“We have become not a melting pot but a beautiful mosaic. Different people, different beliefs, different yearnings, different hopes, different dreams.” ―
Somehow, I thought July 4 was on Saturday and woke up, realizing I had to make my traditional potato salad and blueberry pie. There is no real post except a short memory of my grandparents. Every year, I recall the perilous journey they undertook to reach the United States. They believed that there they could be free from what my grandmother called “Those Bolsheviks,” followed by a pretend spit on the floor. They suffered food shortages under the Tsars and then under the Communists. As a little girl, she told me she was chosen to give flowers to the Tsarina Alexandra, who traveled there with “that crazy priest” (Rasputin, perhaps?) Flowers for the tsarina, yet the people were starving.
They could not get permission to enter from Eastern Europe due to the fear of Communism. So they made their way to Austria, got citizenship, and then successfully applied to enter the US as Austrians. To the day my grandmother died, she was afraid she would be kicked out of the country since she wasn’t a “real Austrian.”
They joined extended family in Salem, Massachusetts, where I grew up. My grandfather worked in a leather tanning factory, and my grandmother worked in a textile mill. It was hard work, but they did it to give their children a better life. My father, who did not speak English until he entered first grade, would go on to be a doctor. My grandparents realized their dream and even owned their own home, had plenty to eat, especially her outstanding pierogis. Today, their names are engraved on the wall of Ellis Island, a donation my father made to remember them made this possible.
So, for the road they traveled to realize their dream of living a better life, I thank God for their vision and sacrifice. They are shining examples of those whom we all celebrate today.
Jeffrey Chalmers(Reply & quote selected text) (Reply to this comment)
Happy Independence Day to Dee & all who are part of this community. Thanks for sharing the story of your forebearers’ journey to America, Dee.
Todd Wilhelm(Reply & quote selected text) (Reply to this comment)
Todd Wilhelm,
Indeed. That was wonderful to read.
Afterburne(Reply & quote selected text) (Reply to this comment)
That. 🙂
That. 🙂
researcher(Reply & quote selected text) (Reply to this comment)
Thank you Dee for sharing your grandparents’ story. I think many TWW readers can see some of their strength and perseverance in the work you do to speak up for people let down by the church.
Christie24(Reply & quote selected text) (Reply to this comment)
Just a side note to Dee – one of my ggg- grandfather’s was a leather tanner, too. I can show you where he lived – on a farm, 10-12 minutes from my house
I love knowing our family histories.
I was very close to my grandparents and their siblings on both sides…. They told me stories – true stories.
On my mom’s side, I have very clear memories of my great-great grandmother – her name was Nancy. Her husband (my gggrandfather) and their 2 sons died in a coal mine cave-in in Breathitt County, KY.
All of those kinfolk instilled in me a curiosity to know more about our heritage.
I have found documented evidence to confirm some of the things I was told over the years, and quite a bit besides.
Some things I have been able to find records of and confirm-
My various ancestors arrived here between the late 1680’s and the late 1760’s. They came from Scotland, Ireland, and Switzerland….. (I suspect one branch came from England, but I have not been able to confirm). To the best of my knowledge, all of my ancestors arrived before the American Revolution.
One of my g-grandfather’s (whom I remember) was a Finley. I am a very, very, very distant cousin to John Finley ~ the man who led Daniel Boone through Cumberland Gap.
.
At least one of my ancestors fought in the American Revolution. His father provided grain for the soldiers horses and allowed the soldiers to stay in his barns.
At least two of my ancestors fought in the Civil War…. Union soldiers in the Kentucky Infantry.
A ggg-grandfather and his son-in-law, my gg-grandfather. My gg-grandfather was captured by confederate troops in a skirmish near Fairview, KY and imprisoned in Bowling Green, KY….. the Confederate capital of Kentucky. When he was released, he had a severe case of measles and he walked all the way home – about 60 miles on dirt roads. Both of these Union soldiers are buried ‘across the holler’ from my house. I have helped clean that cemetery and visited their graves many, many times….
Hubby and I live on land that was owned by the ggg-grandfather…… walking distance from where his house was. We have about 80 acres that used to be his. I have copies of the deeds and his last will and testament. My brother’s farm also belonged to him.
We are part of the 6th gen to live in this area……(my nieces and their sons are the 7th and 8th gens)……. We are located in between the Jefferson Davis birthplace in Fairview, KY and the Confederate capital of KY, Bowling Green……and our ancestors fought to free slaves. Kentucky truly was ‘a house divided’.
Nancy2(aka)Kevlar(Reply & quote selected text) (Reply to this comment)
very meaningful, dee.
seems to me citizenship (whether earthly or heavenly) is how we live, not in perfunctory words, language, labels or signatures on paperwork).
elastigirl(Reply & quote selected text) (Reply to this comment)
Around the same time my Covenanter ancestors were imprisoned for not going to the right church.
Lowlandseer(Reply & quote selected text) (Reply to this comment)
Lowlandseer,
“Imprisoned for not going to the right church”
So much for the romantic good old days. History is very educational, yet sadly, few are educated by it even when it repeats itself.
Ian Docker(Reply & quote selected text) (Reply to this comment)
Yes, many of my ancestors had to leave their country under duress. They were serfs who rented small holdings in return for working for the landowner. When they attempted to organize, the church (which aligned with the landowners) persecuted them for holding unsactioned religious gatherings…
Several of the recent immigrants fought in the Civil War in exchange for additional land on their homesteads.
I would like to think of them as heroes…. However, the story becomes much darker as some hunted Indians for bounties. During the mid-1860s, bounties were $200 per scalp.
Christians escaping persecution, helping one group avoid it, only to kill another for cash…
davewis(Reply & quote selected text) (Reply to this comment)
Very true, there never ever was such a thing as the ‘good old days’:
“Don’t long for “the good old days.” This is not wise. Wisdom is even better when you have money. Both are a benefit as you go through life. Wisdom and money can get you almost anything, but only wisdom can save your life.”
— Ecclesiastes 7:10-12 —
Muff Potter(Reply & quote selected text) (Reply to this comment)
Sounds more like a Biblical CHRISTIAN Nation to me.
Headless Unicorn Guy(Reply & quote selected text) (Reply to this comment)
Some of my ancestors met the first boat so to speak, and resented the illegal alien invasion.
Some came as indentured servants or Irish slaves, and went on to generate wealth and become slave holders:(
Some came as wealthy refugees, having fled France as they were Huguenots, and were planters. One was Thomas Jefferson’s college roommate.
Others came fleeing various parts of England, Scotland, and Ireland, most before the Revolutionary War.
Hubby’s grandpa came over at 13, 50 cents in his pocket and promise of a job, cot behind the business, and sponsorship to get here. We learned long after he died that his ethnicity and faith were different from the Austrian Catholic he had presented himself to family as. Rest of hubby’s side came over around the turn of the 20th century also. We “found grandpa” on the ship’s lading at Ellis Island (highly recommend) and had copies printed. Doubt we return to the Big Apple. Wish we had gone to the Holocaust Museum.
To all of them, a big thank you for all they did for this country, including my dad who fought at Peleliu.
linda(Reply & quote selected text) (Reply to this comment)
And a big thank you to you too linda.
My dad flew a B-17 in the air war over Germany (1944).
He and one of the waist gunners were the only two out of the original 10 man crew who survived all 25 missions.
Muff Potter(Reply & quote selected text) (Reply to this comment)
Headless Unicorn Guy,
Thanks for the heads ups & advice.
Please be mindful that I get enlightened and educated by the articles and numerous comments and sometimes respond through my small phone. This is not because I’m a minimalist, which isn’t a bad idea, but because I’m told I need make do.
Still happy married though.
Regards. ID
Ian Docker(Reply & quote selected text) (Reply to this comment)
Mine spent two-three years slinging powder bags into the breech of a six-inch gun in number-four main battery turret of the USS Cleveland.
Headless Unicorn Guy(Reply & quote selected text) (Reply to this comment)
Such rich history represented in the stories shared above.
For myself, on one side, some were French Hugenots fleeing persecution. Another branch on the same side was a British soldier who stayed after the British lost.
On the other side I have distant relation to Jefferson Davis. On that same side, following a different branch up and then back down, there is distant relation to Robert E. Lee. I had heard that another, who was a Doctor, attended wounded Confederate soldiers – and had his slave there with him.
Afterburne(Reply & quote selected text) (Reply to this comment)
The USS Cleveland had a distinguished career in WWII. It earned 13 Battle Stars.
Ras al Ghul(Reply & quote selected text) (Reply to this comment)
I’m glad your grandparents made it here, Dee. I, too, love the family histories – how it wasn’t all that long ago for a lot of us that our first ancestors arrived here. On my mother’s side, it was my grandparents in the early 1900s.
I recommend the book Echoes of a Native Land by Serge Schmemann. He’s a newspaper correspondent who got into Russia before and after the USSR fell apart in order to research mostly his mother’s family, minor country landlords. It’s really instructive as to the very different attitudes of Russians of every class over the last couple of centuries. I think it would shed some more light on your family’s circumstances and the times in Russia.
D.
dainca(Reply & quote selected text) (Reply to this comment)
“Charlie Love Five Five” also had a reputation as a lucky ship.
Headless Unicorn Guy(Reply & quote selected text) (Reply to this comment)