Imagine standing on a crowded wharf in Hamburg in 1895, your worldly goods in a small suitcase and weeks of ocean ahead. If your ancestors emigrated from Eastern Europe in the late 1800s or early 1900s, parts of their journey might echo my grandmother Gussie’s story—and some parts might surprise you.
To learn what their journey was like, begin with their ship manifest—it lists the steamship company, port of departure, travel dates, and type of accommodations.
What might have been different about their journey to the steamship port?
I suggested in my book, “Gussie’s Suitcase Packed with Courage, Hope and Secrets,” that Gussie and her sister took the train from their hometown to the port of Libau. If your ancestor lived near a train station, they might have taken a train, too. However, they could have also traveled by horse and cart if their family had one. They could have hired a cart and a driver (like a taxi service) to take them to the port. Many people walked for days, stopping along the way to sleep along the side of the road. Young men often had to sneak across the border into Germany to avoid being conscripted into the Russian Army. This often involved bribing the border guards. Once in Germany, they could get on a train to get to a seaport.
What might have been different about their ship?
If they traveled during the 1840s to 1860s, they most likely traveled in the Zwischendeck (steerage) section of the ship since most of the immigrants were poor and did not have the money for first or second class cabins. Zwischendeck meant they suffered in cramped, airless dormitories with minimal comforts.
The Zwischendeck was between the cargo deck and the hold. It had low beams, only 5 to 6 feet high. The wooden bunks with their straw mattresses were often stacked three high. Men and women were separated by curtains or simple partitions.
The air was damp and foul, and the only light came from small portholes, which often stayed closed if the seas were rocky. There was communal cooking with long waits to get to the simple, smoky stoves.
There were limited spaces for latrines or waste buckets, and diseases such as measles, typhus, and cholera were common. Most people got seasick.
On top of all of that, if your ancestors were on a sailing ship, their voyage could have taken 6 to 10 weeks. The early steamships took about 3 weeks.
Conditions improved slightly in the 1870s to 1890s. Instead of long dormitories, ships were divided into smaller compartments containing 4 to 6 bunks. Skylights were added and there was more space per passenger. Also, there were doctors on board who inspected people to reduce the spread of infections.
In the early 1900s, the Zwischendeck was phased out and replaced with third-class cabins. People now had their own cabins, running water, electric lighting, and dining rooms. Third class was less fancy than first or second class, but it was still a much better travel experience than before.
What might have been similar about your ancestor’s journey?
Just about everything else: the strange smells, the strange languages, the boredom, and seasickness once on the ship. They would have had to be very careful at the ports to avoid nefarious strangers. So, all of the feelings that Gussie experienced before, during, and after her arrival in the New World, your ancestors probably experienced, too.
Whether your ancestors sailed in the dark Zwischendeck of the 1860s or in a more modern third-class cabin of the 1900s, the courage and uncertainty of leaving home were much the same. Start with their ship manifest, and you can follow their footsteps—right to the edge of the Atlantic and across, ringing their courage and dreams back to life.
How to find ship manifests
- Passenger Arrival Records
https://www.archives.gov/research/immigration/passenger-arrival.html - Ancestry.com (Search under Immigration and Travel)
https://www.ancestry.com/search/categories/40/?searchOrigin=navigation_header - MyHeritage.com (Research to Immigration Records)
https://www.myheritage.com/research/category-4000/immigration-travel?s=OYYV65DPUOVL2O5A7TD4DWYC3HGDHFI
Sources
- Germany’s National Emigration Museum
https://www.dah-bremerhaven.de/ - Ellis Island Museum
https://www.statueofliberty.org/ellis-island/national-immigration-museum/ - Shipboard: The 19th Century Emigrant Experience
https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/stories/life-on-board#:~:text=the%2019th%20century.-,Life%20on%20board,own%20berths%20for%20the%20voyage. - Table from “Out of the Shtetl. In the footsteps of Eastern European Jewish emigrants to America, 1900-1914, by Gur Alroey https://groups.jewishgen.org/g/ImmigrationStudyGroup/files/Articles/Out%20of%20the%20Shtetl.pdf
Historical Fiction Novels that touch on the dangers of the immigration experience
- The Third Daughter by Talia Carner
- Nine Folds Make a Paper Swan by Ruth Gilligan
Image Creation
- ChatGPT5
Discover more from Tiny Tales by Tara
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Great post!