#52ancestors
Week 7: Immigration
(this one is about David's great-grandfather)
On a spring day in 1906, 24-year-old Adam Smygelski said
good-bye to his family and left his home village of Zaromb (Zareby Koscielne),
about 60 miles northeast of Warsaw, Poland.
He traveled about 500-600 miles to Hamburg,
Germany, where he boarded
the S.S. Amerika on May 23, ready to begin a new life in America. After a journey of more than 4000 miles, he
arrived in New York
on June 4, 1906. His final destination
was Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, possibly to the home of Frank
Paczewski, his mother’s half-brother.
By 1910, Adam was married and their first son was born in
September in New Jersey. Their next four children were born in New York between 1911 and 1919, and the last two children
were born in New Jersey
in 1921. Adam lived in New Jersey until his death in 1974 at age
91.
Adam had two younger sisters who also immigrated – Pauline
about 1909-1910 and Genevieve in 1914.
They had a brother, Boleslaw, who married in Poland
in 1906, so I think it is likely that he remained in Poland, but more research would be
necessary to prove it.
The coolest thing about visiting Ellis Island
was being in the main processing room and knowing that David’s ancestors had been
in this exact place!
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