [Link]

Millions of Americans have a personal connection to this vessel, including me. I assume that my great-grandparents were among her passengers, as neither was a strong swimmer. Now that I know she stills exists, it's a shame to see her go.

You can read more about the Ellis Island here, here, and especially here.

Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor, Your Lunch Order

Schelly at Tracing the Tribe turned up an interesting piece on the menu at the Ellis Island restaurant in 1894. They didn't come for freedom of speech or the right to vote; they came for the bologna.

Who Were They Covering For?

Officials at Ellis Island grew suspicious in 1907 that a firm was secretly importing hundreds of contract laborers from Italy. And arming them with umbrellas.

A few days ago the registry clerks on the island began to notice that each man in parties of immigrants arriving from Naples carried an umbrella. The officials failed to recall when they had last seen an immigrant bring an umbrella. The umbrellas were examined and found to be made by one firm in Italy. Each was incased in a glazed cover.

An inquiry was made, but all the immigrants said that they had just happened to feel as though umbrellas were necessary in America, and so they purchased some at Naples or Genoa, according as the whim. [The Washington Post, Mar. 26, 1907]

Where's Arne?

Okay, so now we know what became of the first person processed at Ellis Island. I think it's time to find out what happened to the last person launched through the "golden door."

According to newspaper accounts, a 48-year-old merchant seaman from Narvik, Norway, named Arne Peterssen was the last detainee released before Ellis Island officially closed. This happened on the morning of Nov. 12, 1954. The next day's United Press report says that Peterssen "walked across a platform at Ellis Island and boarded a Manhattan-bound ferry," having previously been paroled. A Providence Journal story dated Sept. 9, 1990, states that he had "jumped ship in New York Harbor in November 1952," suggesting that this was the reason for his detention.

I'm not sure how this jibes with a 2005 New York Times article, which says that Peterssen "was sent home 50 years ago for overstaying his work permit."

My pockets aren't so deep that I can offer a $1,000 reward for information on Arne Peterssen's whereabouts, but I can offer something just as good: Whoever provides me with compelling evidence of Arne's fate will be awarded a free lifetime subscription to The Genealogue.^*

^*Internet charges may apply. The Genealogue may cease publication before your lifetime ends. In fact, publication could cease at any moment. Offer void in Guam and Vermont.

A Rewarding Experience

Tonight we learn Annie Moore's name after marriage—as well as the best way to spend $1,000 in New York City.

Four generations of descendants of Annie Moore Schayer, the first immigrant to be processed on Ellis Island, gathered yesterday in New York for the first time to celebrate her rediscovery — and their own — and to raise money for a headstone for her unmarked grave in Calvary Cemetery in Queens.

The first contributions, of $500 each, came from Brian G. Andersson, the city’s commissioner of records, and Patricia Somerstein of Long Beach, N.Y., Annie’s great-niece. They donated their share of a $1,000 reward they received from a professional genealogist. [Link (reg. req.)]

Start Spreading the News

The discovery of the real Annie Moore—the first person to pass through Ellis Island—just made the New York Times.

She married a bakery clerk. They had at least 11 children. Five survived to adulthood and three had children of their own. She died of heart failure in 1924 at 47. Her brother Anthony, who arrived with Annie and Philip on the Nevada, died in his 20’s in the Bronx and was temporarily buried in potter’s field. [see corrections in comments]

Annie lived and died within a few square blocks on the Lower East Side, where some of her descendants lived until just recently. She is buried with 6 of her 11 children (five infants and one who survived to 21) alongside the famous and forgotten in a Queens cemetery.

Her living descendants include great-grandchildren, the great-nephew and the great-niece. One of the descendants is an investment counselor and another a Ph.D.

Mrs. [Megan] Smolenyak Smolenyak described them as “poster children” for immigrant America, with Irish, Jewish, Italian and Scandinavian surnames. “It’s an all-American family,” she said. “Annie would have been proud.” [Link (reg. req.)]