On January 8th 1950, the S.S. Franconia left Cobh, Ireland for New York City. On the 18th of January, after 10 days below deck in steerage, my mom, at 2 years and 11 months, arrived in America with her mother, brother and sister.

Until the end of November, Ancestry.com is offering free access to their passenger list archives, which is how I found this stuff. Here’s the whole page of the manifest from the S.S. Franconia, showing Mary, 25, Teresa, 6, John 5, and Mary B., 2. And alongside that is a photo of the Franconia itself.

That’s not all I found. There were even some Rhubergs on these ships. About 3 years before my grandfather was born, his parents and older sister arrived in NY from Norway on the Hellig Olav. My great-grandfather Charles Rhuberg, his wife Hildur, and their 9 month-old daughter Gunvor landed in America on Sept. 6th, 1904. How come no one names their daughters Hildur or Gunvor anymore?

These archives include 140 years of passenger manifests from ships leaving the British Isles and entering ports along the eastern seaboard dating all the way back to 1820. If your relatives came over on a boat, you can find them here.
[Ancestry.com]

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