Immigration - Static versus Fluid
When we talk about immigration, we often think—or tell people— “My family came over in so-and-so year” and that becomes our immigration touchstone. Whether they were processed through Castle Garden or Ellis Island, stowed away, were part of the Great Migration, were exiled to Australia, whatever the case may be, we find a ship’s passenger list manifest with our ancestor’s name on it and that becomes our immigrant ancestor and that becomes their immigration year.
But what if they went back “home” again? For many immigrants to America at least, immigration wasn’t necessarily permanent or static. It was fluid. A family member came over to the U.S. to work hard, make money, and then returned home to support their family in their homeland. Or they took the money they had made, returned home, and brought several more relatives over with them. So if you find your immigrant ancestor and when they came over—keep looking. They might have made the voyage back and forth, more than once, and each point of entry back into the country is a valuable piece of the puzzle that could have information not included on their first immigration record.
A Return to Meiningen
My 3x great-grandfather, Caspar Lindemann, raised his family in Stedtlingen, a tiny village outside of Meiningen, Germany. They immigrated as a family, arriving in New York in 1891 - him, his wife, and at least 5 of their children. The year they came was the year before Ellis Island opened, and in a time period when very little was recorded on a passenger list manifest besides names, ages, and a general place of origin. In fact, Caspar’s name is impossible to even read on the manifest, lost in a crease amongst his family members’ names. He is listed as living in Brooklyn in the 1892 census. And then in 1900, his wife is living with two of their children and Caspar is nowhere to be found. This was a mystery to me for years…till I took a look at an incoming passenger list manifest from July 1902 and lo and behold, there was Caspar Lindemann, coming to America from Stedtlingen, Meiningen. Again. 11 years after the first time. There are ways to check that this is your person —for example, Caspar was held at Ellis Island “for senility” and he was picked up by Martin Wolbern, who I know was his son-in-law at the time. Because this passenger list manifest went through Ellis Island in the 20th century, there is a ton more information about Caspar on it, such as the exact place he had been living in Germany (his hometown), how long he had been gone (looks like 6 years), and who he was being picked up by. I still have so many questions, like why he went without his wife, why he was gone so long (he did have children and grandchildren still living in Germany), why he was traveling alone while senile…but he is someone who came to America, went back home, and returned again. He died in New York in 1910.
Erin Go Bragh
In this second case, it wasn’t quite Ireland Forever, but it was Ireland I’m Not Quite Done With You. Another 3x great-grandfather of mine, John Horgan, left County Cork in 1871 with his young bride, Julia, and settled in New York where they had a daughter, Mary, my 2x great-grandmother. Julia died young in 1887 and John never remarried. Like the aforementioned Caspar, I knew John had died in New York City in 1908…but he was absolutely nowhere to be found in the 1900 census. This happens a lot - people moved around, people weren’t home, people deliberately avoided census-takers, people’s names were spelled wrong, people’s names were transcribed or indexed wrong…there are a million reasons you might not be able to find your relative in a census. But if you’ve exhausted all other options, you might want to consider, especially if they were an immigrant ancestor, that they might not have even been in the country, that they might have returned to their homeland. So unfortunately, there aren’t a ton of outgoing passenger list records for New York at least, so you can’t always track them leaving - but you can often track them coming back again. In the case of John, I found him leaving Queenstown, Ireland in June of 1900. So somewhere between his U.S. naturalization in 1888 and then, he had gone back to Ireland. He is mis-indexed and transcribed in that record, but on New York incoming passenger list record shows way more than his initial immigration in 1871 as well as that this was actually him, since it says he is going to join his daughter Mrs. Garey at 358 E. 10th Street, who I know was my 2x great-grandmother. But again, while I am left with more information, I am left with more questions! - why did he return to Ireland? The passenger list manifest gives his last address as Cork but where did he live while he was there? Who did he see? Why did he come back? As with many genealogical discoveries, one question answered leads to three more questions…
You Can Take the Boy Out of County Cork…
Actually, it seems, you can’t. My third family example brings us to another County Cork family. My great-grandfather’s brother, Cornelius Cronin, was born there in the 1860s and along with his mother and his many siblings, made his way during the 1880s-1890s to Brooklyn, New York. My grandmother remembers him living with them on Long Island when she was very little, and he is there with her family in the 1920 census, but in her notes she wrote that he returned to Ireland for good at one point. As it turns out, it’s a little more complicated. As I said, he came over in the late 19th century, and I have a record of him marrying in Manhattan in 1910. And then between then and 1920 I lost track of him for awhile. I discovered the probate record for one of his brothers’ in Brooklyn in 1913 that listed his residence as Ireland, which was helpful, but for years that’s all I knew. I was finally able to put more pieces of the puzzle together recently. Following his 1910 marriage, he and his wife appear on an incoming UK passenger list manifest in 1911 in Queenstown, Ireland. From Cornelius’ brother’s will, we know they were still living there in 1913. I discovered a death record for a woman I believe was his wife from May 1915 - who died in Cork at age 42 from tuberculosis. And then Cornelius appears on a passenger list manifest arriving in New York, again, in July 1915, two months later. As I said, he is still in New York five years later, living with his brother’s family, but Cornelius, more than any of my other fluid immigrant ancestors, doesn’t seem to know where home is…it appears that my grandmother’s notes may have been correct, in that Cornelius appears on no more US census records, has no US death record that I’ve been able to find, and looks to be back in the UK on an incoming passenger list manifest in 1922. I lose him for good from that point, but in this case, it seems you can’t take the Cork out of the boy…
Final Notes
Not all immigration was static or one-way; some immigration was fluid, and some of our immigrant ancestors traveled back and forth before landing on a place to stay, either back in their homeland or in the new homeland.
If someone is missing from the record, like a census, check passenger lists to see if they left the country at some point and returned.
If you see your ancestor’s name on more than passenger list, it’s possible they all belong to him/her. Look for clues, like addresses, hometowns, and relatives who you know belong to you.