Alessandro+Ferrazzi

=**Alessandro Ferrazzi**= First Name- Alessandro Last Name- Ferrazzi Ethnicity- Italian Last Place of Residence- Casarate S., Italy Date of Arrival- Oct., 11, 1909 Age at Arrival- 24 yrs. Gender- Male Marital Status- Married Ship of Travel- Duca Di Genova Port of Departure- Genoa Manifest Line #- 0012 Reason for Leaving- to see his wife in America Thoughts and Feelings on coming to America- I am nervous about taking a ship for the first time, but I'm sure everything will be fine. I am very anxious to see my wife and 8 children who have already arrived in America. I was not able to come on the same boat as them because the boat was full and there was no room for any more pasengers. I imagine that the Americans will be really nice and very welcoming of my family and I. I am worried about the government in America because I do not yet know what it is like. How did you get money for your ticket?- I owned my own business in Italy and became rich, so I had so much money I no longer needed to work and decided to come to America. What did the boat look like?- How was the weather across the Alantic?- Most of the time, the weather was beautiful, but there was one night I recall I became very frightened. It was rainy and stormy and the waves were rocking the boat like crazy. people were getting very seasick and I was terrifieed that the boat would tip. The captain reassed me that everything would be fine. What were your thoughts and emotions on the entire Ellis Island process?- It was a very rigorous process and after the long tiring journey, I didn't feel like going through this process, but I had to. Many people were worried that they wouldn't be allowed into America because of medical issues, past records, or even because they didn't have much money or can't speek English. I wasn't worried about any of these things because not only could I speek English fluently, but I also had much money, no criminal record, and I was perfectly healthy. What did you see, hear, and smell in the Immigration room?- In the Immigration room, I saw all different types of people including Jews, Irish, and Germans. Each person was speaking with a different accent or in a different language. Some were with families and others were alone. Some people were getting their physical, while others were getting their papers checked. It was a very noisy room because of all the different people speaking in different languages, and it gave me a bit of a headache. It smelled bad because of the crowds of people tired and sweaty from their long hard journey. What were your thoughts and emotions when you finally entered America?- When I finally got into America, I went straight to motel my family and I were staying in until we could find a suitable home. I was so happy to find that my wife and 8 children were already safely there. After a few weeks we purchased a new home. It was beautiful. I was right about the Americans. They were very nice and welcomed us to there country. They treated us as equals and I am proud to now be an American.