My grandmother arrived in Providence on Nov. 1, 1922. She said she stayed there for 2 days and then took the train to Chicago, arriving at 8 a.m. She had to wait until 6 p.m. for the next train to Sacramento and then to Hanford. She said the train took 2 days from Chicago to Sacramento. I never thought to ask her what it cost. She arrived in Hanford on Nov. 11.
Linda Leitz On Wed, Oct 19, 2011 at 11:00 PM, Debra Wolgemuth <[email protected]>wrote: > My great grandfather, Francisco George (Jorge) immigrated from the > Azores in 1889 and entered the US through Boston. Today we think that Ellis > Island and NYC was the typical entrance to the US from the Atlantic, but it > wasn't always so. Ellis Island began as the main East immigrant entrance > point on January 1, 1892. > > Francisco returned to the Azores around 1905 to bring his bride, Lepoldina > (Lena) Freitas, to the US. Lepoldina's entry is listed in the Ellis Island > records. Family stories are that Lena was also accompanied by another > female because it wasn't proper for a woman to travel alone, assuming she > needed supervision. Francisco and Lepoldina were married in Fresno, CA > within a few weeks of arriving on the West Coast by train. Then they > settled and built up a farm in Merced, CA. > > The train route to California was on a northern route because there is no > complete southern passenger route to California. The way to travel west by > train still uses the scenic northern route. Many eastern cities connect to > the huge Chicago hub, where you can continue west, or travel down to the > southern states. From Chicago you travel west to Martinez, CA on the > California Zephyr. Then you have to catch the San Joaquin train south to > Stockton, Modesto, Denair/Turlock, Merced, Madera, Fresno, Hanford, > Corcoran, Wasco and Bakersfield. Many Portuguese settled in these cities > along the San Joaquin train route. > > There is a southern train route to California which takes you to Union > Station in downtown Los Angeles. To get to the San Joaquin Valley, you have > to board an Amtrak bus from Los Angeles, over the Grapevine (mountain > range), and to Bakersfield. In Bakersfield, you then get on the San Joaquin > train to all points north. When our ancestors immigrated from the East > Coast there wasn't a bus line from LA to Bakersfield, so they definitely > used the northern route. > > It currently takes 3 days of train travel from Boston, MA to Bakersfield, > CA. With potentially slower train routes 100 years ago, I wonder how many > days it took to travel from the East to West Coasts? The only thing I could > find online was that it took 1 week to travel from Omaha, NE to San > Francisco @ $65 for an adult. Based on this, perhaps it took 2 weeks to > travel from Boston to California? > > Also, the northern route (California Zephyr) uses most of the train lines > laid by the 1st Transcontinential Railroad that we all learned about in > elementary history. > > > > *Debbie Wolgemuth* > Researching Azoreans: Jorge (Flores), Freitas (Flores), Enos (San Miguel), > Silveira Matos (Faial), Rodrigues (unknown island) > Immigrated to: Merced, CA > > > > > Date: Wed, 19 Oct 2011 16:07:45 -0700 > > Subject: [AZORES-Genealogy] Travel to California > > From: [email protected] > > To: [email protected] > > > > > Does anyone have any idea how most of the Azoreans traveled to > > California? I assume they took a boat from the Azores (there was no > > other way off before air planes LOL), but did they complete the trip > > around So. America and up to California by boat or did they disembark > > in New York/Boston and travel by land to California? I've been trying > > to find a passenger list with my grandfather/great-grandmother on it > > but haven't had any success. > > > > Lorinda Baker Sevenans (my grand-father Joseph Lewis (Luiz) grew up in > > Fairfield, CA) > > > > -- > > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. Follow the confirmation directions > when they arrive. > > For more options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail > (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the right > that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my membership." > > -- > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. Follow the confirmation directions > when they arrive. > For more options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail > (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the right > that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my membership." > -- To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. Follow the confirmation directions when they arrive. For more options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my membership."
