As September continues to move along at a rapid pace, another Saturday has arrived with Randy Seaver providing a new challenge this week:

1) Many of our ancestors migrated to a distant place.  Which one of your ancestors migrated the furthest?  Or the furthest in North America?  It could be in one big move, or in several smaller moves over their lifetime.  How far did they travel?  Do you know the route they took?

Aside from the myriad of ancestors I have who emigrated from various points in England to Massachusetts during the early colonial era, my handful of ancestors who migrated in the late 1800s in steerage class on slow ships – traveled the longest distances to settle in their new homes.

1.My Puritans sailed roughly 3200 miles from England to New England, with most of them landing in the Boston, Massachusetts area. Given the time period, their voyages were the scariest.

2. My great grandmother, Anna Jensen Coleman, and her family migrated from Copenhagen, Denmark to Calais, Maine, sailing first to Canada out of Copenhagen and then traveling southward into Maine in 1884, completing about 3,383 miles.

3. Two of my paternal great grandparents, Michael Scerbak and Anna Murczko, left Ujak, Slovakia and headed to Hamburg, Germany to sail to America in steerage class via land, crossing about 650 miles through Europe. Including their trip to Passaic, New Jersey, the distance was about 4,350 miles. What is even more amazing is the my grandmother made the trip twice and my great grandfather Michael made the trip at least three times! Michael takes first place for most miles traveled during those three trips.

4. My other two paternal great grandparents, Stephen Kucharik and Maria Kacsenyak, left Vysna Sebastova, Slovakia, also sailing from Hamburg, Germany, and first settled in Delano, today part of Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania before moving permanently to Passaic, New Jersey. To my knowledge, they never returned to Europe once they emigrated. Their land and sea voyage took them from Vysna Sebastova to Mahanoy City for a total distance of about 4500 miles.

5. In modern times, my maternal grandparents, Vernon Adams and Hazel Coleman,  moved to multiple homes between Calais, Maine and Ridgewood, New Jersey multiple times. All moves were made by car. My mother hated all the moves. However, no single move was longer than about 300 miles.

6. Of all my family members, I am the only one to move further west than Pennsylvania, so I guess I win first prize for the longest move in recent times, from New jersey to California, which is about 2775 miles, which I traveled by air.

Thanks, Randy, for this week’s challenge, This was fun.