EARLY IMMIGRATION

"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

-Emma Lazarus The New Colossus
On the statue of liberty

The nineteenth century was a time of a great dream of freedom for millions of people. The door was relatively open to America up until 1924. Between 1824 to 1924 more than 34 million Europeans were admitted to the United States.

1820-1830- approximately 600,000 (primarily of English and Irish Origin)
1830's -1850 - more than 3 million (most directly related to disasters such as the potato famines in Ireland and the suppression in Germany after the 1848 revolution).
1860's - 1870- few immigrants due to the financial depression of 1857 and the U.S. Civil War.
1870's - many Scandinavians begin to immigrate
1880's - 1930's - large numbers of immigrants from Europe, including France and Germany, Italy, Russia, Austro-Hungry, and Poland.

Immigration Laws of the Nineteenth Century

The Immigration Act of 1882 was the first of may laws that began to not only affect who could come into the Untied States, but more importantly who was responsible for the expense of an unacceptable immigrant. The law of 1882 was the first to make the steamship companies responsible for the expense of deporting any immigrant who did not meet the physical or mental requirements for admission to the United States. By 1903, the Steamship companies were required also to pay for food, accommodations, and medical care of any immigrant detained for observation. Fines were also imposed on the shipping lines for any immigrant who was excluded by law.

Subsequent changes to the immigration laws would result in the exclusion of certain undesirables in an effort to avoid epidemics, to prevent anarchy and undermine the American "way of life," as will as to protect immigrants form being forced to become prostitutes or work as child slave labor.

Immigrant Inspection

Those passengers who were traveling in first of second class were usually inspected on board ship. The consensus was that if the passenger could afford such upper class accommodations, that they obviously could support themselves financial and were less likely to become a public charge as a result of health of legal issues.

However, for those passengers in steerage -- which got it's nickname because it was located in the bottom decks where the steering mechanism was located on the ship - the inspection process was completely different story. Their inspection usually lasted some two to five hours on a good day while doctors watched them as they proceeded to various stations, or as they walked through a maze of aisles and up stairs. As the doctor watched the immigrants they were usually able to identify a number of medical conditions, which were often marked on the immigrant clothing using chalk.

Detention & Deportation

Of those who were detained, almost half of them were held for special inquiry. Only 2% of immigrants were actually deported.

Detention could have been the result of the immigrant not having a train ticket, or the money to purchase the ticket. The immigrant may have needed to wait for someone to pick them up, especially if they were a single female, traveling alone.

Detention, and possible deportation, resulted when the immigrant exhibited symptoms of certain illnesses, such as trachoma (an eye disease) and favus (a scalp condition).

Could Records Have Been Kept on Your Ancestor?

In addition to the Immigrant and Naturalization Service - now the US Citizenship & Immigration services - the United States Public Heath Service was also responsible for the processing of these immigrants. As a result, the records that must be researched are not limited to those found in Record Group 85, the National Archives designation record of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. RG85 is certainly the record group where researchers will find the majority of the resources. Other record groups that must also by searched include:

RG 21 - Records of District Courts of the United States
RG 36 - Records of the United states Customs Service
RG 59 - General Records of the Department of the Treasury
RG 90 - Records of the Public Heath Service