"I was born in-" PrzecBaw.

PrzecBaw, you can do it, you can do it.

"PrzecBaw," That's right!

"Poland on September 5th, 1913.

My race is Hebrew."

"My race is Hebrew," isn't that interesting?

It's very interesting.

"I emigrated to the United States of America on December 1st, 1923 on the vessel-" Minnekahda.

"Minnekahda."

This is your grandfather's petition to become a citizen of the United States.

Have you ever heard of PrzecBaw?

I think my father had mentioned it at one point.

I remember him saying the word, and me saying, "What?"

PrzecBaw is a small town in Southeast Poland.

Its Jewish population dates back to the 16th century, but sometime in the early 1900s, the Messings decided to leave the past behind, likely in search of opportunities that they could not find at home.

The move would demand enormous sacrifices.

Morris's older sister Golda came first leaving for New York in 1913.

His brother Bernard followed seven years later.

And finally, Morris and his parents, Chaim and Ester, as well as two more siblings, arrived in 1923, reuniting a family that had been apart for a decade.

Wow.

That must have been just incredibly emotional.

The hardship of being separated for 10 years.

10-year period, anything could happen.

You know?

Wow.

Have you heard any family stories about their first few years in New York, fresh off the boat, so to speak?

No, no.

Please turn the page.

Debra, on the right, there, is the 1925 state census for New York.

Would you please read that transcribed section?

"Residents, 52 Pitt Street, city, New York, Chaim Messing, head of household, age 50, occupation, fruit market, own account.

Ester, wife, age 47, occupation, housewife.

Bernard, son, age 20, occupation, high school.

Samuel, son, age 18, occupation, high school.

Morris, son, age 12, occupation, school."

Wow.

So, that's your grandfather, Morris, his parents, and siblings just two years after arriving in America.

And at the time, they all lived at 52 Pitt Street in the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

So a one-room apartment probably.

Yeah, and you can see the building right there.

Wow!

Oh my gosh.

What's it like to see that?

These are your people, starting their lives afresh in America almost 100 ago?

It's really moving.

I mean, they're leaving everything that they've ever known and going to a new country just with no guarantees of anything, except just hope.

The Messings' hope would be rewarded.

By 1925, Debra's great-grandfather, Chaim, was living on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and supporting his family by working at a fruit market.

At the time, the neighborhood was the epicenter of Jewish life in New York City, home to almost 300,000 Jewish people.