Reply #12: Actually, I don't believe that. [View All]

Just a thought, mind you, I don't have any stats for this. But I have a hard time believing that a tremendous number of people didn't just get off boats in Boston, Baltimore, New Orleans, San Francisco, etc. and wander away into the country, or wander across the Canadian or Mexican borders without checking in with anyone.

My own family, on my father's side, lived along the St Clair River.Both sides, sometimes in Ontario, sometimes in Michigan. When my uncle, who was born in Canada, married my aunt, who was born in Michigan, he just moved in with her and her family. No one even gave any thought to paperwork. (That was in the 1920s).

I don't think anyone ought to be too sure that their family came here "legally". It defies logic to think that the border was less porous a hundred years ago than it is now.