Immigrants Deported
by Rhonda R. McClure

(This is an excert from the "Resource Cabinet," a column in Heritage Quest Magazine.  To find out more, please visit the Heritage Quest web site.) 

Q: My uncle claims that my grandmother (his mother) emigrated to the United States only to be denied entry to the U.S. at Ellis Island because she had "bumps" on her neck. It is thought that she returned to her homeland of Poland (Austro-Hungary at the time) or from whence she departed on whatever vessel she was on-board. It was decided to try another port of entry, where inspections were not as strict. Records show she departed Antrwerp, Belgium for her return trip to the U.S. on the S.S. Marquette, which arrived at Philadelphia and then Boston on November 29, 1909, where she was accepted into the U.S. My question to you: Does this scenario sound true to you for that time frame? Would there be a record of her arrival at Ellis Island for the first attempt? What kind of record my that be? Also, believing that she did not have much money, was age 19, and did not re-enter the U.S. with any member of her family, what might have happened between the time she was first denied entry to the U.S. and her later return? Is it likely she returned to Poland? She probably didn't have enough money for a second trip. Would they charge her twice? Where would you look for passenger records of her first voyage? 

                                                                                                                 L. G.

A: In answer to your main question, yes, the scenario could very well have taken place. Immigrants were sometimes detained at Ellis Island if the person they were meeting did not come to pick them up, or if they were sick. And depending on the illness they were either admitted to the hospital at Ellis Island or they were deported.

While you did not supply me with the name of your grandmother, you did supply enough information in which I was able to determine that she was the Helena GORATOWSKA who is listed on the S.S. Marquette that did arrive in Boston on 29 Nov 1909. In reading her entry on the passenger lists, while she did not travel with any of her apparent family, it appears that she did travel with a friend. She is listed next to one Thekla MRUK who was 17 years old and came from the same town, Mosrcsenica in Galicia.  Both Helena and Thekla also were going to the same area in the United States —Central Falls, Rhode Island. Thekla was going to her brother-in-law's and Helena was going to meet her brother, Antoni GORATOWKSA. Of particular note in regards to her earlier attempt to enter the United States, is her place of last permanent residence. On the passenger list for Boston, she lists that place as Mosrcsenica, Galicia. This would lead me to believe that this is where she was coming from when she entered the country in November, 1909.

Once I knew her name and a little more about her, I turned my attention to the Soundex Index to Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, July 1, 1902 - December 31, 1943. While this is National Archives microform T621, it is also available through your local Family History Center.  This soundex works the same as soundexes used in census records.  I determined that GORATOWSKA carried the soundex code of G632.

A search of the soundex revealed a card that had the following information:

Goratowska, Helena               26               9               Vaterland               Feb 25 09

The various systems used in indexing the New York passenger lists have resulted in a number of different index cards. For instance, the cards from 1897-1902 look quite different from the ones from 1903-1910. And even within the various date ranges there are different styles. At first glance you could assume that the 26 next to Helena's name was her age. And this would be incorrect. For this particular index card, it includes the name of the passenger, the group number (which is actually the manifest number), the line number, the name of the ship and the date of arrival.

So with this information, I knew that I was looking for Helena on the S.S. Vaterland that arrived at Ellis Island on 25 Feb 1909, and that Helena should be on manifest page number 26 and be found on line 9 of that page.

A search of this passenger list did reveal Helena GORATOWSKA, then aged 18.  And next to her name was stamped "deported." There were a number of reasons that a person could be deported. It could be health related or socially related.

Of particular interest while I was researching this was a female immigrant that was traveling alone and did not have a male relative or friend to call for them.  A woman such as this would be detained. There was concern that the female immigrant would be detained until either a male relative or friend came to call for them. Additionally if an immigrant was a pauper or likely to require public support (what we now refer to as Welfare) there was a good chance that they would be turned away. 

In the passenger lists, at the end of the actual lists of passengers there are two different forms. One deals with those who had to go through a Board of Inquiry.  The other is a list of those who were detained.  I found Helena GORATOWSKA listed under those who had to go through a Board of Inquiry.  While it did not detail what was wrong with her, it did show that she had been detained because of a medical certificate. And that the board determined on 26 Feb 1909 that she would be deported. She remained on Ellis Island until the S.S. Vaterland left on 2 Mar 1909. She was fed 5 breakfasts, 6 lunches, and 5 dinners.

An interesting side note to this was the fact that the shipping line that brought the immigrant was charged for the housing and feeding of the immigrant that was to be deported. And the cost for the trip home was also taken out of the pocket of the shipping line.  In this case, the S.S. Vaterland was one of the Red Star line ships. The page with Helena's information is extremely difficult to read. It is blurred and the ink has lightened. It appeared next to Med. Cert. on her passenger list it said "Med cert — cer Inflame of" which could be construed as inflammation of the cervical (or neck) area. This would coincide with what your uncle told you.

When Helena went through Ellis Island, it was under the direction of William Williams. He had been appointed in 1909 by the newly elected president William Howard Taft. Williams had already had one tour as commissioner at Ellis Island, leaving in 1904 to return to his medical practice. In 1907 over one million immigrants had gone through Ellis Island. And at the onset of his second tour as commissioner, Williams was concerned over tightening up the restrictions of unqualified immigrants. So it is possible that the bumps on your grandmother's neck kept her out because of these heightened restrictions. In addition to medical reasons, he often denied entry to those who came to American with less than $25 with them.

It is interesting to read the questions asked of immigrants on the manifest sheets.  These sheets recorded answers to questions about health, legal and financial status. In addition, after the 1903 assassination of President McKinley, an act of Congress required that a category be included to find out if anyone entering the country was an anarchist.

Helena's first trip to America probably went something like this. At Antwerp, she was examined. Because the steamship line had to pay for the food of the individual, and their return trip they were careful. However, William Williams also instituted a $100 fine if anyone was allowed on board with a communicable disease. So they did go through an investigation at the debarkation point, then when they docked another inspection, where a doctor would come on board. He mainly checked over the first and second class passengers, who would then be allowed to pass through Customs and then into the country. It was the steerage passengers that were required to go through the examinations at Ellis Island. The steerage class would then be put onto barges and transported to Ellis Island. Depending on how busy things were it was possible for them to remain on the barges for a couple of days.

Once on Ellis Island, the first stop was the baggage room. They would leave their belongings here.  Then they would climb the stairs to the registry office. While they climbed the stairs doctors were watching them for lameness and problems in breathing. In the registry room, the immigrant would go through a short physical examination. This usually lasted about 2-3 minutes. If a problem was noted here, then the individual was taken to an area of wire compartments for further testing. Some would be sent to the quarantine at the hospital. And still others would be automatically deported.

If an immigrant failed the medical, mental, or legal tests, they could appear to the Board of Special Inquiry. This board was made up on three men. There was a preliminary hearing with just the immigrant, and then the board would hear from the friends, family or a legal representative for the immigrant. If only two fo the three members voted for deportation, then the immigrant could appeal to the commissioner general. While 20 percent had to go through this process, only about two percent were actually deported in the end.

It is possible that what ever "bumps" were on your grandmother's neck when she went through Ellis Island were no longer an issue when she came back through the port of Boston. However since William Williams had instituted more rigid restrictions, it is possible that had she gone through Boston originally that she would have been allowed to enter the United States the first time.