HE RITAG E
A Move to America in 1868 The Hill family had borrowed money for their emigration. In Illinois, their relatives waited for them, ready to help. During the voyage, they must have wondered a great deal about the future: what work they would find, how to repay their tickets, a new language to learn, and an unfamiliar country and climate to get used to.
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Samuel’s Diary Part 8
Diary Kept on the Journey to America in 1868 by Samuel Magnus Hill Introduction and translation by Lars Nordström [Wednesday] May 27th A pilot came on board. [Thursday] May 28th August’s side was better, but his tongue and throat were worse. We were near land but could not see anything because of the fog; the only thing we could see were ships passing close by. The ship was at anchor in the morning. In the afternoon a boat took us over to Castle Garden. There we got to spend the night for free, and we were able to exchange money and change our tickets. I was bothered by diarrhea and felt pretty sick. I had to throw up at night; I rested on a bench next to the toilets, and they stunk terribly. [Friday] May 29th I was in a bad mood when I got up in the morning and I did not eat anything until dinnertime. Our trunk was weighed out and we all received train tickets to the destinations we had paid for. We got on a ferry [which took us] to the train depot, and on the train we had to stand packed like sardines. A wallet was stolen from a man, where both his tickets and money were kept. A collection was made among the emigrants, because he had a wife and two children and a maid, all of whose tickets had disappeared. [Saturday] May 30th The train ran all night, and during the night a woman in our car gave birth to a child. Everything went well. She had left home in plenty of time to reach her husband, who was already [in America], but [she] had been delayed in England for more than three weeks. The train stopped in Albany until 2 o’clock, when it continued again. Lay preacher Molin gave a speech to us before we journeyed on, which was edifying, because it was Whitsunday when we were in Albany. (In my notes I must have left out a date somewhere, because I remember clearly that we were in Albany on Whitsunday, which must have been a Sunday. In other words, Whitsunday, June 1, must have been the correct date.)
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