Imagine someone came to you in the morning and said, “We don’t like your politics. We think that you’re plotting to overthrow the government….’” So now you’re in jail for 180 days, in terrible circumstances. At the end of 180 days, they can say, “Okay, you’re being released.” Your family are waiting outside in the car to take you home. As you’re getting into the car somebody walks up to you and says, ... Read More »
In 1819 John and Mary Davies packed up their six young children and left their home in rural mid-north Wales to undertake a two-month ocean voyage to America. This is their story. John Davies and Mary Humphreys were both born near the town of Llanfyllin in what was then Montgomeryshire, Wales – John around 1779 and Mary around 1781. Llanyfyllin ... Read More »
MYSTERY OF THE MISIDENTIFIED PASSENGERS The Statira Morse ship left Glasgow in May, 1852 and arrived New York City on July 13, with 307 passengers on board. It had taken 8 weeks, with two men and three newborns dying on the passage. J. G. Lawton, shipmaster, swore that the list of passengers was correct, but at least one family is misidentified. ... Read More »
From Hans Georg Mülli to George Mealy: Cabinetmaker to Computer Programmer In the year 1849, in the village of Schöfflisdorf, in the canton of Zürich, in Switzerland, Hans Georg Mülli was living with his wife, Anna, and three children—Heinrich, Johann Jakob, and Anna. He was a cabinetmaker. In that year he went to Zürich to apply for a passport for ... Read More »
Piecing together a family’s story of immigration to the United States can be a challenge for many people. Richard Sherman Gordon’s family tree has roots that reach back hundreds of years in America, but most of their stories have been lost over the generations. What remains are tidbits of family lore, and for Rich’s family, there is also a lovingly ... Read More »
Mehdi was twenty years old, the only child in the Kaci family still under 21. This was lucky timing as it allowed him to qualify as a minor child and be a part of his parents’ United States Diversity Visa application. His older brother and sister would have to find another way if they were ever to emigrate to the ... Read More »
Click Here to Listen to the Audio Recording – Read by Carolyn Williams, the Great-Granddaughter of Millie and a Resident of Palo Alto, CA. “You are all arrested, come along,” declared Officer Pete Walsh of the Butte, Montana police force. In the midst of a heavy snowstorm, Captain Millie Lick (Lueck) and her six fellow Salvation Army soldiers were taken ... Read More »