In another thread there the subject of when and why families came here. That subject holds fascination for me. (not because my family was so special) But rather it is the mundane that has changed America.
My father’s family came from the Ukraine, Nemerov (or some other spelling), starting in the 1880s. On one side the father had two wives and 11 (or so) children. The children who came here were from the second wife. The rest of the kids were murdered during World War 2.
Mr. Ellebud’s mother’s family migrated from France to Canada in 1650.
My father’s family moved to the part of Brooklyn that was Italian. When my father was “invited” to join a social group when he was 16…the Forty Thieves…my grandmother and grandfather moved to New Jersey to a cousin’s farm.
And yes, if you are calculating ages…my father was born very “late” in those days…my father was old when I was born…and I am not in my forties.
Yes, the history of each family taken together is the history of this country.
I have deep roots in this country. I’ve traced my father’s side back to 1660 when they came from England. I’ve found the family’s pre-Revolutionary war gravestones in early pioneer cemetaries.
My mother’s family came with the great German migration of the mid-1800’s to the midwest. Some of their diaries have survived. They recorded how they learned English before they came, they saved their money to buy farms when they got here and they described the way it felt to be free from the despotic rule of the German princes of the time. Very moving.
Mother’s side: Grandfather came from Hungary in the 1920s, went back after his father died in the US. Grandmother (British) moved to Spain with Grandfather and then they moved to the US in the 1960s. My mom grew up between the US, Spain, and England and has dual citizenship between Spain and US. My uncles have British and US citizenship. Go figure lol.
Father’s side: Jewish German/Russian grandmother came over in the 30s (I believe) when she was very young and they started passing anti-Jew laws in Germany. She and her brother and sister came over with an uncle who was already here with her parents intending on following. They never made it (entire family was wiped out in the Holocaust) and her uncle raised them as his own. Father’s dad’s side came over from Ireland in the 1860s and from French Canada in the 1880s.
All branches ended up living in Detroit and working in the factories. They each lived in different ethnic neighborhoods in and around Detroit.
Paternal Grandmother’s family—Dutch to NY 1689 and England to Pennsylvania 1704 (lots of Revolutionary war activity and documents and one great,great grandparent owned a large amount of land in NYC a portion of which became Central Park)
Paternal Grandfather 's family—Sweden to NY 1829 and Ireland to NY 1844
Maternal Grandparents —London to Pasadena, Ca 1922
Mixed in there—(on paternal side) — Scots, Danes, and more Swedes
I can tell you that when my paternal grandfather married my grandmother it was quite a scandal. A dentist no less ----not the sort of catch for an member of upperclass NYC’s Dutch-English society. And he moved her to Lima, OH. The horror! Married to a half Swede half Irish no less. Families that had their portraits painted by John Singer Seargent just didnt do that “sort of thing”.
My mother’s family on her dad’s side can be traced back to sailing with Christopher Columbus, but they came to the states in the 1870’s. They came from Italy and from money and quickly made quite a name for themselves. Some of the NYC people on this board would probably recognize a certain relative’s name. Her mother’s side dates to about the same time frame, also from Italy but not as prominent.
My dad’s father was from a poor Polish Catholic family that arrived in NH to work in the mills sometime in the late1800’s. His mother was from a family that had left the Pennsylvania Dutch. She left the midwest for NH after HS and met my grandfather. Her side did not attend the wedding because he was older with a former broken engagement, an immigrant’s kid, and Catholic. His family wouldn’t go because she was not Catholic, not Polish and too young. Everyone eventually accepted everyone else and my dad grew up dividing his summers between the two families on vacations. My parents met in college and the SES differences were not a problem on either side.
My H’s family on both sides is from Louisiana with ancestors who were slaves on the rice plantations. He parents were both from a small “black” town in the northern part of the state and moved north as part of the Great Migration. We don’t know how long his people were in the US prior to that. D would like to explore the family history. She was really taken with her visit to Cape Coast Castle in Ghana last year, where so many slaves came through before being shipped to the US.
On my mother’s side, one side of her family came from France before 1700 and the other were Dutch settlers in Manhattan also prior to 1700. Her father’s family is a mystery. He was a foundling in the early 1900s. My father’s family is an official first family of Ohio and Maryland, tracing back to Scotland and arriving here before 1700. My husband’s family immigrated to Ellis Island from Italy in the 1900s. He has the immigrant experience, but I have no family memory of that.
My DH family on his mother’s side was awarded a governship from His Majesty, but they had all become colonialists by the Revolutionary War. His paternal side jumped ship from the Royal Navy in and hid out with the other Irish immigrants in New York City. My adopted side of the family came much later, Dutch immigrants in the 1900s and French immigrants. My biological side came from England and Scotland-one with an indentured servant contract. When I think of the immigration program, only the Colonial governor and the indentured servant came legally.
Farthest back in my family: England to the Massachusetts Bay Colony 1647
Most recent: Happykid Venezuela to Maryland 1998. She was born abroad when we were living in the country where Happydad (born in Cuba) had grown up.
At the present moment, all the immigrants in my family are legal, and there is only one Cuban/Venezuelan aunt who is still counting down the days until she can file the citizenship paperwork. Whew!
@stugace - Having had to learn a second language as an adult, and having taught adult ESL classes, I can understand that your mom may still be far from feeling comfortable with English The biggest reason is that adults simply don’t spend as much time immersed in the new language as kids do. Most adult ESL students spend less time in class each week than their kids do in one day. Adults also often have a lot of responsibilities (running the house, working, etc.) and can’t take the time to practice the language that they are learning the same way that their kids can.
My maternal grandfather’s family has been here since the 18th century. I found an ancestor who fought in the Revolutionary War. No idea on my maternal grandmother’s side.
My Dad’s grandparents arrived from northern Italy very early in the 20th century. Both of my paternal grandparents were born here although my grandfather was taken back to Italy and raised there.
On my mom’s side my grandmothers family (German Jews) came to the states in the mid-1800’s. My grandmother was born here in 1901. My grandfather’s father came from the part of Russia that went back and forth between Russia and Poland. My Great Grandfather came over sometime during 1890’s with the oldest child and kept going back until there was only my Great Grandmother and my grandfather left. My grandfather was conceived on one of my Great Grandfather’s trips to pick up another child. Grandfather was born in Russia/Poland in 1900 and I think came here in 1901. They Great Grandfather and his family all came through Ellis Island so when they were doing the renovation we bought a stone for the Great Hall entrance. My Great Grandfather brothers and sisters also came during the same time.
So, as far as we know - no close family were in Europe/Russia at the time of the Holocaust.
My Grandmother on my dad’s side came in to the US on a trip in 1916 from Kiev, that her grandparents, who she lived with because her parents had been killed in a buggy accident, sent her one for her 18th birthday. She got stuck in NY when the Russian Revolution started and never went back (for obvious reasons.) She had cousins in New Haven, CT so ended up there.
My grandfather on my fathers side came from somewhere in Russia in 1914. He landed in Galveston, Texas but had distant relatives in New Haven, CT so that is where he went and met my grandmother. Both my grandmother & grandfather had no siblings and my grandfather died when my dad was 14 - so we really don’t know a lot of his family’s history.
My mother’s grandfathers both came here in the 1870s (father) and 1880s (mother) from what was then the Russian Pale of Settlement (rural Jewish ghettos, effectively); one was a draft dodger, the other a deserter. Her maternal grandfather was very successful at business, and sent all six of his children to fancy colleges – very uncommon among Russian Jews at the time. Her father’s family was working class, although he was related at the second- or third-cousin level to a whole bunch of celebrities or parents of celebrities. (Steven Spielberg is a fourth cousin.) I don’t know as much about my father’s family, except they originally came from Poland and the Ukraine about the same time. Both of his parents were born here in 1900. Both sides of his family were small businessmen who operated close to the line (on either side of it) between legitimate business and the mob in northern New Jersey.
My wife’s family were Polish Jews who came a generation later, in the teens I believe. Her grandparents were all born in Poland; her parents were born here. Her father’s family were Communists who lived on the Upper West Side; her mother’s family Orthodox Jews in the Bronx.
I think it was due to her age when she had to pick up another language. We also immigrated to this country slightly “too old” (but still at a age younger than your mother.)
We came here in 1984. but we still think we are still not very fluent in speaking English even today – kind of embarassing to admit this after so many years. (We had no problem with day-to-day written English though, even before we came here. There was lack of opportunity to pick up spoken English before we came here.) When we raised our child (he was born in this country), we had some lingering concern that we could embarrass our child just because of our less than perfect English skills. When our child was in preschool or elementary school, we kept hiring native English speaking “mom/teen/preteen” as English tutors to teach our child English whenever we could - we could not afford “professional English tutors.”. (Now my grownup S needs to “deal with” another family who have even more troubles in English. I am not sure whether he would now think our English is, relatively speaking, not that “bad.” LOL.)
When I first came to this country, I only had money for one year of cost of living at a graduate school (a relatively expensive one, a UC.) So I finished my master program in one year. I really did not have any other choice due to the lack of financial resources, unless I continued onto a PhD program which would financially support me (but I was reluctant to do so due to my age at that time.) My wife did not follow me here at first, also due to the lack of financial resources at that time.
Looking at my kids’ background-- that is, taking into consideration both Mr Petrichor’s family and my own-- someone is emigrating from somewhere nearly every generation, going back to pre-Revolutionary days (and as recently as one of my in-laws). It’s a very typical American story, I think: looking for economic improvement, transportation by the British judicial system, avoidance of forced conscription, at least one war bride…
I just wish my kids were as interested in the stories as I am. Maybe when they’re older.
Mine
Maternal Grandmother ~ French Jewish, came to the US with my GF in the late 1920’s
Maternal Grandfather ~ French Catholic
Paternal GM ~ Italian Catholic (they both came to the US separately early in the 1900s)
Paternal GF ~ Italian Sicilian Catholic/Sicilian Jewish mix parentage
DH’s
Maternal GM ~ Irish Catholic (they were both born in the US)
Maternal GF ~ Irish Catholic
Paternal GM ~ German Jewish (they both came to the US together before WWII)
Paternal GF ~ German Jewish
My lineage is relatively new to the United States, with my parents only having come here around ~22 years ago.
In our country, many don’t really attempt to leave the country. Out of those who do, few make the journey the whole way, since they have to do it mostly on foot. My mother actually had to make the journey when she pregnant with my older sister, so I can’t imagine how stressful the journey was for her.
My father’s side started to come over in 1632 with some late comers arriving in 1832. They started in Connecticut and moved on to Western NY. My mother came to this country in 1949 from Canada.