This will be the first of several blog posts that stem from this visit. It is an incredibly inspiring place and the faith and determination of the people who traveled through its doors are amazing.
We purchased the audio tour because I’ve found that there is usually so much wonderful information on these soundtracks, often including the testimony of actual people. On this audio tour there was the voice of a Russian immigrant who (in the course of the discussion of the inspection of immigrants) said, “if they refused me, there was no way I was going back to Russia. I’d rather throw myself over the side [of the returning ship] and die in the deep of the ocean than return to Russia.”
This man’s comment really got me to thinking about how much faith these people must have had, who attempted this journey, and how very deplorable their homeland situation must have been. They trusted God that America held a promise of a brighter future, and that He would see them safely across the Atlantic to begin a new life.
A National Park Service Ranger who introduced a 45-minute documentary that we watched, helped us to understand how much had to be left behind and what was likely brought forward to the new homeland of these immigrants. Picture everything of importance that you could carry in one suitcase, one basket, one bedroll, and maybe the equivalent of a backpack. Now walk from Ellis Island at Liberty State Park to Philadelphia. You’ll quickly determine what REALLY is the most important stuff. Grandma’s candlesticks? Gone, left on the NJ Turnpike. The family Bible? Yeah…they probably managed to carry that.
That would have been the most likely type of experience of many immigrants. People walked and carried their most prized possessions for many, many miles from villages and towns all across Europe and Russia to ports with passenger lines to America. They had to have the fee for their passage and $25 per person to enter America. It took years to save up that kind of money, so most didn’t have the extra money necessary to get transportation to their port of departure. The Ranger told us that some people were so poor they carried empty suitcases so their neighbors wouldn’t know how little they had when they left and the steamer company wouldn’t turn them away for the chance of being turned back at Ellis Island for being so poor as to be “a potential burden on society.”
Think about the millions of people who came to this country through Ellis Island. What a challenge it was! Think how bad it must have been at home to brave this experience! The adversity they faced in their flight to a new life! The scariness of the unknown! Think of the faith they put in God to get them here safely and to connect with someone who could help them get their feet on the ground and make a future here.
I don’t think most people could have survived this trip and the challenges they faced upon arrival without a deep faith in God.
I was awed, inspired, and more appreciative of my own country where I can worship as I please. If you haven’t been to Ellis Island, take a vacation day and go. You’ll need about three hours to tour the Main Building and do it justice. The other buildings are not currently open to the public. We’ve got a national treasure in our own back yard (actually lots of them). It will stir your soul and deepen your faith.
Then come to worship and thank God for all that you have.
Summer Worship at St. Andrew, 9:30 am on Sundays
Do you have a relative who came to America through Ellis Island? What story do they tell you of the adversity they faced in this experience?
