Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Immigrants

New York has always been a place where immigrants enter the country.  They come in, grab a toehold and hope for a better life.

My father was an immigrant.  In 1950, he came in a boat to New York, knowing no one and having no money.  He built a life and created a family.  He changed his name from Rolf to Ralph and worked to lose his accent.  (I was named Ralph Jr. after him.)  Fortunately, my dad is still alive and well, living in Florida.

The presence of immigrants in New York is visible by the ethnic names floating around.  Today, I was on my way to court and saw this sign.  The name on it is striking, don't you think?

Do you have any immigrant stories?  When did your family come to this country?


22 comments:

  1. Great post ... Interesting name on the building.

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  2. Over here they seem to not be really used to immigrants yet, some peeps still seem to be scared of everything different. I'm talking of the modern immigrants of course, as immigrants have always existed. My both parents are offsprings from immigrants. (All of us have immigrants somewhere in the ancestry ;D)

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  3. Wow. That's an ancient greek name you know. And surprisingly it was the name of my grandfather (my father's father actually). It's kind of a rare name and judging by the same last name on this sign, the doctor is probably from Cyprus. Weird, non? Thinking about you Ally. Kisses :)

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    1. So happy to hear from you, dimi! Of course, I was thinking of you when I created this post.

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    2. You're so sweet... Glad you're enjoying your Halloween! Many wishes!

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  4. That is certainly an unmistakable and very impressive Greek name isn't it? I was born in New Zealand from mixed heritage, Scottish on my mother's side and Maori-Scottish on my father's side. My children were born in London and here in Australia from Scottish-Irish descent. I love family history. x

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  5. While I have several interesting immigration stories in my family's history that I've discovered through my genealogy research over the years, the one that will always stand out most poignantly for me is far more recent.

    My own darling husband is a native son of Italy, and so we had to work our way through the tedious, long drawn out labyrinth that is the Canadian immigration system for several years before he was finally able to apply for Canadian citizenship. There were numerous stags and permits (temporary worker, spousal sponsorship, etc) on this rocky road which was paved with uncertainty and the nagging feeling that we could never completely settle down roots here in my (our) beloved Canada (my home country) until he became a citizen, because without that, there was always the risk that something might go wrong with the process and we'd have to leave the country. Thank goodness, such was not the case and that in June of 2012, after passing the citizenship exam with a perfect score, he was able to take part in a citizenship ceremony a few weeks later and finally, at long last, become a full fledged canuck. It was, I'd honestly say, the happiest day of my life.

    ♥ Jessica

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  6. it is interesting! my maternal Grandad was from Barcelona, although for a while I thought he was Argentinian, sadly my Mother wasn't fond of him so I am unable to ask questions, I have to ask other family members - I would love to research more x x

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  7. My mother's parents immigrated from Norway. They were young and newly married when they left in the middle of the night because my grandmother's parents didn't want her to go! Funny to think of them a rebellious! I was able to go with my mom to Norway a few years ago and meet many of our relatives. Wonderful time connecting with my family history.

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  8. I'm third generation off the boat from Scotland on my dad's side. My great-grandfther ( a concert vilinist) came over in 1905ish. He worked in a granite quarry for a bit before becoming an accountant for the B&O railroad and working for the govt. during WW1. He died during the flu epidemic of 1918 leaving 5 children from 8 yrs down to 8 months.

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  9. I'm sure some of my ancestors come from the Polish area, but since Germany had its borders changed so often, a lot of people I know have some 'foerign' ancestors somewhere in their family tree.

    -Kati

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  10. My dad's great grandparents immigrated here from Norway because they were in trouble with the law over some farmland. Something to do with not paying their rent, so they ran to the United States!

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    1. So you're the descendant of outlaws! I believe that... :-)

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  11. My grandparents on my Father's side are from England, and my Great Grandparents on my Mother's side are from Poland. My Gramps (Mother's Father) is a "mutt", his father being from Germany and his mother being Native American. He is very handsome though, he kinda looks like Elvis with a darker skin tone!

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  12. Cool. My mother was a mutt, too. She lived in Brooklyn and was a cross-pollination of several ethnicities.

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  13. My husband has relatives in Canada and someone in his family went to New York, but only the canadian part is alive now. When I visited NY the view of Ellis Island moved me a lot, many italians came to look for fortune...Hugs

    Fashion and Cookies

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  14. That's an odd last name on the building ...
    My family also migrated. I cannot imagine leaving everything behind and starting a new life elsewhere with nobody knowing or helping you. It takes courage.
    In my case I have Yugoslav, French and Spanish - what a mixture !

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  15. Interesting!

    I'm pretty up on my family history, but it's been at least 4-6 generations on both sides. In fact, on my maternal grandfather's side - they've been here for the longest as Native Americans. Otherwise my family hails from England (Spencer, up two sides) and Scotland (McKenzie).

    As for my husband's family, they're French (Bertrand) and German (??), but they've also been located in the US South for at least 4-5 generations that I know of.

    So I just consider myself Southern through and through.

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  16. This is so interesting. Every family has a story.

    North America is built on immigration. Not many of the original natives are left.

    My family came from England and Germany.

    My husband is from France and followed me to Canada. I am very grateful since I don't know too many people who would leave Nice in the south of France to come to Canada.

    bisous
    Suzanne

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  17. Was your father German? I'm curious whether he passed his native language on to you? (I'm guessing not, since he changed his name and tried to lose his accent.)

    Much of my family is Quebecois in origin. My great-grandparents moved with their young family just across the border to Northern New York in the 1940s. My grandfather was five at the time. My mother remembers that they spoke only French to her and her siblings, but if my grandfather ever spoke the language, I never knew. It was during the very assimilationist mid-20th century, and none of the branches of my family retained any of their native languages (French and Mohawk) or much of their culture past this time period of 'blending into the American way.'

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    1. Yes, my dad was born in Germany. He came here in 1950 when it wasn't popular to be German so he strove to assimilate. He never spoke German to us and I wasn't exposed to that language or culture.

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