52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks
Week 15 Prompt-Taxes
My grandmother McLaughlin's (Mary McLaughlin / Sullivan nee; Krikau) oral
history is such a family treasure. I must thank my cousin for asking
her about her life's story and my sister for writing it down and
keeping it. I have read it many times and many times I missed her
story about a failed border crossing due to a “head tax”. Her
second paragraph reads as follows:
“AFTER OUR STAY IN ROSTHERN WE WERE
ON OUR WAY TO CALIFORNIA, BUT WERE STOPPED IN WINNIPEG , MANITOBA AS
GRANDPA DID NOT HAVE ENOUGH MONEY TO PAY THE HEAD TAX FOR THE EIGHT
OF US. THE REASON WE WERE ON OUR WAY TO CALIFORNIA WAS A YOUNG
STOWAWAY ON THE BOAT THAT BROUGHT US FROM RUSSIA WAS REDEEMED BY
GRAMPA AND HE REPAYED GRAMPA BY SENDING HIM TICKETS FOR US TO GO TO
CALIFORNIA. GRAMPA DID NOT KNOW THAT THERE WOULD BE AN ADDI'TIIONAL
CHARGE OF AN HUNDRED DOLLARS A HEAD FOR US TO GO TO THE STATES. AS A
RESULT WE SPENT THE NEXT NUMBER OF YEARS IN WINNIPEG.”
Of course the reference to grandpa is
of her father, Andreas Krikau (1879 to 1946). The Krikaus were
Lutheran in faith and of deep religious conviction. It comes as no
surprise that he would have “redeemed” a passenger who was no
less the stowaway. What surprised me is that a stowaway was able to
get money together to send to Andreas for passage of him and his
family to California.
I delved into Ancestry to find the
border crossing that my grandmother spoke of. It did not help that the family was listed as "Krikan". The Border crossing
documents showed that on 29 August 1913 Andreas and family attempted
entry to the US with the intended destination of Sanger, CA. where
they were joining a "friend" Jacob Smith. The family was
denied entry – debarred was stamped across their names by American
authorities upon examination in Winnipeg. Documentation shows that
while tickets to Sanger had been paid for by Smith and thereby naming
them “assisted aliens”, Andreas did not have sufficient cash to
satisfy US requirements. The documentation showed that Andreas had
only 56 dollars in his possession.
I googled immigration and “head
taxes” for hours trying to find anything that might mention that
they needed to pay a tax per person including children. The only
reference to head tax was the infamous Chinese Head Tax that both
America and Canada levied against immigrants from China. Around this
time the authorities of United States was trying to tighten up
admissions to their country but generally had no limitations for
entrance except being sick or likely need assistance to live in the
US. It was not until 1917 that literacy was added as a restriction
to entry to USA. Andreas and family's native language was German.
I gather then that the American
authorities thought that Andreas Krikau did not have sufficient cash
to care for his family of eight in California.
At this pivotal moment this branch of
the Krikau tree became Canadians instead of Americans from
California. Eventually Andreas, his wife and all of their children
except Grandma McLaughlin became naturalized Americans. Grandma
McLaughlin was married to her first husband at the time her family
moved to the USA. Thus we are Canadian.
Can anyone tell me if there was a tax
imposed on immigrants? No matter where I looked I did not find one.
Wendy
 | ||
| August 1913 Failed Border Crossing |
No comments:
Post a Comment