My item is a picture of the manifest of the boat Westernland from the year 1891 when my great great grandfather, who was a Lithuanian Jew, sailed all the over to America to meet his older brother. A manifest is a large book kept in a boat to log down every single person riding the boat and is used a lot nowadays to help trace families' immigration back to places like Ellis Island where my great great grandfather came from. The pictures were obtained from ancestry.com when my father had decided to do some research to find out more about our family. These pictures are very important to us because it shows how our family was able to come to America all the way back in 1891 and make lives for their children, and their children's children. It represents our family's identity because we are able to understand the life of my 22 year old machinist great great grandfather who worked so hard to make a life with his older brother so that our family could be happy and not deal with prosecution or poverty. It really shows the Jewish-American dream of coming to America the land of opportunity “where the streets are paved with gold” and to be able to make a happy life for you and your family and all of those who come after. 

– EG

Relationship:  Great-grandchild of im/migrant or more Great-grandchild of im/migrant or more