[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Re: Leaving Volhynia for USA
William Remus
remus at cba.hawaii.edu
Tue Jul 1 18:07:54 PDT 2003
> Our grandfather, Frederich Johann Weich, was born in Peresolup, served in the
> Russian army fighting the Turks. He came home on leave saying he could not
> stand anymore bloodshed. Grandmother packed his clothes and he left for the USA
> in 1888. He didn't seem to have any trouble but of course he was AWOL.
(Peresolup=Presslup near Sapust in Volhynia)
Because of the laws of Russia, many of our ancesters and their
sons were drafted into the Army. It was a terrible life in the army
and part of the reason many left. In the Lehmann family case, the
boys came home for Christmas 1891, and the whole family took off
in dogsleds crossing over the border (the sons were AWOL and
subject to death if found). The Remus family left by wagon; August
Remus was a cartmaker. Some got on the train in Kostopol,
Volhynia.
At some point the train was part of the journey to Hamburg, For
example, August Remus sold his wagons as soon as he crossed
the border into Germany.
> Grandmother sold their farm, paying someone to get her, her three children and
> her elderly mother, safely across the border. We have never heard of the Jewish
> underground, have no idea how she got to Hamburg. She sailed on the SS
> City of New York from Hamburg to Liverpool, England and then on to the USA.
The British ship lines made a lot of money transporting our
ancesters to America. They would pick immigrants up at a port like
Hamburg or Danzig or Gottenburg, and take them to Hull on the
east coast of England. Then a train across England to Liverpool on
the west coast of England. From Liverpool, there were lots of ships
going to places like the US, Canada, and Australia.
Regards Bill Remus
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William Remus, Professor of Information Technology Management
Doctoral Program Chair for Communication and Information Sciences
2404 Maile Way, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA 96822
Telephone: 808-956-7608 Fax: 808-956-9889
For Information on and Applications for the CIS Doctoral Program
http://www.hawaii.edu/cis
For Information about Bill Remus and the Courses He Teaches
http://www.cba.hawaii.edu/remus
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