The FrankfurtFrom 1892 to 1954, over twelve million immigrants entered the United States through Ellis Island although it was busiest in the period from 1892 until about 1924. The Ellis Island website is an interesting site to research any family members who came through Ellis Island when they came to the US. Searching on the site is amazingly quick and easy.

My grandmother, Pauline Benes, came to the US from the village of Petrovice in Bohemia (now the Czech Republic). She was only 13 years old when she sailed from Bremen, Germany aboard the Frankfurt (pictured above) bound for the US. Her mother, Anna Jursikova, had died 7 years before. Her father sent her to join her brother Willie who owned a bakery in Astoria, NY. She arrived at Ellis Island on April 11, 1901, exactly 96 years to the day before her great-grandson, Mikey, was born.