Today, November 12, 2024 is the 70th anniversary of the closure of Ellis Island, once the foremost inspection and processing station for prospective immigrants to the United States of America. Untold millions passed through its gates during its 64 years of operation, and it stands today as a museum highlighting the history of the United States as a refuge for (legal) immigrants over the decades.
Full disclosure: I am a Brit by birth. Legal. One who lived in the USA (as of today) for 65 years. Self-sufficient. Not a distressed immigrant or asylum seeker, and one who never required anything from the United States of America in terms of support or taxpayer dollars to keep myself going. The received wisdom about Ellis Island means nothing to me.
I’d also like to point out that Ellis Island was–actually–functioning only as a federal immigrant processing center from–as could most generously be posited–1880 until 1954.
In July 1981 I married a US citizen, a grandchild of Eastern European immigrants to the country, one who proudly called the country his own, and who volunteered in its service with the United States Marine Corps in 1958 or so.
Over the years, I have done some investigating and chatting with elderly family members on his side to discover what I could, and to try to find out how my husband’s family had ended up in Pittsburgh. It was difficult in many ways, not least of which was in regard to the family name.
When a person’s family name is “ZBOZNY” there are so many opportunities for simple misspellings that finding out the truth becomes almost an insurmountable task. It’s a different sort of task from that in which folks whose name is “SMITH” find themselves, but it’s no less daunting.
And yet, one day, while looking up something else (the strange history of Mr. Right’s “Aunt Helen,” who deserves a post of her own, trust me) I struck pay dirt in terms of the immigration records for the port of Galveston, Texas:
Arrival Date: Mar 9 1908
Family Name: ZBORNY
Name Age Sex Occupation
CYRYL 28 M MINER
Destination: ENGLE,COL
Departure: BREMEN Departure Date: 2/15/1908
Origin: GALICIA Ship: KOLN
Source: NATIONAL ARCHIVES RECORD GROUP 85, MICROCOPY 1359, ROLL #7
People: 1
Destination Area: COLORADO
Origin Area: GALICIA
That’s Grandpa Zbozny. Carl. Or Cyryl. He I’ve come to know and love over the years as “Grandpa with the bacon-greased moustache.”
A bit more research confirmed what I’ve always been told. He’d come over from the old country with his wife Angela, and his oldest daughter Helen. Some other research confirmed the family stories that he’d started out as a coal miner in Englewood Colorado, and had then moved all over the Western United States as a miner, in places like Leadville, CO, and that he’d eventually moved to Eastern PA as an accountant, before ending up in Pittsburgh where he’d settled with his seven children, and where he and all his sons (including the late Mr. Right’s father, had ended up as employees at the Jones and Laughlin Steel Mill.
From there, and over the decades, has progressed the history of this family. The late Mr. Right’s and mine.
Today, I celebrate the marvelous image of Ellis Island and its association with the Statue of Liberty. She has always stood as a beacon of light to those who came after. Thank you French people who gifted her this way in 1886 or so. President Glover Cleveland, the only other person who’s overseen non-consecutive winning terms besides Donald Trump, oversaw her dedication, and so thank you too.
But perhaps it is time to move on.
