This is a branch of the Immigration Project. We wrote this story on our own subject instead of the the subject of our documentary. My story is about my great, great, grandmother, as told by my great aunt.
Writing this story was a challenge for me because my subject is long dead. I had to interview my great aunt, who knew the most about the story, did not know much at all. I had to do research to find out things that were happening at the time of my great, great grandmothers immigration and make it interesting. Although it was a struggle, I enjoyed learning about my family's history and writing about it.
Immigration Story
The year was 1892. Ellis Island had just opened.
The Zuehlke family had decided to leave Danzig, Germany to come to the United States. The Zuehlke family consisted of Anna Marie Magdeline Zuehlke, who was two years old when they left Germany. Anna Marie had four siblings. Elizabeth Zuehlke, who was eleven upon leaving, Theresa Amanda Zuehlke, who was three, Felix Zuehlke, who was three months, and Carl William Silkey, who was born after two years of residence in the United States. The father, William Zuehlke, was 36, and the mother, Anna Schmaide, was 37.
The Zuehlkes left on a steamship named Stuttgart from a port in Bremen, Germany. The Stuttgart took a total of thirteen trips, one to Singapore, two to Montevideo, eight to Baltimore, one to New York, and one to Rio de Janeiro. The Zuehlkes were on board for the tenth trip, and the port of arrival of the steamship was Baltimore, Maryland and had to make their own way to Iowa.
The Statue of Liberty had been built just 4 years before the Zuelkes arrived. Ellis Island had just opened when the Zuelkes checked in and it was quite busy. In between 1892 and 1924 over 12,000,000 people entered the United States through Ellis Island, and on the busiest day, April 17, 1907, Ellis Island officials processed 11,747 immigrants that went through Ellis Island that day. And 5,000 to 10,000 people were shuttled through a day.
The Zuehlkes arrived at Ellis Island on June 15, 1892. When they were registered to the United States as immigrants, Ellis Island had them change their last name from Zuehlke to Silkey. They made them change their name because people in the United States had trouble pronouncing foreign names. So Anna Marie Magdeline Zuehlke was now Anna Marie Magdeline Silkey.
The now Silkeys, went through quite a lot of different states trying to get to their destination. The states were Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Missouri. They ended up settling and living in each state for awhile, before finally settling in Iowa. Where on December 10, 1894 Carl William Silkey was born into the family. On the way to Iowa in order to make money for her family, Anna Marie Magdeline “Zuehlke” Silkey worked as a cook on a wagon train. On her journey, Anna Marie Magdeline “Zuehlke” Silkey met Samuel Eugene Brown, and they were then married on October 1, 1910, in Kansas City, Kansas. Anna Marie Magdeline “Zuehlke” Silkey and Samuel Eugene Brown had a sixty year marriage with two children, Marie Theresa and Harold Eugene.
Anna Marie’s Husband, Samuel Eugene Brown owned a gas station in Kansas City, Missouri in 1931, where their son, Harold Eugene worked for him. In 1935, Anna and Samuel came to California to take residence. They settled in Inglewood and bought 2 chicken ranches. Harold Eugene came to live with them later. Harold eventually met Dorothy Elizabeth “Bettye”, whom he married and had a very happy life with until he died in 2003. Dorothy Elizabeth “Bettye” lived to be 95 years old and died in 2015. Anna Marie died in 1984 and Samuel died in 1971.