ROOTS & BRANCHES

I’ve been going to nationwide genealogy conferences for a couple of decades now, which can leave you a little jaundiced when you (once again) listen to a vendor’s pitch about how her or she has the newest, greatest, etc., item that will set the family history world on fire.

But once in a while—you are exposed to the real deal, and that’s what I found with Jim Antonisse, the founder and CEO of “Jimaworks,” which has put together a line of high-quality products that celebrate the journey of immigrants to America.

Jimaworks has two products that can be produced in a variety of different sizes and styles. ArrivalMaps™ are maps tailored to the date and ports of departure and arrival of individual families and include a plaque commemorating who came over.

While that’s cool enough, the second product, cleverly called RelationShips™, are ArrivalMaps™ that include a two-dimensional or three-dimensional rendition of the ship that brought the family to their new homeland!

Given that the teeter-totter point between Old and New Worlds is one of the holy grails of searching for many genealogists, I took a liking to Antonisse’s products right away.

You can go on the Jimaworks website and start filling in the immigration details to produce a mockup of your own immigrant experience.

The products offer a “visual tale” of the immigrant experience from showing the departure points (including original residence and port of embarkation), the journey across the sea, and the arrival (both in terms of port and final destination) along with the dates associated with these events.

One thing I liked immediately about the products is that Antonisse uses maps tailored to the time period of emigration rather than the modern-day boundaries, which shows historical sophistication and an eye for authenticity. These maps are annotated with the specific information about the client’s own immigrant family.

Jimaworks’ more traditional two-dimensional products are delivered unframed or framed, and the three-dimensional products—with a model of the shop that really pops out at you!— are delivered in wall-mounted or standalone displays, depending on the product tier and the customizations requested.

“The result is an attractive, high-fidelity rendering of the family’s transit to its new land and a fitting commemoration for all descendants to treasure,” the company’s website notes.

Antonisse himself is a first-generation immigrant from the Netherlands who “stepped off the boat” in 1958 in New Jersey aboard the Holland-America Line ship MS Maasdam.

His interest in oceangoing trade led to a personal project to create a museum-quality model of the ship on which he came. Antonisse thought others might have a similar interest, so he launched this company to promote commemorative displays of families’ crossings to the New World.

The website is www.jimaworks.com