To follow up; it was 1913 and it was his cousin in Great Neck, NY that paid the $46.11 fee to an American passage agent and it also included transportation from NYC to Great Neck. I have a copy of the Receipt if anyone would like to e-mail me directly I can send or better yet it is posted on my paternal Grandfather's page on the KASMAUSKAS family tree on www.Ancestry.com . Dom. -----Original Message----- From: poland-roots-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:poland-roots-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Dominick G Kasmauskas Sent: Wednesday, May 28, 2008 10:13 AM To: poland-roots@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [POLAND] How Did They Get The Resources? My Lithuanian grandfather; from Tilsit, Kaliningrad to Bremen, Germany by train then by boat to NYC= $46.11 Dom. "Fire Sprinklers Are Green!" Save your building, save our environment. -----Original Message----- From: poland-roots-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:poland-roots-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of C Barnes Sent: Wednesday, May 28, 2008 9:32 AM To: poland-roots@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [POLAND] How Did They Get The Resources? I know how my Grandmothers came over. One her father sent her the money. She arrived in February and he married her off in April. The second Grandmother apparently was not being treated well in her home so her Aunt took one of her cows and sold it, gave her the money and sent her off to America as a Servant girl. They found the ways Michael Stupinski <stupnski@tiac.net> wrote: My brother and I exchanged emails the past two days on a subject I hadn't considered until he asked about it. Maybe someone here can comment on it. Here's the subject: It is 1882 and, as a resident of Southeastern Poland, you have decided to go to America to pursue your future. Unfortunately, you live in a small village and are poor. How much would it cost you (US currency stated at then-year dollars is the preferred economy) to get from your village to a seaport (by train, I would presume) and then to book passage (assume steerage) to America? By what means would you be likely to accumulate the money (assuming no rich uncle is around!)? The question seemed almost trivial when he first asked it but, based on the current cost of making that trip, it poses a dilemma. Wouldn't the cost to a peasant have been out of reach? ...........Mike ********************************* Need to contact the list manager? Write to Marie at Poland-Roots-admin@rootsweb.com ---------------------------------- Discussion of Polish food, culture, and customs are welcome on the list as long as the discussion stays pertinent to the topic of this list: researching our Polish roots. ---------------------------------- Browse the list's archives here: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index?list=poland-roots Search the list's archives here: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/search?aop=1 ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to POLAND-ROOTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ********************************* Need to contact the list manager? Write to Marie at Poland-Roots-admin@rootsweb.com ---------------------------------- Discussion of Polish food, culture, and customs are welcome on the list as long as the discussion stays pertinent to the topic of this list: researching our Polish roots. ---------------------------------- Browse the list's archives here: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index?list=poland-roots Search the list's archives here: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/search?aop=1 ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to POLAND-ROOTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ********************************* Need to contact the list manager? Write to Marie at Poland-Roots-admin@rootsweb.com ---------------------------------- Discussion of Polish food, culture, and customs are welcome on the list as long as the discussion stays pertinent to the topic of this list: researching our Polish roots. ---------------------------------- Browse the list's archives here: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index?list=poland-roots Search the list's archives here: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/search?aop=1 ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to POLAND-ROOTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Hi, Mike Stupinski asked: > It is 1882 and, as a resident of Southeastern > Poland, you have decided > to go to America to pursue your future. > Unfortunately, you live in a > small village and are poor. How much would it > cost you (US currency > stated at then-year dollars is the preferred > economy) to get from your > village to a seaport (by train, I would presume) > and then to book > passage (assume steerage) to America? By what > means would you be > likely to accumulate the money (assuming no rich > uncle is around!)? > > The question seemed almost trivial when he first > asked it but, based > on the current cost of making that trip, it > poses a dilemma. > Wouldn't the cost to a peasant have been out of > reach? Well, it wasn't easy. But when you feel something is a matter of life and death, you find a way. For a lot of people who emigrated, there really was no choice. They could stay put and starve, being ruled by foreign *!#s who never missed a chance to grind them down, or they could risk everything for a chance at a life worth living. As the poet said, "When you ain't got nothing, you got nothing to lose." Iwona Dakiniewicz wrote an article on "The Journey to America" in the Spring 2008 issue of _Rodziny_ (PGSA's Journal), and she talked a little about this. I don't think anyone would mind if I quote a few paragraphs: ========== The first obstacle to overcome was collecting the necessary sum of money: for the trip to the railroad station, then for train tickets, ship tickets, other expenses on the road, and a minimum to help them get off to a start in their new country. The total cost of the trip could range from 150 to over 200 marks or rubles, depending on where the trip began. How difficult it was to save the necessary funds is illustrated by the situation of a typical married couple living in a Prussian village with several children in the 1840s. Both husband and wife, employed in physical labor at the nearby manorial farmstead, could not hope to attain a combined income of more than 40 dollars annually (the equivalent of about 120 marks later). At the most, they could save perhaps 10 dollars a year. At first, several families would contribute to buy a single ticket to America, in the hope that the one chosen to go would quickly find work and repay the loan, thus providing financial assistance to those departing subsequently. As of the years 1888-1889, a ticket from Bremen to New York cost 150-200 rubles, or 120-200 Austrian crowns, and about the same amount in German marks. A trip from Poznan to Chicago cost 30 dollars in American money, by the rate of exchange at the time. The firm Red Star offered a competitive price: 21 dollars for a trip from the Prussian partition to many American ports. The Polish emigrant often had a tragic view of the price of ship tickets, for he was sure that they wanted to cheat him. Although the prices were fixed, he felt he would not waste the money and would be very cautious and frugal with it. ========== It seems to me Iwona researched this pretty well, and I think her observations are worth reading. Of course, if you want to read more, you can always join PGSA and get _Rodziny_, and Iwona's column, four times a year. (Oops, apparently I just made a shameless plug for one of the publications I edit. I am a naughty boy....) Fred Hoffman