Memorial puts a human face on immigrants

The former immigration hall often reveals family history long obscured.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
NEW YORK -- For the 5,000 would-be Americans who passed through these doors each day, Ellis Island was a place of both promise and trepidation. The lucky ones took their trunks and wicker baskets -- sometimes only a spare dress and pair of stockings -- and caught the boat to the promised land. Those plagued by illness or extreme poverty could be stuck here for months -- even sent home.
The immigration hall-turned-museum and national monument puts a touchingly human face on the 12 million who made their way through these halls between 1892 and 1924. Shipping posters, postcards, passports and audio tapes help visitors imagine the emotional roller coaster that earned Ellis Island its reputation as an "isle of hope, isle of tears."
But for those whose family members passed through on their journey from Europe, Canada, Australia, Mexico, Asia and the West Indies, Ellis Island often reveals family history long obscured.
"I found my grandmother's entry," said Celeste Wheeler of Pismo Beach, Calif., only a few minutes after trolling a computer for evidence of her namesake, Celestina Accatasio Zuffi.
Visitors' search
Wheeler knew her grandmother had entered the United States in the early 1900s through Ellis Island, but she didn't feel the impact, she said, until she actually visited the immigration hall-turned-museum.
"It's sort of like when the doctor told me I was pregnant," she said. "I didn't believe it until I had confirmation."
Visitors can easily run a quick search on computers on the museum's first floor. For those interested in in-depth research, the American Family Immigration History Center, opened in 2001, allows visitors to search and make copies of ship manifests, as well as other documents. (Some searches can also be done online at www.ellisisland.org.)
XEllis Island is open daily except Christmas. It is reached by ferry from Battery Park in Lower Manhattan; ticket cost $10. For more information, call (212) 363-3200 or visit www.nps.gov/elis on the Web.