In article <l03020902afb0835a3aa2@[199.224.69.221]>, rllewis@USA.NET writes... > >In many cases, I have seen someone write > > ">Those who immigrated in the early 1880's came to the coal mining area >>of central PA. Some then went to the Chicago area ..." > >Why? I know about the coal mines in central PA. But why there, or >Chicago? (As opposed to New York City, Baltimore, Cleveland, Detroit, or >somewhere else?) I *know* they went where there were jobs, but why *those* >jobs? Why *those* areas? > >Was there an organized effort? I know there was the effort to get >Polish/Russian Jews to enter the US through Galveston, TX, and then settle >in Texas, Colorado, etc. Was there such an effort in Galicia to assist >Polish Catholics? My grandfather-in-law KAMYKOWSKI came through Baltimore, >and moved to Minersville, PA. Why did he go through Baltimore, stay with a >family named JENKINS (doesn't sound like *they* were relatives), and move? >Why did his cousin enter Baltimore, and go directly to Chicago? ------------------------- There are several reasons why a family might have entered Baltimore. First, Baltimore was the first port of call on some ships out of Germany, through which most Galicians passed. Thus the fare was cheaper and the ride shorter. Second, it was said, though I have no proof, that the medical exam given to immigrants disembarking in Baltimore might have been a little more lax than in New York. (Tuberculosis was a big problem at the turn of the century.) Third, many US companies recruited for workers in the Austro- Hungarian empire, including Galicia and Slovakia. A few of these companies, notably Bethlehen Steel, arranged for passage to Baltimore. Fourth, Baltimore was known in Europe as the center of American Catholocism. In fact there was a network in Baltimore set up by the church to provide temporary accommodations to new immigrants. Don't automatically consider these people as "Good Samaritans", however -- they were well compensated for their efforts. Just a few random thoughts.... Joe