Week 12 Joined Together

The 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, Week 12 theme is “Joined Together.” This weeks theme, given to us by Amy Johnson Crow, brought me to my grandfather arriving in America. My mom knew that he had traveled through Ellis Island so that is where I began my search. Ellis Island has a wonderful site with a passenger search, lot’s of history and photos available. My mom had always been told that her dad had a ticket for the Titanic but just missed it and left on another ship. So I started looking about that date, 1912.

You can see this record is from 1910. Two years before the Titanic sank. It is possible that he went back to Scotland after this trip and returned again in 1912. I haven’t found a record for that yet. My mom was pretty disappointed that it was just a story. I guess the Titanic story was fairly common for people who arrived anywhere near that time period, My mom knew he arrived with his brother George, George’s wife, Jeanie and their daughter Margaret. Grandpa John said George and Jeanie were both very sick on the voyage so he was responsible for Margaret. Since he had seven younger brothers and sisters it probably wasn’t too difficult. Although entertaining a child in the hold of ship might have been a challenge for many.

I was confused about why it said my grandfather’s last permanent residence was Boone, Iowa. We thought 1910 was when he first arrived. It also has a stamp of non immigrant alien above the last permanent residence. At first I thought it must be a mistake, such as saying they were going to Ohio, instead of Iowa. Eventually I decided to do some more searching.

I found he originally arrived in 1905 on the ship Astoria, and his brother George was already here! I have not found another arrival date for George. I did find George in a census in Scotland in 1901. He is living with his future wife’s family in Whitburn, Scotland as a hewer in a coal mine. I also found George in a 1905 Iowa State Census in Boone, Iowa. So somewhere between 1901 and 1905 George arrived in America. George and Jeanie Strachen were married in Scotland in 1906. He must have returned to Scotland soon after the 1905 Census. They had two children before leaving Scotland, their second Walter died at the age of two in 1910. This is the same year John, George and his family all came to America together. Was the death of their two year old a deciding factor?

John Kirkwood lived in Scotland with his parents in 1901, working as a coal miner. He was traveling in 1905 and 1910 so, I am thinking he missed both of the census dates for those years. The first state Census I found John was 1915 in Boone, Iowa. John was married in 1913 to Nettie Myrtle Smith. The 1920 U.S. Census says John was naturalized in 1910, which maybe was on arrival? I have not found a record for naturalization for him or George.

To get back to the topic of the post, John Robertson Kirkwood arrived in the U.S. in 1905 with $23 in his pocket to join his brother George Kirkwood in Frasier, Boone County, Iowa. They both traveled back and forth at least one more time but they were joined together in their journey as brothers, as miners, as family.