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[TSL] Re: SS. Moravia August 17th, 1892 to NY
4listsub@comcast.net on 09/06/2004
Mitch sent another question that highlights a significant event in US immigration history - that is the arrival of the MORAVIA in August 1892:

> According to the Hamburg online index there was an Abrah (sic) Hammer
> from Kolbuszow on the Moravia which left Hamburg for NYC on August 17th,
> 1892.  This might be my ggrandfather Abraham Hammer from Austria.
> However when I looked for the manifests of NYC arrivals there doesn't
> seem to be any arrival August 26th or thereabouts.  The next arrival of
> the Moravia seems to have been September 22nd, 1892 and there was on
> that manifest an Abram Hammer from Holbunzorg, Austria.  Does this make
> any sense?  What happened between August and September?  Is there any
> way to find out?

Yes, there is--the newspapers and the history books.  The headline in the New York Times on September 1, 1892, read “Stopped at Quarantine:  The pest reaches that point on the Moravia; Twenty-two steerage passengers died on the voyage;  Prompt measures taken by the health officer;  Little chance for cholera to reach the city.”  The long article includes a list of the 22 passengers who died, along with their date of death.  I’m sending a copy separately to Sue in case she wants to make some use of it.

Remember the SARS scare a few years ago?  Remember the crowded airports when countries didn’t want to allow airplanes from Asian countries to land, for fear that passengers would bring the dread disease to our shores?  That scene offers a glimpse into the situation of the summer of 1892, when cholera raged in the departure ports of Northern Europe and Americans lived in fear that the “pest” would jump across the Atlantic.  The MORAVIA was the first ship (known) to bring cholera into New York harbor, and the “prompt measures” taken by health officials included the quarantine of all passengers for at least 20 days.  Subsequent ship passengers were also quarantined, including first class passengers (which caused quite a sensation).

The whole episode is a huge part of the history of US public health.  Within months US immigration law required improved medical screening of ship passengers, and the US Marine Hospital Service (now Public Health Service) expanded its immigration-related duties.  Plans began for the huge hospital complex that would eventually be built at Ellis Island after 1897.

Anyway, this explains why Abraham Hammer arrived September 1, but was not admitted until September 22.  The Sept 22 passenger list is not a subsequent arrival--it represents the delayed admission of passengers on the ship that arrived Sept 1.  Abraham Hammer was part of US immigration history.

One more thing--David replied to Mitch this way:
> Unfortunately at that time the manifests were not stamped by the US Consul
> in the departure port and the date of departure inserted.  I do notice that
> the cover sheet for the manifest has been altered from 12 Sep to 22 Sep, but
> this may just be correcting an error as the first page of the manifest
> itself is clearly dated 22 Sep by the captain.
> Perhaps SKS can see whether there is anything unusual in newspaper reports
> of her arrival?

Unfortunately, at that time the manifests WERE stamped by the US Consul at the departure point (since March 1891), but they were generally just “rubber stamped” and not really proof that the consul had investigated any of the claims made about passenger health.  A New York Times article of September 2, 1892, p. 2, proclaimed “Vice Consul Burke Not Blamed:  He properly gave the Moravia a clean bill of health.”  The State Department defended the consular officer by pointing out that the Moravia departed PRIOR to the date when the German government finally admitted there was, in fact, cholera present at Hamburg.  But this oversight is part of the reason Congress strengthened the health provisions in the 1893 immigration law.

MS


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[TSL] Re: SS. Moravia August 17th, 1892 to NY 09/06/2004: [Posted by 4listsub@comcast.net]

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