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Birth and childhood
My name is Sarah Baker i was born on august 11th 1833 and i was 11 years old when my family decided to immigrate to Angel Island. My parents made the choice to immigrate in search of nigger and better land. I grew up in Germany and was homeschooled. I have 3 younger siblings and 4 older ones. Our house was always crowded and rooms had to be shared. The immigration enabled us to have a bigger place to fit our whole family -
The transition
The move took place on March 13th 1844. I rememer placing my last belonging into my suitcase and picturing what my new life would be like. A bigger house, my own room. It all seemed perfect. We gathered the family (every last one of them) and crammed onto a train. The ride was rough, but the excitement took over. -
The approchal
As we approached the island the train started to get slower and slower until it reached a complete stop.Us kids ran to the exit and all tried to squeeze through the door way, but discovered the hard way that we had to exit one by one. The expression on my sliblings faces made the moment all the better -
The ride
The trip took a total of 2 weeks.Every day that passed led to more curiousity for the whole family. My little brother got sick on the ride but quickly recovered back to normal. As we approached Angel Island the excitement took over me! I was looking forward to starting our new life as a family. -
New life
We have lived at Angel Island for about a year now and life couldn't be any better. Our land is bigger for crops and and our house is bigger for the family. The move definatly took a toll on the patience of my little siblings, but to us older ones, It was totally worth it. Because in the long run we all got our own rooms out of it. My parents were able to get good jobs and still provide for all of us kids. Immigrant life was great! :)
