A Big Decision – Why My Ancestors Came to America

Not having any documentation on why my ancestors came to the United States, it becomes guesswork. My maternal ancestors likely came either before or soon after the Revolution. I have not yet discovered who the first ancestors were. My mother’s ancestors were all in the south and as I research back, I start in Texas and work back east through all of the southern states until we hit Virginia. Records are sparse for most of the families.

Now my father’s side of the family are more recent immigrants, arriving in the United States during the 1800s. The Sullivans were the first, coming in 1860s. I have searched for the ship list but have not found it. Jeremiah and Mary Sullivan had eight children born in Ireland and one in Michigan. There is a nine-year gap, so they likely came before 1869, when Michael was born in Michigan. This was after the Great Famine. Jeremiah was a miner, so perhaps the mines were closing and the draw to the Upper Peninsula Michigan was a strong draw.

Johan Anton Hork was the first of that line to immigrate to the U.S. in 1870. His brother, Albert J Hork, came later in the 1870s and was a Catholic priest in Nebraska, Wisconsin, and Oregon. His sister, Clementine, came in 1891, accompanying her brother, Albert, and settled in Brooklyn. Johan Anton was a tailor and worked in many towns across the country. Clementine was a dressmaker. She might have come on the urging of her brothers.

Lastly, the John and Margaret Gleeson family came to the U.S. from Canada in 1879, settling in Dakota Territory. They likely came for land, as John, his sons, Martin and John J, and daughter, Ann, all received homestead land. Farming in the Dakotas was tough and the blizzards during the winter of 1888 finally drove the family to Mitchell to live, except Martin, who continued farming.

Like most immigrants to America, my ancestors likely made the decision to come to find a better life, and most did find better circumstances than they had in Europe or Canada. 

SS Belgenland of the Red Star Company Antwerp 1931
By Harry J. Jansen - https://www.belgian-art-gallery.be/en/aj-jansen/, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=96274949

#52Ancestors: Week 8 - A Big Decision

This is my ninth year working on this year-long prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow (https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/) at Generations Cafe. I write each week in one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or My Trails into the Past. I have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways.

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