My Trip To America - Annie's Journal of her 1947 Trip to NY - A New Quest All Its Own

L-R Back Uncle Frank (who had the journal), Denise, Aunt Jeanette (who died very young)
Front:  Rose and Annie (author of the journal), Joan (a cousin from the US) and Evelyn

Before David W provided Denise and I with the 1901 Census, we received a gift from her Grandmother, Annie, daughter of Sarah.  Annie and her sister, Rose, came to visit family in the US in 1947 and created a charming 15 page typed journal to document the trip.  The journal was found while going through the papers of her uncle after he died and a copy was given to Denise, which she excitedly shared with me.

The journal recounts Annie's experiences on her cruise over and back on the Queen Elizabeth, as well as all of her visits with various family members and sightseeing in many areas in and around NYC.  Annie and Rose visited all of their first cousins on their maternal Olshanitsky line, apparently a number of paternal relatives and also attended a wedding here.   Her observations of life in America made me smile.  In her first entry after arriving she describes what greeted her, "What a thrill to see all the lights - shall never forget first glimpse of the skyscrapers - couldn't see the Statue of Liberty as it was too dark, but saw the lighted torch."  How many of our ancestors, after such a long and dangerous trip, were so relieved and excited when they too first laid eyes on our Lady Liberty??!!  She continues, "Just like fairyland to see all the brilliantly lighted buildings and highways."  On her third day after arriving she admits, "Feeling very very envious of the Americans.  Plenty of everything - shops full."  You will note that this was just a few years after the end of WWII and London where they lived was ravaged by attacks during that war.

Annie and Rose, Denise's grandmother and great-aunt, stayed with my grandparents on this visit.  My great-grandmother Jennie and her husband's brother's widow, another Jennie, spent quite a bit of time with them, including a number of visits with the family of sister Rachael.  I created a spreadsheet of every reference to a person mentioned in the journal and set about trying to put them all into place in the family.  This is when it was obvious there was another sister and a clear picture of Rachael's family finally started to emerge.   Using the journal information as a basis, I searched through census records on Ancestry.com and was able to find the family of her Aunt Rachael and piece together some history of that line of the Olshanitsky sisters.  As it turns out, two of the Olshanitsky sisters emigrated to the US while the other four siblings remained in the UK.  Rachael had three children and we were able to find the families of two of them but one daughter remained elusive for some time.  Finally, we came full circle when we were able to trace the entire family on geni.com, another website that was instrumental in my early research.  Ultimately, we made contact with Rachael's descendants through Facebook and continue to communicate but have yet to meet in person.

Annie's journal will be mentioned in later blogs as it provided some additional insight and leads to more discoveries of the family of Jennie's husband, Abraham, my great-grandfather.  Two events from the journal demand to be shared here.

In the late 1980's I had the opportunity to spend some time with Denise's family while working in London.  I would extend my trips across weekends and her parents would pick me up and take me out sightseeing or to their home for visits.  Particularly memorable were visits with Aunt Rose (the sister who accompanied Annie on her trip) and a Rosh Hashanah dinner with the family.  Denise's Mum Evelyn shared many stories and pictures with me.  A story she told has always resounded in my mind.  She said that my Grandmother was very good to them by providing assistance to the family during the war.  She apparently sent many care packages to them throughout that bleak period.  In particular, Evelyn recalled that Grandma sent them hosiery that they were able to sell to buy food.  I was always very proud of my Grandmother for her generosity as she was a foster mother to many and in her 50's secured her first and only employment as a cottage parent in a center for the mentally retarded here in Miami.  (She also first learned to drive at the time which was very scary for the rest of us!)  In the journal, Annie writes that Rose and my Grandmother went "to town on business" and returned to relate that "business very satisfactory - we're pleased." Denise helped to explain this by sharing a family story that in gratitude for her assistance during their times of need during the war, Annie and Rose brought a diamond for Claire which they apparently sold that day.

And what of the wedding?  I have a family Facebook group where I posed the question to the members.  My Mom's first cousin, Enid, was able to shed some light there.  Enid's father was Jennie's son, Ralph.  As it turns out, her mother, Tillie's cousin was stationed in London during the war.  Enid's mother put him in touch with Annie and Rose and they became very close in those days.  He was getting married upon his return to the US and invited Annie and Rose to attend, which they obliged.  Enid was just a little girl but recalls the wedding very well and how they danced all night.  I have since found the marriage certificate for the couple whose wedding they attended.  Someday, maybe I'll be able to find their descendants and share the journal which describes the wedding in such detail with awe.

I will probably share more quotes from the journal in a later blog as it mentions so many historic places and events in New York City.  Still have a few names yet to place from my spreadsheet including some of those we believe are from Annie's father's family.  But for now, I believe I have done well to share the spirit of the journal of a young woman who ventured across the pond for the experience of a lifetime and, certainly unbeknownst to her at the time, left behind a map to reunite a family.

Come sail away, come sail away, come sail away with me... 


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Genealogical Research Tips:

Scour through the papers of your family - you never know what you might find.  Ask them if they saved any souvenirs from past events that they might share.

Ancestry.com and familysearch.org both have many census records.  Only familysearch.org has the 1905 NYC census, which could hold information not found later.  Search both sites as they were indexed independently and sometimes you will get a hit on one and not the other depending on how the writing was transcribed.  Perform wildcard searches with partial names using the most like combinations to not be confused.  I even found Jennie's marriage record in NYC indexed on familysearch.org.  Persistence pays!!

Geni.com has a lot of information on it, primarily provided by family members for the more recent generations.  The living are not protected as much as on Ancestry trees.  I have found many relatives and entire lines on there.  They have changed their model though.  Now that my tree is very large, I cannot add anyone else for free and searching has become problematic.  A new member might have a better experience with it.