GenealogyBlog

This is the only known photo of my ancestor Pat Fox from County Leitrim, Ireland.

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Here in the United States, all of our ancestors at one point or another traveled to this land of opportunity and ethnic diversity. Some may have come over on the Mayflower. Others perhaps came here during the early stages of this new nation. Still more perhaps came through Ellis Island or even later. What was their journey like?

Both of my maternal grandparents James Francis Fox and Margaret Nora Doyle came through Ellis Island. For those of you who aren’t aware www.ellisisland.org has most ship manifests available for free on it’s website. That is where I was able to obtain all of the following information about my grandparents.

• James Fox set sail on the Cedric from Queenstown on May 14, 1911.
• He arrived at Ellis Island on May 22 1911.
• He was born in Ballinamore, Ireland.
• He was 5/10″ tall with a fair complexion had brown hair and blue eyes.
• He was traveling to she his sister at 163 High Street in New Britain, CT.

• Margaret Doyle set sail on the Baltic from Queenstown on Oct 6, 1911.
• She arrived at Ellis Island on Oct 13, 1911.
• She was born in Carrickslavin, Ireland.
• She was 5’4″ tall with blue eyes.
• She was traveling to see her sister Kate Doyle at 22 Holy St in Bristol, CT.

There are more facts which can be obtained from the ships manifest on the Ellis Island website so search for your ancestors who may have come through Ellis Island today. To me these are just facts and figures but what was the journey on the ship like? There’s a great book called Ellis Island Interviews by Peter Morton Coan. It was published in 2004 by Barnes and Nobel Books.

Here are some very brief quotes from people who were interviewed who came through Ellis Island.

• Page 88 “…the S.S Cedric. All five of us were in one room with two wooden bunk beds. There was no porthole. We traveled in third class….”
• Page 112 “The S.S. Baltic was beautiful. I didn’t want to get off. I didn’t want to get off because I loved the blue waters….”

Reading interviews of some people who came on the same ship your ancestors came on gives to a glimpse at what their experience was when traveling to America.

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My family celebrates the Christmas Season by getting together on Christmas day, sharing a meal, playing cards and just spending time together. New Years Day is a time for gathering around the television and watching football. Whatever holiday your family celebrates provides a chance to hear stories about your ancestors.

Before the family get together this holiday season do some homework and prepare some questions to ask your older relatives. Check out our new category of blog posts called “Genealogy Interview Questions”. Over the next few weeks before Christmas we will add a number of posts which include some sample questions you can ask. Each post will provide a half dozen or more questions focusing in a particular aspect of your ancestors life. Use these questions or prepare some of your own and you’ll be sure to hear some interesting stories. If you have any additional questions on the day’s topic be sure to reply to this post to let other readers know.

This past Saturday our focus was the sports your ancestor played. On Sunday the questions focused on the Sunday meal. What areas of your ancestors life would you like to learn more about?

Here are some questions to ask your older relatives about their school days.

• What schools did you go to?
• Can you show me your high school yearbook? (See if you can get a digital copy)
• What was your favorite subject? Why?
• Who was your favorite teacher? Why?
• Tell me about some of your friends from school.
• Did your parents let you date or go to dances in high school?
• If you did go to dances tell me about one you remember.

Try out these questions or think of some on your own. Make the question be opened ended where they can’t be answered with just a yes or no answer. This may prompt them to talk more about their school days.

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Do you remember Sunday supper at grandma’s house? What was for supper, how did it smell? Cooking and eating a family meal together brings out the best in families. Today in our busy lives it seems the family meal has long been forgotten.

I can not recall a whole lot about my grandparents as all four of them died either before I was born or when I was just a little kid. My Grandma Fox’s house was just a few minutes drive across town and we went there often on Sunday for supper. The smell of supper cooking and the warm inviting atmosphere is what I remember most. It was always a traditional Irish-American Food consisting of meat, potatoes and vegetables. Grandma Fox used to have a vegetable garden in her back yard. I’ve been told by my siblings that if grandma asked you if you wanted more and you said no, you’d only get a little bit more. If you asked for more, well let’s say you certainly wouldn’t leave the table hungry.

After dinner it was cleaning up the supper dishes. After the dishes were done, the cards would come out. The grown-ups would sit around the dinner table playing a game called set-back. It is also known as Pitch to some. Our family still plays set-back every time we get together.

Want to learn about your ancestor’s Sunday Supper? Ask your mom, grandma or any other older relative. Here are a few questions to ask.

• What do you remember most about Sunday’s supper at your mom or grandmas house?
• What was typically for supper?
• What recipes do you have of your mother or grandmother? Can I have a copy?
• What did you do after supper?
• Who was usually at the supper table?
• Where did everyone sit?

This Christmas when you get together to share a meal, ask these questions or some of your own. Try to ask open-ended questions where the answer can’t be a yes or no. Be sure to capture these memories on paper or even recorded.

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