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News From America
My father came home tonight looking very sad. He had lost his job. The owner of the small shop he worked at was prejudice against us Russian Jews. As we were sitting at dinner, we received a letter from my uncle. My uncle traveled to America a few years back. Inside the letter was enough money for my family to travel to America. I have an older sister, who is 18, and a younger brother who is 13. I am 16 years old and my name is Anna Chapsky. My uncle had become very rich in America, it seemed. -
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Immigrating From Russia
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The Voyage
We boarded our ship to America today! It was quite crowded, but otherwise cozy, or so I thought. After a few hours on the sea, people began getting seasick. It smelled horrible. The food was anything but what my mother makes. My mother is an excellent kosher cook. One night, I woke up to find myself on the floor of the ship. I stood up and looked around. Suddenly, I was flung back onto the ground by the force of a terrible storm. The ship rocked for two days straight and was blown off course. -
A New Life
After our few days on Ellis Island, my family began looking for work. A sign for a sewing factory caught my eye. I ran inside and asked for a job. I told them how I had sewn all my life, because it was one of the daily duties of being a girl growing up as a Russian Jew. They agreed readily and I begin work tomorrow. -
Persecution
We were in our tenement, eating supper, when a mob of German Jews came to the door. They began yelling at us and gesturing towards the door. We didn't know what they were saying. They became impatient and began pushing us out the door, flinging our belongings into the street after us. We caught one phrase spoken in Russian. "Get out you Russian Jews! We don't like your type!" -
Moving West
After the incident with the Germans, people heard about us. They avoided us so they would not get into trouble with the German Jews. We were stranded in America and we had no way to contact my uncle, and nowhere to go. One day, my father was out looking for work when he saw a person who was shouting about how he got rich by mining in California. My father was very excited. He had always wanted his family to be rich. We used what little money we had to buy train tickets out west. -
Homestead Act
We never did get to California. We couldn't afford to get that far. Instead, we got off at a place that said "FREE LAND". We couldn't believe our eyes. My uncle had mentioned free land and something about a "Homestead Act" in his letter, but we did not believe him. He has been known to joke a few times. We got off at the station, and found ourselves in Minnesota. We had our land within a few days and began to make building plans. -
Railroads
My father discovered that a railroad was being built just six miles from our new home. He and my 14 year-old brother left to find a job. When they got back, they were working railroad builders. They pay was not much, but it was enough to provide seeds to plant crops. We were also planning to be farmers. -
Prarie Fire
This afternoon, my mother told me to go fetch water from the well. The well was not far from our home, and it was shared by our little community. I lowered the bucket in and began to pull up the water. As I was doing so, I happened to glance off into the horizon. I saw a strange orange glow. It was a prarie fire! I took off running, shouting and pointing, because my English is still poor. Thankfully, since our house is made of sod, it was not destroyed. However, our crops were ruined. -
Steel Plow
My father and brother slowly made more and more money as railroad workers. My father had heard about a city in Colorado Territory called "Denver". He took a trip with my brother there to see if they could bring home more supplies. In a small farming shop, he not only bought new seeds for next year's crops, but he also bought a fancy new steel plow. Next year, he joked, we would be able to harvest a mansion. -
Uncle Yury
Uncle Yury came to visit us in our new home this year. He brought gifts and told us about his experiances in America. He had accomplished his dreams by becoming a successful miner in California, and he was very rich. We told him about our first year in America. That week, we celebrated our first American Thanksgiving with Uncle Yury.
