All posts tagged as: ellis island
Seinfeld's heritage…a story about something!!
Comedian, actor & funny man Jerry Seinfeld is getting some shine in the coming months and it’s not for his writing and voice skills in Bee Movie or some sort of a Seinfeld movie (holler at me LD). On May 19th, The Statue of Liberty Ellis Island Foundation will bestow one of its “Family Heritage” awards on Mr. Seinfeld.
“Century-old passenger manifests, newly public census records and naturalization papers, stitched together by the foundation and The New York Times, document the family’s hardscrabble journey, first to Brooklyn, then to the Bronx and ultimately, to Manhattan. Collectively, they trace just how far the comedian’s family has come since the days when his paternal grandfather, a 15-year-old tailor from Stanislau, then part of Austria, arrived by himself, penniless, at Ellis Island.”
The dig has turned up some amazing things, starting in 1903 when Jerry’s grandfather Simon Seinfeld aka Seinfeld Schmischer aka Semfeld Schimscher set sail for NYC from Le Havre aboard La Bretagne and continues with Seinfeld’s first dwelling in Borough Park and an uncle Jake, of Orchard Street. Fascinating story and more details from the New York Times.