12/52 - Angela's Ashes Averted
My mother was born in 1931, the daughter of Sarah McEvoy and John Oliver Manson.
As I've noted in other posts, my grandfather was a bit of a rolling stone. His mother (and his older brother) died in a dysentery epidemic in Malmo, Sweden, in 1881 when he was 14 months old. Family lore has it (still trying to work out the exact timeline) that he was a stowaway on a boat from Sweden when he was a teenager, and he never seemed to lose the wanderlust that initially drove him to board that boat.
Still, when my grandmother married him in November 1929, he likely appeared to be quite a catch for my recent Irish immigrant grandmother. My mother's brother Doug was born a scant seven months after they were married, so…well, you do the math. According to my mom,
"To enlist in the Navy, Doug needed his birth certificate. When Doug got the birth certificate, he noticed his birthday was in June rather than August, as he had always celebrated. My mother's attitude was, 'It happened a long time ago. I can't do anything about it now.'"
My grandfather owned shares of gold and silver mines in Nevada. In the early 1920s, he appeared to have been a real estate wheeler-dealer and a well-known sea captain. For a time, he was captain of a yacht on loan to President Warren G. Harding, only recently eclipsed in the bad-president ratings by "he who must not be named."
Things changed pretty quickly for my grandfather. My mom said that things got worse as the Depression continued to deepen and as John Oliver’s absences and hospital stays became more and more a constant thing.
“When the Depression struck, everybody was cashing everything in, and the banks called in all their loans. My father apparently had a margin balance of $125,000. What person or bank in their right mind would have given him 125,000 worth of credit to buy stocks? Of course, he didn't have it, and I'm surprised he didn't just hightail it out of town and not let anybody know where he was.”
As my grandfather’s financial prospects plummeted, so too did his health. Sometime along the way, his health was good enough to drag his family “out West” in the hopes of cashing in on some of his mining relationships. As a kid, I can remember being fascinated by some pieces of petrified wood at my grandmother’s apartment in the Bronx, and I imagine these were likely collected on this trip. One of my favorite pictures -- I’m guessing from around 1934 -- is of my grandmother Sarah, my strangely topless mom, and my Uncle Doug panning for gold.
But the gold obviously never quite materialized. Things got so bad that my grandmother investigated taking the kids and returning to Ireland, her own Angela's Ashes moment. According to my mom, she got passports and began to figure out the details. Her mother, Catherine Brien, died in 1935, though, which spelled "done" to the plans to return.
This got me wondering how often immigrants turned around and went back. I've spent countless hours looking at ship manifests to build out our family story. But certainly, mass immigration during the early 1900s wasn't all a one-way street.
According to Stanford economist Ran Abramitzky, about 30 million Europeans immigrated to the US during the "Age of Mass Migration," when America maintained open, largely unrestricted borders. “By 1910, 22 percent of the country's labor force was foreign-born, compared to 17 percent of today's working population.The same period also saw a high rate of return migration. One in three immigrants returned to their home country.” (https://news.stanford.edu/2017/09/12/returning-home-age-mass-migration/)
Studies indicate a 35% return migration rate between 1908 and 1923. The 35% figure might be underestimated; the actual return rate could be even higher due to limitations in collecting accurate data back then.
The reasons are complicated. Some immigrants specifically intended to work in the US temporarily, save up money, and then use those funds back home. This could involve buying land, starting a business, or supporting their families. For others, adjusting to a new country likely proved too tricky. Immigrants often face challenges like discrimination, language barriers, and difficulty establishing themselves in a new society. Split families were likely also part of the equation.
Lengthy chain migrations - like my family - didn't happen overnight, and extended family separations were likely too much for many. Maintaining family connections back in Ireland likely remained critical for many Irish immigrants. Returning home could have allowed them to reunite with loved ones after years of separation.
None of my grandparents ever returned to Europe.
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The five previous most recent posts…
11/52 - The [Altered] Photo Heard Round the World
10/52 - Not Every Lottery Win is a Win
8/52 - Immigrants. We Get the Job Done
7/52 - Immigration Records are not Always Easy to Come By
6/52 - My Dad, After His Parents Were Committed and Before the Navy
This is part of a series of posts designed to keep me busy and off the street. My New Year’s Resolution was to do one per week. Hopefully some of these musings will contribute to a successor to Immigrant Secrets.
(https://www.amazon.com/Immigrant-Secrets-Search-My-Grandparents/dp/B0B45GTTPP).
You can get the posts directly HERE (https://www.searchformygrandparents.com/subscribe) or use the subscribe button on this page (https://authory.com/johnmancini).
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