Your American Story

[Cadaverous Pallor]

My mom was born and raised in South Africa. My dad was from Chicago. They met and married in Israel and moved to LA when I was a baby. I have dual citizenship.

My dad's father was a first gen American and my dad's mother was born in the old country and moved here as a young girl. I get muddled on who was from where - his mom from Latvia I think, his dad's family from what was Yugoslavia.....though the family name is German....yeah I suck at the history, my family didn't really get into that stuff. All I know about their families is that my grandmother's father had a furniture business that he put his life into. My grandfather's family is a big blank, as his father was "a jerk" so I never heard much about it.

My mom always said she'd never have come to America of her own volition and she'd definitely be in Israel at this moment if my dad hadn't dragged her here. I never thought I was "first gen" when thinking of her side, since she isn't exactly here to pursue life liberty etc.

[BarTopDancer]

My mom is from Canada, my dad is from IL. Our history can be traced to Europe, countries that don't exist anymore but true records were lost in the war, or so it goes. Some family members did a tree but it doesn't go back on our line past the great greats.

My mom moved here in the late 60s after graduating nursing school in Canada. She moved in with her aunt and uncle and their son (my uber cool cuz) and knew no one else. My dad moved out here in the late 60s with his parents.

Not first gen American, but first gen Californian and will be the first to have a Bachelor degree (mom is an RN, dad is a programmer but they went to trade school).

I have dual citizenship between US and Canada. I used to not want it, I consider myself American but sometimes I think it would be nice to travel on a Canadian passport. I can travel to Cuba if I want. Not very "American" for this thread though...

[wendybeth]

Originally Posted by BarTopDancer

My mom is from Canada, my dad is from IL. Our history can be traced to Europe, countries that don't exist anymore but true records were lost in the war, or so it goes. Some family members did a tree but it doesn't go back on our line past the great greats.

My mom moved here in the late 60s after graduating nursing school in Canada. She moved in with her aunt and uncle and their son (my uber cool cuz) and knew no one else. My dad moved out here in the late 60s with his parents.

Not first gen American, but first gen Californian and will be the first to have a Bachelor degree (mom is an RN, dad is a programmer but they went to trade school).

I have dual citizenship between US and Canada. I used to not want it, I consider myself American but sometimes I think it would be nice to travel on a Canadian passport. I can travel to Cuba if I want. Not very "American" for this thread though...

The Cuban cigar section was the first place Eric hit when we were in Victoria. The embargo is beyond stupid.

[JWBear]

I forgot to mention that my great-great grandfather who fought in the Civil War was married to a full-blooded native-American woman. She was probably Lenape or Delaware - we don't know which.

[CoasterMatt]

My family is basically a bunch of extremely stubborn people, who came to America because somebody said they wouldn't do it.

[Strangler Lewis]

My father's family had the foresight--if foresight it can be called after having your assets confiscated--to leave Germany in the mid 1930s. The four children each left the country separately by ship in various kindertransports--three came to America and one went to Palestine. My father lived in various midwestern homes until his mother was able to reach Harlem by way of Cuba. My grandfather and many other relatives did not get out.

My mother's parents were both born here. Her father came from German and Austrian stock. Her mother's side was Sicilian. One of her sisters married a black man she met in a cult. They eventually left the cult. I have an aunt I've never met who is still a member.

I also have Parkinson' s Disease on both sides of my family. Not strictly on point, but it does concern me.

[Ghoulish Delight]

On my dad's side, my great grandfather, a Jew in Poland, deserted the Polish army pre-WWI. He started his family in London where he worked at the Phillip Morris cigarette factory. Phillip Morris gave jobs to a lot of the Jewish community in London, and, as odd as this sounds in today's terms, he allowed his employees to bring cigarette making materials home so their wives could earn extra income.

They eventually moved to Glasgow with two girls. In Glasgow the family grew by a boy and 3 more girls, the "baby" being born in 1905, currently living in Seattle and would be happy to tell you all about those 103 (and a half) years in between.

My grandmother, the hardhead of the family was the first to cross the pond. At 18 she was in Chicago, getting married. Her sisters followed shortly, thre settled with her in Chicago, the eldest in Canada. My grandmother with unfailing support from the youngest, ran the family business. She had a daughter with the husband she had married at 18. She divorced him, eventually remarried and had my father, 18+ years after his siter. He and his cousin were raised together by the siters and my aunt (with my grandmother doing less of the raising and more of the businessing as I understand).

I've never gotten the full story of the move west to California. But there wasn't a whole lot to it other than getting away from Chicago winters. Whcih is a perfectly reasonable reason. My dad was also motivated by not wanting to live the antiquing life (the business did well, but it's a difficult business to do, even if you're good), so he went to California for college.

I know less detail about my mom's side. My great grandparents escaped Russia. They also settled in the Chicago area. Their solution for the Chicago weather was to operate a resort in South Haven Michigan on the lake which earned the nickname "The Catskills of the Midwest" for its healthy Jewish resort industry. My mom grew up spending most of her summers at the resort, and much of that helping around the resort. Writing daily dinner menus and performing adorable song and dance numbers as entertainment for the guests.

But the resort culture passed, business dropped, and the resort eventualyl closed. And without the resort to escape to, the winters caught up with them and they eventually migrated west like so many others.

My parents met out here when they crossed paths in their young careers as LAUSD teachers which they both did until they retired in the past few years.

[Kevy Baby]

I once had wealth, power, and the love of a beautiful woman. Now I only have two things: my friends and... uh... my thermos. Huh? My story? Okay. It was never easy for me. I was born a poor black child. I remember the days, sittin' on the porch with my family, singin' and dancin' down in Mississippi.

[wendybeth]

Still looking for your 'Special Purpose', KB?

[Kevy Baby]

I actually got an L7 for that post.

I don't know a lot about my ancestry. The only immigration I know of in my family is that my great grandmother, who lived to be 107, came over from Germany (although I do not know when for sure without looking it up). I actually have the old family bible (in German) which recorded family births on that side of the family.

My great grandmother was a stubborn old coot. She walked on her own until she was about 100. Died with all her teeth and her vision completely intact. When she was 105, they found a lump on her breast. The doctors knew that operating on her would kill her, so they elected to let nature take its course. After several months, she was still alive and well and the lump was getting nasty (festering and oozing). So, despite knowing it would kill her, they decided to operate.

She came through surgery with flying colors, recovering as quickly as a woman in her thirties or forties.