By David A. Fryxell
Innovations and trends that shaped your ancestors' lives.
If your ancestors immigrated before the mid-19th century, their separation from home and family across the Atlantic was more complete than we can even imagine in this era of instantaneous global communication. A letter took at least 10 days by ship to reach Europe; not even the wealthy could get word overseas any faster.
That all changed 150 years ago when two ships, the Niagara and the Agamemnon — which had met in the middle of the Atlantic to splice a mammoth cable — reached their respective destinations. The Niagara arrived first, in Trinity Bay, Newfoundland, Aug. 4; the Agamemnon reached Valentia Island, Ireland, the next day. Each end of the cable was connected to telegraph lines on land. Finally, Aug. 16, 1858, Queen Victoria sent a congratulatory telegram across the Atlantic to President James Buchanan, expressing her hope that the history-making connection would represent “an additional link between the nations whose friendship is founded on their common interest and reciprocal esteem.” Buchanan effusively cabled back, “It is a triumph more glorious, because far more useful to mankind, than was ever won by conqueror on the field of battle.”
In New York City, a 100-gun salute greeted the news that telegraphy had at last bridged the Atlantic. Church bells rang, flags flew and all night long, the city's lights glowed with celebration. Cyrus West Field, the American businessman behind the project, was hailed as a modern Prometheus.