Richard Friedman sent me a note asking if his ancestors might have been on the same ship as Jumbo the Elephant from P. T. Barnum & Bailey. Richard descends from Abraham Snyder. His grandmother was Nachama, Abraham's daughter.
We already knew that the Snyders came over on the Assyrian Monarch and landed at Castle Garden on April 10, 1882. The ship's manifest shows that they were in steerage. The ship's captain was John Harrison. You can click on the image to make it larger.
On pages 6 & 7, we find the Snyder family, his married daughter and her husband, and the future husband of Abraham's daughter, Sarah. You can read more about this family here.
This manifest also shows us that the Snyders were in steerage for this trip.
The New York Times edition for April 10, 1882, shows us that Capt John Harrison was on this ship.
Sorry for the terrible print. If you have a newspaper.com subscription, try this link
The article states that William Newman, an American, was sent to England to escort Jumbo to the United States. He is the next to the last person on the ship's manifest:
Jumbo's trainer was Matthew Scott and the last name on the manifest is J Scott. Probably the same person.
I wonder how it might have been to disembark this ship at Castle Garden with all the newspaper reporters waiting for Jumbo. I wonder if they were allowed to see him while they were on the ship. If nothing else, it could have lead to some interesting conversations!
