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TITANIC SURVIVORS AND OTHER FAMOUS ARRIVALS NOW FEATURED ON WWW.ELLISISLAND.ORG
New York, NY (March 2005)
- You don’t have to be a genealogist or have ancestors who came to America
through Ellis Island to enjoy discovering the “famous arrivals” now featured on
www.ellisisland.org. Among the millions of records that are available online for
free as part of the American Family Immigration History Center® brought to you by
The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, you will find:
- Madeline Astor—19-year-old pregnant bride of John Jacob Astor IV, who was
rescued from the sinking Titanic by the Carpathia and brought with other survivors
to New York, while her husband perished with the ship.
- Rudolph Valentino—legendary silent film star who left Italy penniless to find
fame and fortune in America.
- Henny Youngman—“King of the One Liners” who arrived with his Russian Jewish
parents from England, where he had been born just six months earlier.
- Leslie Howard—British-born son of Hungarian Jews came to America and headed
for Hollywood and is best known for his portrayal of the quintessential Southern
gentleman Ashley Wilkes in Gone With the Wind.
- Xavier Cugat—Spanish-born bandleader known as “King of the Rhumba” arrived as
a teen-ager from Havana, Cuba, where his family had emigrated years earlier, to further
his music career.
These are just a few of the famous immigrants and travelers who are listed on www.ellisisland.org.
For example, did you know that Harry Houdini and Theodore Roosevelt shared a boat to New York? Or
how about Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung?
The “famous arrivals” are included in the immigration and travel information of the 25 million people
who entered America through the Port of New York and Ellis Island between 1892-1924. Forty percent
of Americans can trace their roots back to at least one ancestor whose records are included in this database.
The American Family Immigration History Center® is located at the Ellis Island Immigration Museum. Its
online database has had over 6 BILLION hits since its launch in April 2001. Its fascinating treasure
trove of historical information makes www.ellisisland.org one of the most popular genealogical destinations
on the Internet.
About The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation,
Inc.
The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc. is a non-profit
organization founded in 1982 to raise funds for and oversee the historic
restorations of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, working in partnership
with the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. In addition to
restoring the monuments, the Foundation created a museum in the Statue’s base
and the world-class Ellis Island Immigration Museum, The American Immigrant
Wall of Honor® and the American Family Immigration History Center™ and saved
and restored a total of five buildings on Ellis Island. The Foundation promised
to its donors in the 1980s and established in 1993 an endowment under the
auspices of its board of directors that would annually help maintain the work
the Foundation had done on the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island and enhance
the visitor experience for years to come. Since the endowment’s inception,
proceeds from its principal have funded over 200 projects at the islands for a
total of $12.3 million. The Foundation spearheaded a campaign, in the wake of
9/11, to raise the funds for and manage the construction work necessary to make
critical safety and security upgrades to the Statue so that the National Park
Service, U.S. Department of the Interior could reopen Lady Liberty's doors to the
public on August 3, 2004.
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