Journey Across the Atlantic 🌿 رحلة عبر المحيط الأطلسي

Mar 14

My Grandfather’s 1913 Monthlong Voyage from Palestine to New York

رحلة جدي عام 1913 لمدة شهر من فلسطين إلى نيويورك

I am Muhsin Alie, namesake of a great Palestinian man, my grandfather Muhsin Ibrahim Alie (Manasra) who was born in Deir Debwan, Palestine in 1893. We always knew in my family that he 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.

أنا محسن علي ، سميت على اسم رجل فلسطيني عظيم ،جدي محسن إبراهيم علي (مناصرة) من مواليد دير دبوان ، فلسطين عام 1893 . لطالما علمنا في عائلتي أن جدي قد سافر عبر المحيط الأطلسي إلى الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية في مطلع القرن العشرين ولكن لم يكن لدينا أي سجلات أو حتى تاريخ شفوي نهائي ، أو السنة بالضبط ، أو أي تفاصيل عن الرحلة الطويلة.

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.

في خريف عام 2010 ، كنت مستلقية على سريري ، أتصفح الإنترنت وأفكر في جدي وإرثه المذهل. اعتقدت أنه يجب أن يكون هناك نوع من السجل لهجرته إلى الولايات المتحدة.رائد حقيقي ، علمنا أنه غيّر اسمه الأخير المكتوب بشكل شائع "Ali" إلى "Alie" للحصول على نطق أكثر دقة.

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.
الله شاهد ، في أقل من 10 دقائق كنت انظر على بيان السفينة التي وصلت إلى جزيرة إليس في 11 نوفمبر 1913.

And there it was, my grandfather’s name, Muhsin Alie, 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 20. He must have taken the photo for his travel documents.

وهناك كان اسم جدي ، محسن علي في السطر الأول من البيان! استغرقت الرحلة شهرًا. كان يبلغ من العمر 20 عامًا ، وكان في جيبه 30 دولارًا ، وجنسيته مُدرجة على أنها عثمانية! كانت وجهته النهائية شيكاغو ، إلينوي. نحن ممتنون جدًا لأن لدينا صورة واحدة له في سن 20. على الأرجح التقط الصورة لوثائق سفره.

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! The 600+ year reign of the Ottoman Empire would not come to an end until 1922.

شعرت بسعادة غامرة وصدمة لأن جدي ، والد أبي ، سافر إلى الولايات المتحدة في عام 1913 وإرثه يمتد لثلاثة قرون! لم ينته حكم الإمبراطورية العثمانية الذي يزيد عن 600 عام حتى عام 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.
لقد وصل إلى نيويورك قبل الحربين العالميتين! كانت الحرب العالمية الأولى على بعد عام ونصف. في عام 2013 ، احتفلنا بالذكرى المئوية لرحلته التاريخية.

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 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
https://www.statueofliberty.org/discover/passenger-ship-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.
https://www.statueofliberty.org/discover/educational-resources/

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