Legally then and legally now are two completely different things. We were welcoming then. Now we are placing roadblocks everywhere we can and making the tests more difficult than a high school senior can pass. That’s why there are so many illegals. Yet we need them to pick produce and do all the other jobs white people don’t want to do.
My grandparents came from Germany. I remember as a kid, my mom used an expression to describe a situation in which there was a lot of noise and commotion in the room. She would say that it sounded like "Kessel Gardens." I only made the connection while I was in college. That was the way Jewish immigrants, who also spoke Yiddish, experienced Castle Gardens, and that pronunciation and expression survived a couple of generations.
Hi Bill - i enjoyed your recent newsletter but I wanted to offer a clarification regarding one sentence that stood out to me: "Within two generations, Annie’s descendants had married people from different backgrounds—Irish, German, Italian, Jewish.”
Judaism is not simply a “background” comparable to national or ethnic origin; it is a faith-based religion with a continuous theological, cultural, and legal tradition. Framing it alongside Irish, German, or Italian implicitly conflates religion with nationality and may unintentionally suggest that the other groups referenced were uniformly Christian. That framing also overlooks the religious diversity present among immigrants to the United States from the very beginning. Immigrants came not only as Christians, but also as Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, atheists and others. As one historical example, Morocco - a predominantly Muslim nation and with a 1000+ year Jewish populace - was in fact the first country to formally recognize the United States. I mention this not as a criticism, but as a point of historical and linguistic accuracy. Language matters, particularly in these turbulent times when discussing identity, faith, and the pluralistic foundations of any nation.
Thanks for the story on the first immigrants in 1892! No ICE back then. Kudos to the persistent genealogist.
They came in legally. My grandparents came through Ellis Island.
Legally then and legally now are two completely different things. We were welcoming then. Now we are placing roadblocks everywhere we can and making the tests more difficult than a high school senior can pass. That’s why there are so many illegals. Yet we need them to pick produce and do all the other jobs white people don’t want to do.
My grandparents came from Germany. I remember as a kid, my mom used an expression to describe a situation in which there was a lot of noise and commotion in the room. She would say that it sounded like "Kessel Gardens." I only made the connection while I was in college. That was the way Jewish immigrants, who also spoke Yiddish, experienced Castle Gardens, and that pronunciation and expression survived a couple of generations.
https://www.history.com/articles/new-years-eve-time-innovations?cmpid=email-hist-inside-history-2025-1229-12292025&om_rid=
You brought up Times Square and New Years so here is what magically appeared from my History subscription to add to it.
Hi Bill - i enjoyed your recent newsletter but I wanted to offer a clarification regarding one sentence that stood out to me: "Within two generations, Annie’s descendants had married people from different backgrounds—Irish, German, Italian, Jewish.”
Judaism is not simply a “background” comparable to national or ethnic origin; it is a faith-based religion with a continuous theological, cultural, and legal tradition. Framing it alongside Irish, German, or Italian implicitly conflates religion with nationality and may unintentionally suggest that the other groups referenced were uniformly Christian. That framing also overlooks the religious diversity present among immigrants to the United States from the very beginning. Immigrants came not only as Christians, but also as Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, atheists and others. As one historical example, Morocco - a predominantly Muslim nation and with a 1000+ year Jewish populace - was in fact the first country to formally recognize the United States. I mention this not as a criticism, but as a point of historical and linguistic accuracy. Language matters, particularly in these turbulent times when discussing identity, faith, and the pluralistic foundations of any nation.
Ramsey