![]() “If anything, Ellis Island officials were known to correct mistakes in passenger lists,” says Philip Sutton, a librarian in the Milstein Division of United States History, Local History and Genealogy, at the New York Public Library, in a blog post delving into the name change mythology. The inspectors also would see if the answers matched those recorded by the shipping clerk before departure. From there, the inspector would cross-reference the name on the manifest with the immigrant passenger, and also ask 30 questions to screen out rabble-rousers, loafers, or the physically and mentally infirm, but also to glean information on who they would be living with and where in America, says Urban. The ship’s manifest was presented to Ellis Island inspectors after the boat docked. The shipping lines were thus highly motivated to only take immigrants who weren’t going to be coming back. inspectors, “the shipping company had to bring the immigrant home for free,” Urban says. If an immigrant made it to Ellis Island, but was found to be infirm by the U.S. “The American laws were pretty clear,” says Urban. ![]() The shipping clerk also asked a set of questions, largely to determine if male immigrants could do manual labor, as that was the main reason they were being allowed into-and often, courted by-a burgeoning America. ports accepting immigrants.Īt the shipping line’s station in Europe, a clerk wrote the passenger’s name in the ship’s manifest, sometimes without asking for identification verifying the spelling. To leave the home country-whether Italy, Slovakia, Austria, Poland or elsewhere-immigrants had to purchase a place on a ship-whether bound for New York or one of the other U.S. Instead, any error likely happened overseas. Name changes “could happen, but they are not as likely as people have been led to believe,” he says.Įllis Island inspectors were not responsible for recording immigrants’ names. While that seems like a set-up for fudging a difficult name into the record books, or maybe even just making the best guess on a name that perhaps a nonliterate immigrant might not know how to spell correctly, it didn’t go down that way at all, Urban says. On the record-breaking day of April 17, 1907, almost 12,000 immigrants were processed, according to the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation. The inspectors interviewed 400 to 500 people a day-processing a million a year-during the height of the flow, says Urban. The 500 or so employees at the station had to work quickly during those first waves of immigration, processing each immigrant in a matter of 4 to 7 hours. “There was a huge fear that immigrants were going to bring a whole new set of morals into the country that were going to degrade us,” Urban says. The strictures reflected the views of the times, with anarchy and Bolshevism seen as particular threats, says Peter Urban, a National Park Service Ranger in the division of interpretation at Ellis Island, which is overseen by the Park Service. Polygamists and political radicals were added to the no-go list in 1903. In 1875, prostitutes and convicts were barred entry, and in 1882, those convicted of political offenses, lunatics, idiots, and persons likely to become public charges were prohibited. Contract laborers were allowed admittance in 1864, but barred in 1885, according to the Federation for American Immigration Reform. First and second class passengers received a quick inspection while aboard ship, based on the federal notion that “if a person could afford to purchase a first or second class ticket, they were less likely to become a public charge in America due to medical or legal reasons,” says the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation.Īs mass migration began growing, immigration laws started changing. Only those in steerage had to undergo inspection at the Ellis Island station. If an immigrant made it as far as Ellis Island, he or she would likely be allowed into the United States, at least in the first two decades it was open. But even though many may have had unusual names-at least to an English speaker-it is a persistent myth that Ellis Island inspectors altered birth names of the weary immigrants.Įllis Island holds a special place in the American psyche, having been the fabled point of entry for 12 to 13 million immigrants during the 62 years it was open, from Januuntil November 12, 1954. ![]() They hoped to settle in a promised land that was opening its doors to many, especially those capable of doing manual labor. One hundred twenty-five years ago, the nation’s first federal immigration station opened on Ellis Island in New York Harbor, built to handle the throngs who were coming to America during the late 19th century to escape famine, war and poverty. ![]()
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