Week 42: Adventure #52Ancestors

When I think about my immigrant ancestors I am struck by what it took for them to get to America. My side of our family emigrated to the U.S. in the mid-to late 1800’s. While their personal reasons likely varied, religious and political persecution, wars, famine, job shortages, rising taxes, and revolution were some of the many “push” factors that lead to this mass migration of individuals.[1] My ancestors (and maybe yours) were among the nine million immigrants who journeyed to the U.S. from Europe, Britain, and Ireland between 1820 and 1880.[2] Certainly an adventure if there ever was one.

My Glaeschen ancestors arrived in New York City on January 3, 1845.[3] I’ve mentioned before the difficulty I had finding them because they changed their name to Glacy (my maiden name) upon arrival.[4] The family (father, mother, three-year old daughter, nine-month old son, brother, and sister) started their journey to the “New World” from their home in Wernersberg, Bavaria to the port city of Le Havre, France. I haven’t yet figured out how they got to Le Havre, 396-mile trip.[5] Could they have walked the entire distance? What kind of transportation was available to them in 1844? These and many other questions are now on my “to-do” list.

Once they arrived in Le Havre, the family boarded the ship Louis Philippe and left for America. The trip took many weeks meaning the family would have spent all of a likely cold December on board. The ship’s manifest shows there were about 100 passengers in steerage. Complaints about overcrowding, poor food, abuse, and disease were common at this time.[6] To maximize profits, shipowners tried to cram as many people on board as they could.[7] Looking at just three manifests from the Louis Philippe, the passengers in steerage went from forty-eight in 1843 to 101 for my ancestors to a whopping 317 by 1846![8] My family was lucky not to have been aboard those later ships. As it is, I can’t even image how my 2nd great-grandmother Eva managed with an infant and small child under such harsh conditions. 

The Glaeschen family’s arrival in New York pre-dated the establishment of Ellis Island by many years. However, by 1850, New York City had become the preeminent port of entry into the U.S.[9] At that time, immigration was a matter for state control and the attitude of New York was one of welcome.[10] Restriction and exclusion were not concepts then and relatively free immigration was “in full flower.”[11]

I know the family first settled in New York as their third child, Catherine, was born eighteen months after their arrival. What an adventure they must have had and I know more awaited them as they made their lives in America.

P.S. I can’t help but share this little story of the Louis Philippe. Three years before transporting my family, the ship was grounded on Long Island on its way back from France.[12] In order to lighten the load and free the ship, the all the cargo, including trees, shrubs, and rosebushes were thrown overboard. Residents of East Hampton gathered the cargo and planted much of it throughout the town. To this day, the “Shipwreck Rose” continues to thrive in the town. It is described as a “very fragrant and winter hardy, once-blooming light pink rose.”[13]

[1] “Rise of Industrial America, 1876-1900,” The Library of Congress (http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/timeline/riseind/ : accessed 17 October 2019).

[2] “Immigration Timeline,” The Statue of Liberty – Ellis Island Foundation, Inc. (https://www.libertyellisfoundation.org/immigration-timeline : accessed 16 October 2019).

[3] Manifest, S.S. Louis Philippe, 3 January 1845, 5th line, Joseph Glaeschen, age 36; database with images, “New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1891,” FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org : accessed 16 October 2019), 057 – 2 Jan 1845-31 Nat 1845, image 28 of 1091; citing NARA microfilm publication M237.

[4] And don’t ask me about whether their name was changed by the immigration officials.

[5] “Wernersberg to Le Havre,” Google (https://www.google.com/maps : accessed 16 October 2019).

[6] “Enterprise on the Water,” Smithsonian Institution (https://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater/exhibition/2_3.html : accessed 16 October 2019).

[7] “Journey to America,” Spartacus Educational (https://spartacus-educational.com/USAEjourney.htm : accessed 17 October 2019). 

[8] Ship Louis Philippe, 2 January 1848, ship’s manifest transcription, Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild (http://www.immigrantships.net : accessed 17 October 2019). Ship Louis Philippe, 10 December 1846, ship’s manifest transcription, Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild (http://www.immigrantships.net: accessed 17 October 2019).

[9] Richard H. Leach, “The Impact of Immigration Upon New York, 1840-60,” New York History 31, no. 1 (January 1950): 15-30, specifically, 15; JSTOR (www.jstor.org/stable/23149747 : accessed 17 October 2019).

[10] Ibid, 16.

[11] Ibid.

[12] Wendy Polhemus-Annibell, “The Louis Philippe “Shipwreck Rose,” Long Island Pulse, 22 June 2015 (http://lipulse.com/2015/06/22/the-louis-philippe-shipwreck-rose/ : accessed 17 October 2019). 

[13] Ibid.

American Packet Ship “Louis Philippe,” 1837, a painting by Frederic Roux (French, 1805-1870); digital image, The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (www.mfa.org)

Wendy Polhemus-Annibell, “The Louis Philippe “ Shipwreck Rose,” Long Island Pulse, 22 June 2015 (http://lipulse.com/2015/06/22/the-louis-philippe-shipwreck-rose/ : accessed 17 October 2019).