My father's grandparents came to America from Europe in 1903. They were just nineteen years old and newly married. It must have been a long exhausting trip, full of excitement as well as much trepidation. Their destination was Rochester, NY where an uncle awaited their arrival.Grandma (Bertha) and Grandpa (Emil) arrived in NY City on September 27, 1903. Grandma was three months pregant with her first child. I don't really know much about these grandparents. It was said that they were German. Grandma cooked German and spoke German and I've been told that Grandpa spoke four languages fluently. The couple eventually settled in Penfield, owned a small farm and raised six children. Grandpa died long before I was born, Grandma when I was about seven or eight years old.
Several years ago I decided to look up the record of their arrival at Ellis Island and found that they did not come from Germany as we had always believed, but smack dab in the middle of what is now Poland. Their ethnicity is listed as Russian, and their name we have discovered is Jewish. Who were these ancestors of mine? Where did they come from and what did they leave behind? So many unanswered questions...
To follow up on the comment you left me...I'm not sure if you would remember me, but I've met you once or twice. I'm good friends with the Reinhardts.
ReplyDeleteBertha and Emil are certainly both German names!
ReplyDeleteWell you know more about yours than I do about mine. I should ask my grandma.
ReplyDeleteI love a good mystery, are you going to follow up with more research, why did they come to America, such a beautiful photo.
ReplyDeleteHmmm... research is difficult in this area and likely costly. Their residence is listed as having been Wloclowsk (was that considered Poland or Russia?). They were hiding from something (why, what, and who?). Others with the same last name were Russian Jews, were they also? If so, they never let on. My own father was shocked to learn he had a Jewish surname. On top of all that, so many records were destroyed during WWII that we may never know. Yes, a good mystery indeed!
ReplyDeleteGod does.
ReplyDeleteI think it is fascinating and would love to find out.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to think about these things. Hmmm....I wonder...
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