Journey Across the Atlantic
My Grandfather’s Monthlong Voyage from Palestine to New York
I am Muhsin Alie, namesake of a great Palestinian man, Muhsin Ibrahim Alie. We always knew in my family that my grandfather had traveled across the Atlantic Ocean to the United States of America early at the turn of the twentieth century but did not have any records or even a definitive oral history, the exact year, or any details of the long journey.
In the fall of 2010, I was lying on my bed, browsing the internet and thinking about my grandfather and his amazing legacy. There must be some kind of record of his immigration to the United States, I thought. A true trailblazer, we knew he had changed his commonly spelled last name “Ali” to “Alie” for more accurate pronunciation.
God is my witness, in less than 10 minutes I was gazing at the ship manifesto for the vessel that had arrived in Ellis Island on November 11, 1913.
And there it was, his name, on the first line of the manifesto. The voyage had taken him one month. He was 20 years old, had 30 dollars in his pocket, and his nationality was listed as Ottoman! His final destination was Chicago, Illinois. We are so grateful that we have a single photo of him at the age of 19-20. He must have taken the photo for his travel documents.
I was so thrilled and shocked that my grandfather, my father’s father, had traveled to the US in 1913 and that his legacy spans 3 centuries, just in my lifetime. He was born in 1893. The 600+ year reign of the Ottoman Empire would not come to an end until 1922.
He had arrived in New York before the World Wars! World War l was still a year and a half away. In 2013, we celebrated the centennial of his historic journey.
The ship that my grandfather Muhsin Alie traveled on in 1913 was the SS Rochambeau, a French transatlantic ocean liner of the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (CGT). Her maiden voyage to New York began on September 16, 1911 and she was scrapped in 1934. She was the first French ship to be powered by a combination of reciprocating steam engines and steam turbines. She was named after the Comte de Rochambeau, a French aristocrat and marshal who led an army in the American Revolutionary War.
I found my grandfather’s records on https://www.EllisIsland.org now https://www.statueofliberty.org/ellis-island/
The Passenger Search database allows you to look for family members who arrived at the Port of New York from 1820 to 1957. At the Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration and on the Foundation’s website you can explore your family heritage by searching nearly 65 million passenger records and ship manifests, examining information collected at debarkation points. Some passenger records are more complete than others, but many reveal name, age, date of arrival, ship name, nationality, birthplace, occupation, last residence overseas, and final destination. Some even have information about how many bags a passenger had, the amount of money they carried, and where they stayed on the ship.
During the largest human migration in modern history, Ellis Island processed more immigrants than all other North American ports combined. Today, tens of millions of Americans can trace at least one ancestor to Ellis.
Ellis Island Passenger Search
Educational Resources: Tips, Tutorials & Recommendations
Includes Tips for using the Passenger Search database to discover your family’s connection to Ellis Island, videos, virtual experiences and much more.
More on my grandfather’s journey:
https://www.threedom.com/palestinelegacy
https://www.threedom.com/palestinelegacy
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المرحوم محسن إبراهيم علي
رحمة الله عليك يا سيدي… في أعلى جنات النعيم يا رب
اللهم املا قبره بالرضا والنور والفسحة والسرور
Heritage • تراث 🌿 Culture • حضاره 🌿 Legacy • ميراث
