What do you know about your immigrant ancestors? When did they come to the United States or wherever you are? Do you know if there were immigration laws when your ancestor came to your country? Did they learn the language of your country or always speak their native language? Did they get any sort of assistance when they got there? I know that when I started the journey of doing genealogy I had some ideas that ended up being not true. Have you had your eyes opened since doing research on your ancestors?
For most of the history of the United States there was no legal or illegal immigration.
For most of the history of the United States, while a British colony and as a country, there was no legal or illegal immigration. If you made it to this country you got right off the boat and there was no one there to ask questions or look at a visa. In fact, until 1882 when an immigration restriction that was targeting Asians was put in place, there were no immigration laws. Only after 1891 did any sort of inspection or questions start to be asked and these only happened to weed out immigrants with communicable diseases, people who could be anarchists, or people who may end up being public charges. It wasn’t until 1917 because of World War I personal identification became necessary and another four years before quotas were first put in place.
Once your ancestors got to the United States did they assimilate? The answer is complicated. Yes, overtime and generations the immigrants and their children assimilated to this country. But, it didn’t happen as soon as they stepped off the boat. Have you ever noticed in census records that the neighbors of your ancestors are more often than not from the same country? This is how we got places like Little Italy in New York. People came to this country with their food, language, music, traditions, etc. There have been studies done, like one in 2008, on census records that showed some 2nd and even 3rd generation Germans in Wisconsin only spoke German (Mattmiller, 2008). These enclaves had newspapers, did business and had church in their native languages. That is not to say these immigrants didn’t become a part of the country and participate in politics and other things. They just kept some of their heritage too.
Welfare as we know it was not a thing, but private entities did provide assistance to those in need.
Finally, did your ancestors receive some sort of assistance when they arrived in this country. Welfare as we know it today did not exist. However, there was assistance through local charities and other private organizations. Groups such as the YMCA and YWCA, Salvation Army and Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society had people at Ellis Island. What did these organizations do exactly? They helped new immigrants find work, with money, finding a place to live, education and even transportation. These groups had offices throughout the country to help with continued assistance if needed. There were also groups that helped certain groups of people such as the German Legal Aid Society that helped Germans against bad labor practices. This later became the more well known Legal Aid Society. The Order of the Sons of Italy created orphanages, offered scholarships and even death benefits. While the Federal government may not have given assistance back when our ancestors first immigrated to this country there was still private help for immigrants.
While immigration today is different from the time most of our ancestors came to this land. There are also similarities. My own grandfather talked of how his grandpa barely spoke any English. He spoke his native tongue of German. Knowing how immigration was long ago compared to how it is today can help us to understand our ancestors and how they really assimilated into their new homeland.
If you need any help finding your ancestors, just let us know.
Source: Mattmiller, Brian; October 16, 2008, University of Wisconsin-Madison https://news.wisc.edu/study-debunks-myth-that-early-immigrants-quickly-learned-english/
