By DEB NICKLAY, Of The Globe Gazette

ELLIS ISLAND, New York City - More than 100 years after his ancestors came here, Ben Sime came to retrace their first steps onto Ellis Island Saturday.

"Five generations later, and here I am," Sime saidin an area that once served as a registry area for immigrants. "It's pretty amazing."

Sime, as well as his fellow Mason City Concert Choir members, toured the island museum as part of the choir's New York City activities that conclude with their performance at Lincoln Center on Monday.

Ellis Island, a major immigration port from 1892 to 1924, was studied by the students as part of a history project. All were required to research and write papers on one branch of their family history, whether their ancestors came through Ellis or not. The trip was a culmination of that project.

Those whose ancestors disembarked in New York found a special kind of interest in Ellis, which is today a research center as well as a museum.

The museum offers pictorial displays and video tours of the port. Students, ferried from Battery Park, visited the large registry hall, baggage areas, as well as an outdoor wall on which the names of immigrants have been inscribed.

Sime, 17, said he was particularly lucky to have his Great-great Aunt Marie Nieldatter's crossing recounted in a diary she kept during the journey from her native Norway. She made the crossing in August and September of 1895 with her father, Niels, and brother, Severin.

Marie wrote that, "It hurt me so when they (fellow travelers) asked me if I have left Norway and told it goodbye forever. No indeed. It is surely my wish that I may see it again with all its mountains and valleys."

Other research projects held surprises, students said. Adam Bruns found that his ancestor, Frank Formanek, traveled to America at the age of 14 with his 12-year-old sister in tow. Their parents were left behind in Czechoslovakia.

Emily Meinecke's ancestors, with the last name of Cooke and Warren, missed Ellis Island by more than a few years. They traveled to America via the Mayflower.

Sime echoed the thoughts of many students, who did not know much about their family's route to the United States before the project

"It was interesting, because I knew none of that," Sime said. "I'm still not sure why they left Norway; the diary never says. But you still make a connection."

Marie, on the final day of her journey into the New York harbor, wrote:

"Just think. Soon we will be spread to many winds. We are watching our trip into the harbor, by the light of the lovely moonlight. It is all lit up now on every side of us and they are casting anchor.

"We can see the Statue of Liberty standing there, a real beacon from our new country."

Deb Nicklay is covering the activities of the choir during their time in New York City.

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