Ellis Island — History.com Articles, Video, Pictures and Facts. 1630-1770 Ellis Island is little more than a spit of sand in the Hudson River, located just south of Manhattan. The Mohegan Indians who lived on the nearby shores call the island Kioshk, or Gull Island. In the 1630s, a Dutch man, Michael Paauw, acquires the island and renames it Oyster Island for the plentiful amounts of shellfish on its beaches. During the 1700s, it is known as Gibbet Island, for its gibbet, or gallows tree, used to hang men convicted of piracy. 1775-1865 Around the time of the Revolutionary War, the New York merchant Samuel Ellis purchases the island, and builds a tavern on it that caters to local fisherman.
Ellis dies in 1794, and in 1808 New York State buys the island from his family for $10,000. Meanwhile, the first federal immigration law, the Naturalization Act, is passed in 1790; it allows all white males living in the U.S. for two years to become citizens. Nearly 5 million people will arrive from northern and western Europe over the next 45 years. Home | Museum of the American Revolution. Ben.yippy.com // Yippy's Benjamin Franklin Portal. American Revolution Center : Collections Timeline. | LostWorlds.org.
Virtual Museum of New France. Franklin Remixed » Scientist and Inventor. LIBERTY! . Road to Revolution Game. A | More | Perfect | Union. Mission US | THIRTEEN. Learn Something Old!