More on illegal immigration

Yes, it's time for the Vol Abroad to declare an interest in the illegal immigration debate. I am the descendant of an illegal immigrant.

I believe that most of my ancestors came to America legally, some of them before it was the USA, and some of them came as a result of previous illegal activities - as indentured servants, probably sold off for their debt. But I'm aware of at least one illegal immigrant in my family tree, my great-grandmother.

She and my great-grandfather emigrated from Finland, separately and legally and met in New York. They lived in Chicago for a time, and eventually went back to Finland to claim part of a legacy from her father. My great-grandfather Henrik left Finland and went back to Chicago, but Anna, my great-grandmother stayed in Finland with my great aunt (US born) and just about nine months after Henrik left, my grandmother was born.

At some point, a couple of years later, Anna decided that she wanted to go back to America There's some indication that rumors from the Finnish community in Chicago that Henrik had publicly taken a mistress may have been her motivation. The motivation may have been Henrik's tendency to invest in ventures that failed (with her money?). Whatever the reason, she packed up her two children, left the family farm in that sodden Northern clime, and took a boat to New York. She was turned away by US immigration. I'm not sure why they were turned away, but they were.

Well, she wasn't having that. She left her children with their grandmother in the tiny little village, and took another boat. This time to Canada. She wrote Henrik and told him to come and get her. She waited on the border until Henrik came and smuggled her across.

My grandmother didn't see her mother again for years - and at the age of seven, she travelled with another family across the sea and then took a train on her own to Chicago from New York.