Visiting?

[Peter Spering]

Would it have been likely that a person who had emigrated from England to America, to "pop back" to visit family? I know this probably sounds like a very ignorant thing to ask, but I would've thought making trans-Atlantic journeys would be quite a big undertaking in the 1920s.

[groom]

Depends if they could afford it. I have seen quite a few people on passenger lists who returned for a couple of months to visit their family. 

[Peter Spering]

Well her husband was a manager of a store in Buffalo, though I don't think that doesn't really say much by itself.

[groom]

Have you found her on passenger lists?

[Jebber]

I have several examples in various branches of my family, to mention just two.

My father and his first wife sailed from England to Canada for their honeymoon in 1910, they certainly were not wealthy, he was a clerk at the time.

Another relative who was far from wealthy went to America and came back in 1911 to visit her family. Sailing back to  America on the Titanic, she was picked up by the Carpathia. Undaunted by the experience, she made two further trips back to visit her family.

[Peter Spering]

@Groom Yes. From what I can make out, she left from Liverpool to Canada in 1926, followed by a discrepancy; according to FamilySearch, she crossed the borders and moved to New York in March 1931, but she appears on the 1930 US Census.

Anyway, in 1935, she's recorded as having left Liverpool and heading straight back to New York via a White Star ship.

@Jebber Thanks for the insight!

[aghadowey]

Such visits probably weren't that uncommon. My great-grandfather who ended up in a 2 up 2 down row house in Philadelphia (with a family of ten children) returned to Ireland to visit his mother and a few years later 2 of his daughters visited relatives in Ireland. They returned to America with their mother's elder sister who stayed for a few months then went back to Ireland.

[a-l]

I don't think it was unusual . My family left England in mid 1800's for USA and they returned to visit quite often.