The prompt for 27 March 2016 is to tell a female ancestor’s immigration story.

March 27 — Do you know the immigration story of one or more female ancestors? Do you have any passenger lists, passports, or other documentation? Interesting family stories?

[Note: This post originally ran during the Fearless Females series in March 2010]

The immigration story of my grandmother Verona was what prompted me to begin my genealogical research. She was the last of her siblings to immigrate to America, arriving at age 22 with her niece Mary, who was 16.

Verona Straka and Mary Straka

She was detained for several days at Ellis Island for medical reasons. I wrote about her experience in my March 19th “Fearless Females” post, “Have you discovered a surprising fact about one of your female ancestors? ” and posted an image of the ship’s manifest that documented she was detained.

Copyright 2016, Lisa A. Alzo
All Rights Reserved

The prompt for 9 March focuses on family documents for a female ancestor.

March 9 — Take a family document (baptismal certificate, passenger list, naturalization petition, etc.) and write a brief narrative using the information.


[Note: This post originally ran during the Fearless Females series in March 2010]


This is my grandmother’s baptismal certificate (1899, Lutina, Slovakia).

and the passenger list showing her arrival at Ellis Island in New York in 1922.

Verona Straka was born on November 11, 1899 in Milpos, (Hungrary, later Slovakia) to Maria Verbovsky and Andrej Straka.  On July 26, 1922, Verona, along with countless other immigrants, boarded the S.S. Orduna, which left the port of Hamburg, Germany for the United States. When she arrived at Ellis Island, NY on August 7, 1922, she was listed on the ship’s manifest as a “laborer” with $25 in pocket her pocket en route to her final destination—her sister’s house, in Duquesne, Pennsylvania.

Copyright, 2016, Lisa A. Alzo
All rights reserved