My Story

     My name is Adelina Petersen. I am originally from Berlin, Germany. My husband and I left Germany in 1983 in order to find a new home in America; where I could offer my feature kids a better way of leaving and a better education. We started in Havre, Montana with many other immigrants that embarked on our journey to New York by sailboat. It took us 21 days to arrive at New York and were fortunate to have had a very safe journey.

     On the first day of our journey we found out that there wasnt enough food for half of the immigrants. Most of us demanded the captain to give us what we had paid for. However, he decided that we would not receive anything more because of our inappropriate behavior. Therefore we were forced to do the best we could for the rest of the days. We finally arrived in Buffalo, the captain of the faltboat refused to give us our belongings until we had paid him extra money. Every one started argueing with the camptain; this was an injustice. My husband amd other male immigrants went to the bank to fix this situation. None of them spoke English, so they asked a Jew if he could help them with the translation. The Jew agreed and helped them; they had to go the Squire in Buffalo. My husband did not understand anything that transpired in front of the Squire, so they left the Jew to argue their case for them. The decision was in favor of us immigrants. Triumphantly my husband returned to the boat where I was waiting for him anxiously. We left extremely happy for winning that case,otherwise we woudnt have enough money to approach a house.

     From Buffalo we took another flatboat and arrived in Pomeroy, Ohio. A few of us got out in Cleveland and traveled on in various directions. My husband immediately found work in a shovel factory. He received one dollar for every day he worked. He worked in this factory for one year. The following year he found a better job as a carpenter, he built coalboats. These boats would transport coal to Cincinnati and other places. 

     My husband is still working as a carpenter. We live very happy with our two American little boys in the house that my husband constructed. Life in America is not easy, but I dont regret the moment when we took the decision to move here for a better way of life. We both learned English and we are teaching our two kids both languages; English and German.