Our ancestors came
to America during the peak immigration years between 1880 and
1924.
Despite the emotional pain of leaving family friends and home,
these travelers hoped that their life in America would somehow
be better.
They walked, used horsedrawn carriages and traveled by trains
to reach the harbors where the steamships departed for America.
Before boarding their ships steerage class passengers had to
take an antiseptic bath, have their baggage fumigated and be
examined by steamship company doctors.
In the late 1800s and early 1900s the cost of steerage class
passage was approximately $25.00 for each passenger.
Second cabin passage was $50.00 for an adult and $25.00 for
a child. Second cabin passage meant private staterooms and exemption
from the intense scrutiny upon arriving in New York.
Manya Chazanoff Sovel made to trips to America. She arrived
in 1904 with her husband and two small sons and went to live
with her brother Morris Chasanow. My assumption is that she
did not like the crowded living conditions in Philadelphia,
so she took her sons and went back to Odessa.
She stayed for about a year and then returned to Philadelphia.
Her youngest son Lazer did not return with her. We believe he
was killed in a pogrom in Odessa and that was what changed Manya's
mind about living in America.
Where They Lived
Most of our Chaiken ancestors settled in Philadelphia in the
South Philadelphia section.
In many ways life was quite different from the villages in Russia,
but in many ways quite the same. It was a clustered life, divided
into sections by nationality.
The living conditions were crowded and not always clean. Families
of five and six lived in one or two rooms.
My great grandmother and grandmother both had stalls on 4th
street where they sold yarn goods and buttons. These stalls
developed into viable retail businesses.
This page is in memory of Mire Chaiken Chazanoff
and Manya Chazanoff Sovel, my great grandmother and grandmother.
Without their hardwork and dilligence our family would not
be where it is today. |
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