Happy 4th of July!
Back in the 1970s, my Grandpa Pruski used to tell us about how his father came to this country on a stolen passport with a false name to avoid being drafted into Bismarck's army back in Prussia. Although he was Polish (which country didn't actually exist back then), the last place that he knew his father had lived before emigrating was Berlin where he supposedly worked for the Postal Service. He said that his dad's real last name was Fischer. He also said that his sisters didn't believe that story. I think that this story is pretty cool especially when you take into account that "Pruski" is the Polish word for Prussian and Berlin was the capitol of Prussia back then. I think that this makes me the descendent of an "illegal" immigrant if that story about the fake papers is correct. : )
The 1910 census lists him as having come to the US in 1880- so pre-Ellis Island. And grandpa said that his dad spoke about 7 different languages.
My mom's parents both came from Germany through Ellis Island in the mid-1920s so that I have the ships's documents and pictures from the Ellis Island web-site for them.
The 1910 census lists him as having come to the US in 1880- so pre-Ellis Island. And grandpa said that his dad spoke about 7 different languages.
My mom's parents both came from Germany through Ellis Island in the mid-1920s so that I have the ships's documents and pictures from the Ellis Island web-site for them.