In the 1970s, the National Park Service began taping immigrants'
memories of their ocean crossing to America, their reasons for
immigration and tales of everyday life in their country of
origin. Below are five excerpts from the collection of more than
1,700 audio recordings that are available online for free at
www.Ancestry.com/immigration. A Baker's Son Lawrence Meinwald's
father was having trouble with his business partner and gave
away his bakery in Poland. After convincing his wife it was a
good idea, he took his family to America. Meinwald was 6 years
old when he left in 1920. The Sound of Music Maria von Trapp
emigrated from Austria in 1939 at the age of 25 with her family.
A singing manager from the United States had heard the family
sing and asked them to come to America. Maria’s father gathered
the family to discuss what they should do, and they decided to
go to America. The memoirs of Maria's stepmother, Maria Augusta
von Trapp, were published as a book and later fictionalized as a
Broadway musical