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With the weather warming up, it’s time for genealogy trips.
My favorite is a visit to New York City, where the first member of my mother’s paternal line to come to Wyoming Valley lived after his Civil War service and before moving here.
For many other people, New York City is key because they had ancestors among the millions of immigrants who passed through Ellis Island between 1892 and 1954. In fact, Ellis Island is the starting point for many American families.
Today, Ellis Island holds much information about the immigrants who landed there. That information may be accessed onsite or online. Viewing your material onsite should be more fun because you can visit the island’s immigration museum. I’ve been moved by sight of steamer trunks, clothing, Bibles, photos, letters and other materials, much of it donated by families.
Since the havoc of Superstorm Sandy in 2012, renovations have opened up the other buildings on the island, increasing a visitor’s sense of the immigrant experience.
Ellis Island, located just off the southern tip of Manhattan, is accessible by ferry.
Since the nearby Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island are part of the same organization, go to www.statueofliberty.org/ellis-island.
Hint: I would not try to package a visit to the statue with a visit to Ellis Island if you are planning to get the full experience. Make separate trips.
If you’d like living history experience, visit the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, at Broome and Orchard streets in Lower Manhattan. This fun place offers (by advance reservation) group tours of historically furnished apartments occupied by different waves of immigrants from the 1860s to mid-20th century and also neighborhood walking tours.
The bookstore offers volumes that include studies of ethnic groups and ways of life in New York City during the prime immigration years. Informative previews and even some tours themselves are available online.
Go to www.tenement.org.
To research specific ancestors who have lived in New York City, visit the New York Historical Society at 170 Central Park West. The admission fee gives you access to the research library, which has a massive collection of city directories for New York City and other historical research materials.
Since the site is also a museum, you’ll enjoy viewing the extensive collection of historic artifacts, including furniture and clothing, that show you what life was like for people in the city generations ago.
To get to Manhattan, Martz bus of Wilkes-Barre offers inexpensive daily round trips to and from Port Authority. For travel within Manhattan, familiarize yourself with the city bus and subway systems at www.mta.info/guides. To access rides, tap your credit or bank card or smartphone or buy a Metro Card. Carry a street map on paper or on your phone.
Luzerne County Historical Society Update: Leaders of the Luzerne County Historical Society say the future looks bright for the former St. Cecelia’s Church, in Exeter, which the organization recently purchased. Plans include an event space, exhibits and a research library. There is also a parking lot.
Some restoration work must be done on the building. The society recently held a giveaway of the pews.
The organization, housed for many years in two 19th-century buildings in downtown Wilkes-Barre, has long desired more space for its operations and public events.
The presentation was made by chair and vice-chair of the Historical Society Will Conyngham and Carol Lavery before the Exeter Borough Council.
The historical society is a major repository for local historical and biographical material, including a massive collection of local family trees.
Tom Mooney is a Times Leader genealogy writer. Reach him at [email protected]