We are All Immigrants

Daniel Gilbert is my great-great grandfather.  His mother, Sarah Choules Gilbert, heard the Mormon missionaries preaching near her small town of East Grafton, England and after more investigation, decided she had found truth. She was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and began her quest to go to America. This was not easy. The Gilberts were poor and had a […]

Sarah Choules Gilbert is my great great great grandmother. The story of her family’s immigration to America is similar to many other immigration stories. Sarah and her family came to the United States one by one, bit by bit. Sarah’s desire to come to America began one day on a walk home from working as a laundress in Wiltshire, England. She convinced her friend to […]

“A decade ago, one of the finest women I have ever known left a turbulent world for a well earned rest, her eternal sleep. She was my mother-in-law- “Grandmere.” Her life was one, full to the brim; with love for her fellowman, and a cheerful and kindly word for all who knew her. For her family, her life was one of love and sacrifice, that […]

Lydia Mary Ballard Goodsell Catt wanted to go to America. She wanted to go to Zion. In this case, the Utah Territory. She wanted to dwell with the Saints–the members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a church she had joined many years earlier.  Her youngest son, Alfred, had already emigrated from England in 1864 when he was 13. Some of her […]

Daisie Stout was born August 23, 1884 in Rockville, Utah. She was a natural born United States citizen and yet before she reached even the middle of her life, she had been a refugee. She had lived in a government issued tent working tirelessly to barely subsist in order to keep herself and her family safe and fed. Daisie grew up in Utah, but then […]

My story of immigrating to the U.S. begins in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada when, at 13 years of age, I chose to join The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In 1977, my parents, my brother and I joined this church, and I became determined to attend Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah because it was a church school. Because of my strong commitment to God and to […]

“As the great passenger liner, the MS Oslofjord majestically sailed past the Statue of Liberty and into the New York Harbor on August 1, 1950, I, as a seventeen-year-old lad, stood on the deck with my parents and younger sister gaping at the awesome sight of the famous statue and the great skyline.  It was like a dream true, because this was something I had […]

Leo(Levi) Kersch and Tzvia Diamond were both born in Kiev, Russia. Together they emigrated to Canada in 1892 and then on to the United States of America, specifically Minnesota in 1895. There is no documentation of where the Kersch family traveled from in England, or what port they may have entered in Canada, but their first born son, Harry, was born in Mordin, Mannatoba in 1893 and […]

“Diversity is what makes America great to me.” My story coming to the states is probably different than that of most people who have had to emigrate due to extenuating circumstances, which has been the case of many dear friends of mine. Personally, education was the reason for me to come. I am a college student who decided to come and learn from this country’s […]

Israel Goldfarb was born the eighth child of Herschel Goldfarb and Luba Friedman on December 25, 1912 in Novograd, Russia. Between the early 1800’s – 1920’s, one half million Jews immigrated to the United States. Pogroms, anti-jewish riots and killings were often conducted to flush out Jews. This violence was particularly intense where the Goldfarbs lived in Novograd. They decided to make the voyage to […]