Names and dates on a family tree are one thing; stories about those individuals are much more interesting. Hamilton Holt served as editor and publisher of the liberal weekly magazine The Independent in New York from 1897 to 1921. In 1906 he published a collection of immigrants' life stories as The Life Stories of Undistinguished Americans As Told By Themselves (published 1906). 

The book is available free online thanks to the Harvard University Library. There are many stories of immigrants, including that of an Irish cook. Here's the link, thanks to FamilySearch: https://familysearch.org/blog/en/lives-immigrant-ancestors/#comments