Give me your Tired, your Poor, Part 3: I Was Dreaming of Coming to America

The following post is taken from Selected Memories of Refugee Children at Ellis Island by Veronica Lawler. It details short memories of immigrants when they first entered Ellis Island.

Edward Corsi (Italy, Arrived in 1907 – age 10)

Edward Corsi’s father died in 1903, shortly after being elected the Tuscan representative to the Italian Parliament. Four years later, Corsi’s mother remarried, and the family moved to America. His association with Ellis Island did not end there, however. In 1931, Mr. Corsi was appointed commissioner of immigration at Ellis Island, a position he held until 1934, when he became the director of relief in New York City under Mayor LaGuardia.

 “My first impressions of the new world will always remain etched in my memory, particularly that hazy October morning when I first saw Ellis Island. The steamer Florida, 14 days out of Naples, filled to capacity with 1,600 natives of Italy, had weathered one of the worst storms in our captain’s memory. Glad we were, both children and grown-ups, to leave the open sea and come at last through the Narrows into the bay. My mother, my stepfather, my brother Giuseppe, and my two sisters, Liberta and Helvetia, all of us together, happy that we had come through the storm safely, clustered on the foredeck for fear of separation and looked with wonder on this miraculous land of our dreams.”

Lazarus Salaman (Hungary. Arrived in 1920 – age 16)

Lazarus Salaman was born in the Transylvania section of Hungary in 1904. He had a hard childhood; Romanian soldiers came and took his father away, and his mother died soon after. In 1920, Lazarus, his brother, and one of his sisters traveled to America aboard the Zeeland. They settled in the Yorkville section of Manhattan and Lazarus eventually became a salesman. He married in 1929.

“I feel like I had two lives. You plant something in the ground, it has its roots, and then you transplant it where it stays permanently. That’s what happened to me. You put an end. And forget about your childhood; I became a man here. All of a sudden, I started life new, amongst people whose language I didn’t understand…[It was a] different life; everything was different… but I never despaired, I was optimistic, and this is the only country where you’re not a stranger, because we are all strangers. It’s only a matter of time who got here first.”

Vartan Hartunian (Turkey (Armenian) Arrived in 1922 – age 7)

Born in Turkey to a minister of the Armenian Evangelical Church, Vartan lived in an area were Armenians were subject to harsh political and religious persecution, and in 1922, he and his family escaped to America via Smyrna and Greece. Upon arriving in America, the Hartunian family was detained on Ellis Island for 12 days while a medical condition affecting the parents’ eyes was cleared up. In addition, the quota of Syrians admitted to the US that year had already been filled. After a 12 day waiting period, Vartan’s mother was admitted because of her profession, teaching. The family spent a few months in Buffalo before settling in Philadelphia. Vartan graduated from Swarthmore College with honors and became a minister like his father.

 “Coming to America had meaning. I was a kid of seven and in contrast to what I had gone through, Ellis Island was like not a haven but a heaven. I don’t remember any fright when I got to Ellis Island. My father’s dream and prayer was ‘I must get my family to America’…America was paradise, the streets were covered with gold. And when we arrived here, and when we landed form Ellis Island and [went] to Buffalo, it was as if God’s great promise had been fulfilled that we would eventually find freedom”

Helen Cohen (Poland Arrived in 1920 –Age 20)

Helen Cohen was born in 1900 to a tailor and his wife in the town of Susnowiec, Poland. The family owned a general store but lost it during WWI. Helen’s uncles were already in the US, and when Helen was 20, she and her father and youngest brother come to America to join them. They spent 10 days on Ellis Island and heard the celebrated opera singer Enrico Caruso perform there on Christmas Eve. The family settled in Washington, DC where Ms. Cohen worked as a salesperson in a hat store. In 1923 she married a man from Russia, and they had twin girls in 1925. At the age of 25, Ms. Cohen became a US citizen.

“When I was about 10 years old I said, ‘I have to go to America.’ Because my uncles were here already, and it kind of got me that I wanted to go to America, too… I was dreaming about it. I was writing to my uncles, I said I wish one day I’ll be in America; I was dreaming to come to America…. And I was dreaming, and my dream come true. When I came here, I was in a different world. It was so peaceful. It was quiet. You were not afraid to go out in the middle of the night… I’m free. I’m just like a bird. You can fly and land on any tree and you are free.”