Immigrants aboard Ship

This photograph, taken in about 1890, is of immigrants aboard a ship to the U.S. The journey was a long one, often on disease-laden ships. After landing on U.S. shores, immigrants began the task of creating their new livlihoods. 

"...my great-grandmother, came to America in 1844. Apparently they traveled on ships – theirs was a cholera-ridden ship and everybody was sick. She was only 8 years old. The ship docked in New Orleans, not on the East Coast. It came to New Orleans, and that’s where her mother and brother died. And her little sister went to live with another family and was never found again. They didn’t do follow-ups. The one remaining daughter and the father ended up in Cincinnati before moving west to Minnesota."- Lorraine Wels, New Ulm, 2011.