I just had to write a review of the Voume 2, No. 2 issue of the Camden Co. Heritage publication of the Camden County History Alliance. This issue is about IMMIGRATION, and it could not have come at a better time for everyone to consider the contributions and ripple effects of immigration in our country by using the microcosm of the look at our county.
Of course all of us who are not Indigenous People, were immigrants at one time or another. In my own family, I have very old colonial English roots, and 19th century German and Irish roots. Our English family names were Garwood, Cheesman, Jaggard. Our Scots/Irish family names from the late 1700's and early 1800's were McQuiston and Johnson, and our German family names from early 1800's were Sandman and Jung (changed to Young). As with most immigrant ancestors, mine were working class people, seamstresses, brewers, bakers, shoemakers, hostelers, and haulers, and later, Merchant Marines and Ironworkers. I was the first of anyone from my generation back to have a chance to go to and graduate from college. Many were not even able to go to high school as their wages were needed to keep the family afloat.
To them, goes my eternal gratitude for their courage in coming to America and giving us the opportunities we have enjoyed.
The things I liked most about this publication on immigration were:
1. The focus on the individual and the personal. I really like the stories of the shopkeepers and farmers, not some abstract study but the personal story, the family who escaped from Poland and were rescued by family in the US and thereby saved from the Holocaust, who later had a shop in Camden City. I liked the story about the female spy, the Princess Stephanie Hohenlohe-Waldenburg Schillengfuert, who was held captive at Gloucester City Immigration Station, itself housed in the former home of the once poor immigrant Irish boy who rose to become known as the Duke of Gloucester. All the stories were supplied by historical societies belonging to the Alliance and all were fascinating - people who escaped the Armenian genocide, the Worlds Wars, wars in Africa, Vietnam, the lucky ones who managed to get to this golden land.
This issue was so interesting I actually could not put it down and read the whole thing cover to cover over hours last night. I want to get more copies to give to my friends, many of whom had family with shops in Camden, or ancestors from neighborhoods mentioned in the magazine, or who have visited and admired the many historic buildings also described in the magazine. It is a treasure!
Happy Trails - In the Woods, on the roads, or between the covers of great books and magazines on history!
By the way, I attended the Griffith Morgan event Sunday and it was marvelous. Ran into a number of History Volunteer friends there too, from Batsto, Atsion, and Revolutionary War Re-enactments. It was a great day! Hope you got out there too!
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