Genealogical Library

Immigration/Ellis island


Those wishing to search the Ellis Island database using Steve Morse's amazing tools should
be aware that they are located at www.stevemorse.org. Please update your bookmarks!

Ancestry Daily News and Ancestry Weekly Journal links may no be longer active,
so if there's an article you'd like to see, email us and we'll re-post it with a fresh link.

  • March 21, 2023 - EchoLIVE.ie - "Man related to Cork's Annie Moore writes musical about lives of immigrant women" by Colette Sheridan
  • March 21, 2023 - Medium - "Captured in Time: Nameless English Singing Girls upon Arrival in America in 1890" by Megan Smolenyak
  • March 17, 2023 - CNN - "Her name is on a pub, a boat and an AI platform. But what happened to the Irish teen who arrived at Ellis Island in 1892?" by Catherine E. Shoichet
  • February 17, 2023 - Irish Star - "Annie Moore: The first immigrant processed at Ellis Island and her life after arriving" by Brian Dillon
  • February 13, 2023 - Medium - "Captured in Time: Syrian Immigrant Sultana Numeir upon Arrival in America in 1890" by Megan Smolenyak
  • April 6, 2022 - Medium - "Captured in Time: The Immigrant Lillicrap Family upon Arrival in America in 1890" by Megan Smolenyak
  • March 25, 2022 - Medium - "Captured in Time: 8-Year-Old Percy Hemingway upon Arrival in America in 1890" by Megan Smolenyak
  • April 14, 2021 - Irish America - "Happy 20th Anniversary, Ellis Island Immigrant Database!" by Megan Smolenyak
  • April 14, 2021 - Medium - "Happy 20th Anniversary, Ellis Island Immigrant Database!" by Megan Smolenyak
  • January 22, 2021 - The Huffington Post - "How Sen. Jon Ossoff Paid Tribute To His Jewish Ancestors As He Was Sworn In" by Carol Kuruvilla
  • January 22, 2021 - The Jerusalem Post - "Jon Ossoff had a totem of his heritage in his pocket while joining Senate" by Philissa Cramer
  • December 21, 2020 - Medium - "Solving the Mystery of Arne Pettersen, the Last to Leave Ellis Island" by Megan Smolenyak
  • April 24, 2019 - The New Yorker - "The Democratic Presidential Candidate Eager to Challenge Trump on Immigration"
  • August 21, 2018 - Tampa Bay Times - "Immigration hardliner Ron DeSantis’ great-great-grandmother was nearly barred from America" by Steve Contorno
  • August 12, 2018 - Medium - "The Revolving Door Citizenship of Tomi Lahren’s Great-Great-Grandfather" by Megan Smolenyak
  • July 31, 2018 - Medium - "Meet Your Great-Great-Grandmother, Ron DeSantis" by Megan Smolenyak
  • June 21, 2018 - Irish Central - "Think your ancestors came here legally and 'waited their turn'? Think again" by Sheila Langan
  • June 21, 2018 - Huffington Post - "Trump Aide Stephen Miller, Meet Your Great-Grandfather, Who Flunked His Naturalization Test" by Lisa Belkin
  • June 20, 2018 - Yahoo News - "Trump aide Stephen Miller, meet your great-grandfather, who flunked his naturalization test" by Lisa Belkin
  • May 27, 2018 - Medium - "Why #WhereAreTheChildren Is Personal to Joaquín Castro" by Megan Smolenyak
  • May 11, 2018 - NBC Washington - "#HeyJohnKelly: Trump Chief of Staff Takes Heat Over Assimilation Comments" by Noreen O'Donnell
  • April 26, 2018 - Medium - "Why Hasn’t Devin Nunes Assimilated Yet?" by Megan Smolenyak
  • April 14, 2018 - Medium - "On the Prowl for Bruce Springsteen’s Irish Roots" by Megan Smolenyak
  • April 7, 2018 - The Roanoke Times - "CASEY: How would Rep. Bob Goodlatte's immigrant ancestor have fared under immigration reform?" By Dan Casey
  • March 21, 2018 - Medium - "Why Are Children and Grandchildren of Immigrants So Eager to Keep Immigrants Out?" (Rep. Bob Goodlatte) by Megan Smolenyak
  • February 13, 2018 - Medium - "Chain Migration: What’s Changed?" by Megan Smolenyak
  • December 31, 2016 - The Huffington Post - "125th Anniversary of Annie Moore and Ellis Island Reminds Us Why We Should Welcome Immigrants" by Megan Smolenyak
  • April/May 2016 - Irish America Magazine - Digital Edition [Pages 76 - 78] - "Annie Moore's Long Lost Irish Cousins" by Megan Smolenyak
  • March 30, 2016 - Megan Smolenyak YouTube Channel - "Annie Moore, 1st to arrive at Ellis Island, serenaded by her Irish cousin, tenor Paul Linehan" by Megan Smolenyak


  • March 30, 2016 - Irish America - "Celebrating the 2016 Irish America Hall of Fame" by Adam Farley
  • March 30, 2016 - The New York Times - "A New Verse in the Ballad of Ellis Island's First Immigrant" by Sam Roberts
  • October 26, 2015 - Huffington Post - "Best-Selling Author Lisa See Offers Valuable Chinese-American Genealogy Resource" by Megan Smolenyak
  • May 20, 2015 - Huffington Post - "Multi-Layered Celebration at Ellis Island" by Megan Smolenyak
  • January 23, 2014 - Irish Fireside - "The Best Genealogy Websites for Finding Your Irish Roots" by Megan Smolenyak
  • January 12, 2014 - The Post-Standard - "111-year-old Syracuse Irish woman the longest-living person in Irish history" by Sean Kirst
  • January 9, 2014 - Irish Central - "The longest-lived person ever born in Ireland? Kathleen Snavely, 111, here in greater Syracuse" by Sheila Langan
  • March 13, 2013 - The Kerryman - "A letter from America gets a reply - 29 years on!" by Dónal Nolan
    Read this article in PDF formatPDF
  • March 5, 2013 - Huffington Post - "Letter to Ireland Answered -- 28 Years Later" by Megan Smolenyak
  • December 17, 2012 - Huffington Post - "How You Can Help Ellis Island Rise Above the Waters" by Megan Smolenyak
  • October 28, 2011 - Huffington Post article - "Statue of Liberty: A Look Back On Her 125th Birthday" by Megan Smolenyak
  • October 3, 2011 - Huffington Post article - "Seeds of a Trans-Atlantic Reunion" by Megan Smolenyak
  • April 15, 2011 - Huffington Post article - "2011 Ellis Island Family Heritage Awards" by Megan Smolenyak
  • December 16, 2010 - Huffington Post article - "Steven Tyler: I've Got a Crush on Steven Tyler's Grandfather" by Megan Smolenyak
  • August 18, 2010 - Huffington Post article - "Following the Trail of the Oldest Living Irishwoman" by Megan Smolenyak
  • May 21, 2010 - Huffington Post article - "Bret Michaels: The Rusyn Roots of the Rock of Love" by Megan Smolenyak
  • May 11, 2010 - Huffington Post article - "Annie Moore and Bruce Springsteen: Living the Dream" by Megan Smolenyak

  • Bruce Springsteen
    at Ellis Island Family Heritage Awards

  • April 22, 2010 - Huffington Post article - "2010 Ellis Island Awards: A Useful Reminder of the American Dream" by Megan Smolenyak
  • March 8, 2010 - Huffington Post article - "120 Years of Smolenyaks in America: A Note of Gratitude from a Great-Granddaughter" by Megan Smolenyak
  • October 15, 2008 - The Irish Echo article - "Annie's Place" by Ray O'Hanlon
  • October 13, 2008 - Irish Times article - "Ellis Island's first immigrant honoured" by Lucy Kennedy
  • October 8, 2008 - The Irish Echo article - "Annie's Day" by Ray O'Hanlon
  • October 3, 2008 - Huffington Post article - "Seeds of a Trans-Atlantic Reunion" by Megan Smolenyak
  • August 18, 2007 - Ancestry Weekly Journal article - "So That's What He Looked Like!"
  • June 1, 2006 - RootsWeb - "Using the Ellis Island Database" by Megan Smolenyak
  • June 22, 2005 - Ancestry Daily News article - "Immigrant Bonanza"
  • April 19, 2005 - 2005 Ellis Island Family Heritage Awards
  • December 28, 2004 - Ancestry Daily News article - "Ellis Island Re-Launches"
  • November 2, 2004 - Ancestry Daily News article - "Database Diving in the Hamburg Emigration Database"
  • October 21, 2004 - Ancestry Daily News article - "Database Diving in Ancestry's Immigration Collection"
  • July 16, 2004 - Ancestry Daily News article - "Ships Lists Form for the Ellis Island Database"
  • May - June 2004 - Ancestry Magazine article - "Speeding Up Your Search for Immigrants"
    Read this article in PDF format. Includes photos and screenshots. Published by and provided here with the kind permission of Ancestry magazine.
  • May 14, 2004 - Ancestry Daily News article - "Finding Knute Rockne in the Ellis Island Database"
  • April-June 2004 - Genealogical Computing article - "Steve Morse: A Genealogical Mensch"
  • April 26, 2003 - The Oklahoman article - "Book Facilitates Finding Immigrant Ancestors" by Sharon Burns.
  • April 2004 - Family Chronicle article - "US Passport Applications"
    Read this article in PDF format. Includes photos and screenshots. Published by and provided here with the kind permission of Family Chronicle.
  • July 22, 2003 - Ancestry Daily News article - "A Stoop on Orchard Street"
  • January 30, 2003 - Ancestry Magazine article - "They Came To America"
  • January 2, 2003 - Ancestry Daily News article - "PBS Special on 8 January 2003: They Came To America"
  • December 5, 2002 - Ancestry Daily News article - "New Ellis Island Database Search Tools"
  • August 7, 2002 - Ancestry Daily News article - "Finding Missing Manifests in the Ellis Island Database"
  • July 16, 2002 - Ancestry Daily News article - "Ellis Island Database Tips"
  • May/June 2002 - Family Chronicle article - "Maximizing Your Mileage from the Ellis Island Database"
    Read this article in PDF format. Includes photos and screenshots. Published by and provided here with the kind permission of Family Chronicle. Text also available at About.com
  • April 25, 2002 - Ancestry Daily News article - "Ellis Island Experiment"
  • They Came to America - Finding Your Immigrant Ancestors
    They Came to America Companion to the PBS They Came to America special. Includes a process and worksheets designed to focus your research.






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