My father came from Italy when he was 18: Tell the story of your European family in a blurb. - Page 2

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - My father came from Italy when he was 18: Tell the story of your European family in a blurb. (Page 2 of 2)

Posted: 4/18/2015 10:09:43 PM EDT

[#1]

My direct ancestor came to the colonies about 1680.

He was Scotch-Irish, and probably an indentured servant.

The family did well, by the time of the War of Northern Aggression, we had turned the corner, and owned many slaves.

(We can say that, right? With Ben the Gay Batman being so damn squeamish about facts, I have to check)

Posted: 4/18/2015 10:11:05 PM EDT

[#2]

My great great great great (great?) granddad left England and landed in Boston in the 1640's.

Posted: 4/18/2015 10:12:07 PM EDT

[#3]

I *am* the European side.

Moved to the US and became an American citizen.

Posted: 4/18/2015 11:24:59 PM EDT

[#4]

My great grandfather (Wallace) on dad's side came here from Scotland, when the ship got to New York ( !800's) the captain was arrested because of treatment of those below deck, lack of food and conditions. Many died and the captain and crew members pocketed the monies paid, instead of buying supplies. He then made his way to northern Wisconsin.

Going back 8 generations the male members of the family are as follows.
Jacob Jr. ...my Grand son
Jacob.........my son
Russell........me
Orval...........Dad
Alonso........Grand Dad
Wallace.......Great Grand Dad
Philander.....Great Great Grand Dad
Russell.......Great Great Great Grand Dad

Posted: 4/18/2015 11:58:47 PM EDT

[#5]

My mother's family (Bonnington) came from Scotland by way of New Zealand. In New Zealand some of my relatives owned the Bonnington's Irish Moss cough syrup company. There are still relatives in Scotland and there is even still a Bonnington manor house which operates a rented guest house. My uncle has traveled quite a bit and visited many of the relatives. My wife and I would like to go and see it some time in the next few years. We were in the UK during our honeymoon and unfortunately I didn't even think of visiting the place at the time.

I know very little about my dad's ancestors other than his great grandmother was French immigrant. My grandmother spoke only French when she started elementary school in Minnesota, I believe.. I'm not very close with her and so I've never really had a chance to ask her much about her family's history.

Unfortunately my dad's father's family history is sort of mysterious due to some possible involvement with organized crime, and it was not something my dad's father talked a lot about. He died when my dad was five. I don't know where the family came from or much about its origins, but the name (Wyman) has possible German or Jewish roots. If I had to guess it was probably a name whose spelling was changed at some point after immigrating to the US, so it could've been either or both.

Posted: 4/19/2015 12:08:11 AM EDT

[#6]

Moms side of the family . Great Great ????? was brought here from debtors prison . Served in the Revolutionary War . Lost some toes from frostbite at Valley Forge . Another Great was Confederate General in the Civil War . Grandma came from Northern Italy in 1900 with so many other family , Tognarelli , Demuzio , Vadalabene , Galiardo , Trionnie god knows who else .
Dad came from Scotland after WWII retired as a Ozark Airline Captain , flew for Air America (If any of you Schleps know what that was for) , Flying Tigers (was friends with Earthquake McGoon) , and RAF . Greatest American there ever was God I miss the old rotten Bastard he was a fucking prick but for good reason

Posted: 4/19/2015 12:14:09 AM EDT

[#7]

It's my understanding the first one of my family came here in 1622 as an indentured servant.

Posted: 4/19/2015 12:26:25 AM EDT

[#8]

Mom's side of the family is 100% Sicilian, me and my brothers are the first generation of non-100% Sicilians.
Her parents came across the Atlantic on a steamship in the early 1900's.
My sister-in-law traced the family back to the early 1400's.

Dad's side of the family, his father came from Sweden, his mom came from Norway.
They both crossed the Atlantic in the early 1910's.
My sister-in-law traced my dads family back to the late 1600's and his mom's family to the early 1800's.

Posted: 4/19/2015 1:01:12 AM EDT

[#9]

Dad's side left England in the mid 1630s during the big Protestant
Migration to the Americas. Landed in Charlestown MA (Boston), and spread
to CT, VT and NY over the span of a couple of generations.
Mom's
side is less documented, and the trail has stopped at their departure from France (to England). They were Huguenots who fled France in the 1620s to escape the religious fighting between the Catholics and Protestants. They also
came to America in the mid 1630s, also landing in Charlestown, and
spreading into CT and VT over the span of a couple of generations.
On
both sides, Mom and Dad were the ones who spread out from the old
stomping grounds, along with some of the children of their siblings.
Both sides are currently in the 14th generation here in the good 'ol US of A.

Posted: 4/19/2015 1:06:31 AM EDT

[#10]

I'm a descendant of King Richard The LionHearted, who spent a of time executing the Crusades. Yeah family tree!

Posted: 4/19/2015 1:22:12 AM EDT

[#11]

Not sure about my dad's side. I mean I know but they were here a looong time.

My mom's side:

My grandpa was raised by a full Swede immigrant father and a Full Jewish immigrant mother, he grew up without knowing either culture. BOTH of my great-grandparents were so gratefull to be in the US, that they left their entire cultures behind. They both spent hours learning English and that's all they taught their kids. They never even taught their backgrounds other than family history. Their kids were BORN AMERICAN and they damn well were going to be American, and prove how gratefull they were to be here.

My Grandmother was half-Spanish (Spanish father) and a local woman from back east who refused to talk about her past. Same deal, not a HINT of the Spanish culture.

They worked hard their whole lives, my grandmother is still alive.

Quite a difference,

When he was alive my grandfather mentioned many times how gratefull his parents were to be American, and did everything they could to BECOME Americans...............you know...instead of demanding Swedish words be used on stuff and bow to their own background.

Posted: 4/19/2015 1:47:55 AM EDT

[#12]

My great grandfather Grgo, came over in 1919 from the Vranja/Boljun area of modern day Croatia. At the time the country was in a bit of a crisis, going from Austrian rule to Italian. His twin children had just been born, my grandfather Michael, and his sister Mary. He came to America to make a better life for them, as he was from a small farming community. When he came over he was listed as Italian, in a later census he was of Austrian heritage. Both are right and yet so wrong.

He lands at Ellis Island, then moves on to Chicago. Over the next ten years he becomes a citizen and makes a home for his family. In 1929 he returned to Croatia to retrieve them. Somewhere in those ten years his wife had died and her sister had been taking care of the kids. After bringing them home he marries his sister in law and had one more child, George.

My grandfather Michael joins the navy during WWII and retires shortly before Vietnam serving 20+ years as an enlisted man and nco. He was a radio/electronics tech. Somewhere in there Michael marries Barbara and they have 3 kids, my dad and his older sisters. After the navy he settles down and manages a few restaurants and country clubs and raises his children.

I never got to meet Grgo, he died when I was very young. I only met Michael a dozen times, him and my father had a strained relationship until later in Michaels life, at which point he was in poor health and very hard to talk to/understand.

Posted: 4/19/2015 1:58:54 AM EDT

[#13]

Father's side of the family moved here from France in the late 60's. My grandfather, who was a French soldier, met my grandmother who was at a NATO base in France. She was married to an American soldier at the time but I guess my grandfather'a charm persuaded her to leave him. They started their family in France and moved to the French speaking part of Louisiana to because my grandfather didn't speak English. He got a job working offshore on oil rigs. He later taught himself English but he still has a strong accent. Hardest working man I know and never complains. He has undying love for his family, even through the passing of his wife and one of his sons, my father. A perfect example of who a man should strive to be.

Posted: 4/19/2015 2:00:57 AM EDT

[#14]

Quote History

Quoted:
Father's side of the family moved here from France in the late 60's. My grandfather, who was a French soldier, met my grandmother who was at a NATO base in France. She was married to an American soldier at the time but I guess my grandfather'a charm persuaded her to leave him. They started their family in France and moved to the French speaking part of Louisiana to because my grandfather didn't speak English. He got a job working offshore on oil rigs. He later taught himself English but he still has a strong accent. Hardest working man I know and never complains. He has undying love for his family, even through the passing of his wife and one of his sons, my father. A perfect example of who a man should strive to be.

View Quote

Did I mention he loves the U.S.? Shoots guns and rides motorcycles with a patriotic art helmet

Posted: 4/19/2015 2:04:53 AM EDT

[#15]

My ancestor Dad's side landed in the Virginia Colony in Jamestown in the 1630's - name withheld.

On my Mother's side (Cockrell) they came in the Charles Town (Charleston) in Carolina around the same time and settled on the frontier along the Saluda River.

Posted: 4/19/2015 2:27:03 AM EDT

[#16]

Part of my family is German and they fled the Russians at the end of WWII. My great-aunt watched her brother and father get executed on the roadside because they had served in the military. Then the Russians stole their oxen and mule. Her two uncles left Germany pre-WWII and moved to New York City, then Winnipeg and later Los Angeles. An aunt of mine grew up speaking German in L.A. until 8th grade when her Dad said they're only to speak English. This was in the 40's-50's. Can you imagine an all German school in L.A. today? It isn't surprising that the area has gone to shit since those times. The language of industry and prosperity.

My great-grandfather emigrated to Nebraska post-WWI from Germany with his mom. Supposedly he had a family with a previous woman there and then got divorced and married my great-grandmother and had three more kids. No one knows what happened to him, but when I checked open source records, it looks like he may have died sometime in 1944 in Canada.

My English relatives show up on the continent in 1682 with William Penn. He founded a town that is now named Bordentown: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bordentown,_New_Jersey Some family was here before him though.

Posted: 4/19/2015 2:40:53 AM EDT

[#17]

My parents came to Canada to work in the mid 70's. They ended up working at Syncrude for the Alberta oilsands. They did that for a couple years and went back to Sweden. I was born and a few years later we emigrated to Canada. My grandfather (my mom's dad) was Tage Flisberg, a famous Swedish ping pong player.

Posted: 4/19/2015 2:44:46 AM EDT

[#18]

Great great grandfather was a German Baron: Johann Gottlieb von Strunk. My great grand father was the "second son", so he inherited zilch when the Baron kicked the can. He decided "fuck this Euro shit, I'm moving to the midwest to become a dairy farmer." He lived happily ever after. A big branch of the family tree stayed over there and were probably killed off in the world wars...

Posted: 4/19/2015 3:00:37 AM EDT

[#19]

All I know, is that my dad's side came from Germany, and my mom's side came from Sweden...

I don't do the whole family thing to well...

Posted: 4/19/2015 3:49:35 AM EDT

[#20]

Dad's family is from County Westmeath, Ireland. Mom's family is from Moycullen in County Galway.

Dad's side - my great-great-grandmother sent three of her sons to the US to raise money to convert the family farm to a cattle ranch. None of them went back. Four generations later we're on our fourth generation of Boston cops. I didn't follow in their footsteps. One of my great-uncles was fired in the Boston Police strike of 1919. My mother's father was also BPD but was fired for threatening a judge in divorce court in the late 1950's.

The family still owns the farm in County Westmeath. Grampa went to visit many years ago but they wouldn't let him on the property. They thought that he was coming to claim his inheritance (the farm). He was the oldest son of the oldest son.....

Mom's family were farmers too, and still own the farm (on her mother's side). I became friend's with someone just after I got home from the Army. Turns out we graduated from Airborne school in the same class and ETS'd the same month. It wasn't until six years later we realized we were cousins. His grandfather and my grandmother grew up in the same house. What are the chances? I should have know - he's also a Boston cop. We figured it out because we'd both been researching our family trees and decided to compare notes - we both had the same people throughout our trees.

My great-grandfather on my mother's side (his son was the one who threatened a judge) went to Canada and enlisted in the Canadian Army after becoming a US citizen (I don't know why, but found the records on ancestry.com). The Canadian Army released him to serve in the US Army once the US jumped into WWI. He died in a soldier's home. According to their records he had bad teeth.

Posted: 4/19/2015 4:43:23 AM EDT

[#21]

You know you are eligible for Italian citizenship dude?

My moms grandfather was born in Sicily and with his brothers they imigrated to the Philippines.

I hold Hungarian, Philippine, Italian and also American citizenship.

Dad escaped Hungary in 1956 and was one of the street fighters.

He studied in Vienna Technical university until 1963 and as god as my witness, his visa to the states sponsored by NASA was signed by JFK himself when he visited Vienna to meet Krushchev.

Proud of my dad especially that he still remembers on how to shoot the PPSH41.

Worked for NASA on the Apollo lunar module with his bosses being on Von Brauns rocket team.

My mom was born in the Philippines and got to the states on the Navy program for Filipinos. She was a navy nurse for 6 years based in Japan and Okinawa during the Vietnam war. She got her green card after finishing her term.

I don't have anyone in my family that has been in the states up until the late 50's except my moms oldest brother, he died in Vietnam as a Marine staff Sergeant. Clarence Tolentino. He was studying at UCLA for pre medicine when he got drafted and stayed a lifer.

Proud of my immigrant parents, they worked hard and love America but they travel alot and go fishing alot also.

Earliest ancestor in my dads side immigrated to New York during the American civil war but he died in Andersonville and after that, nobody returned to America with the warning they gave that if you come to America...you will be drafted and be killed.

That seems to have been the case for my dad, he was drafted despite being with Nasa and he couldn't get a deferral but luckily didn't end up in Vietnam but Germany because his English sucked and he spoke fluent German.

Posted: 4/19/2015 6:40:58 AM EDT

[#22]

Most of my ancestors have been here since right after the last Ice Age.

My father's side is traceable to the mid 16th century, and they've lived in the same area since 1620, when the King gave them a land grant which is still preserved in the national archives.

My mother's side is mostly bourgeoisie and nobility. The oldest recorded ancestor fled Babylon during the Muslim conquest in the 7th century, and his daughter eventually married into French royalty, which is why his name was recorded.

Posted: 4/19/2015 7:01:33 AM EDT

[#23]

tag

Posted: 4/19/2015 8:11:18 AM EDT

[#24]

My dad's side came from France to New Orleans in 1848, my mom's from Germany to Iowa shortly before WW1

Posted: 4/19/2015 8:19:14 AM EDT

[#25]

My Great Grandfather came over from Switzerland in spring of 1907, and the rest of his family followed that fall.

I found the documentation on the Ellis Island website. It shows the ships passenger manifest and a picture of the actual ship. Very cool site.

You have to create an account to see the actual records.

Ellis Island Passenger Search

Posted: 4/19/2015 8:22:23 AM EDT

[#26]

I moved here in 2000 at age 21 from the Netherlands. Chasing an opportunity, looking for a chance to make this country my own.

Posted: 4/19/2015 8:45:14 AM EDT

[#27]

Rome has a large Muslim population, but that is not all of Italy. The economy is bad, but tradition is still alive. My sister took a job in Italy a few years ago. She visited my Aunt in Calabria, and decided to stay. She is married, and has become an Italian citizen.
Your father's story is similar to my father's(We are about the same age). The part about coming to America for a better life. Once here, My father took a different path. My father only cared about himself. He was a selfish asshole that abandoned his family. He is near death, and continues to argue with me about being a conservative republican.
Your father sounds like a great man. You should be proud. The whole world is changing, and there is nothing we can do. If anything, He should visit to see the wonder of Italy that is hidden by the main stream media.

Posted: 4/19/2015 8:45:14 AM EDT

[#28]

Great grandfather ran luxury hotels in the mountains over in Europe.

Two wealthy American families would frequently vacation there. The Vanderbilt and the Astor families.
They liked his operations so well, the Astor's invited to bring him over via luxury liner to America and run their hotels. He came over first class and educated so they didn't mess with our last name at immigration.
The family liked what he was doing so much, they made him the financial advisor for the family. From what I had heard, we were pretty well off....

.....until that whole "Great Depression" thing, where he lost a load of both families money.

Posted: 4/19/2015 11:52:19 AM EDT

[#29]

Are King George III family allowed to tell their stories also?

Posted: 4/19/2015 8:54:15 PM EDT

[#30]

Quote History

Quoted:

Rome has a large Muslim population, but that is not all of Italy. The economy is bad, but tradition is still alive. My sister took a job in Italy a few years ago. She visited my Aunt in Calabria, and decided to stay. She is married, and has become an Italian citizen.

Your father's story is similar to my father's(We are about the same age). The part about coming to America for a better life. Once here, My father took a different path. My father only cared about himself. He was a selfish asshole that abandoned his family. He is near death, and continues to argue with me about being a conservative republican.

Your father sounds like a great man. You should be proud. The whole world is changing, and there is nothing we can do. If anything, He should visit to see the wonder of Italy that is hidden by the main stream media.

View Quote

Thank you. Sorry about your dad but indirectly, he raised a repub. LOL. So he did well.

Posted: 4/19/2015 8:56:00 PM EDT

[#31]

Potato famine.

Posted: 4/19/2015 8:59:48 PM EDT

[#32]

Dad was a Black Panther, mom was KKK.

I have mixed feelings.

Posted: 4/19/2015 9:28:49 PM EDT

[#33]

FWIW: My family is all from the same area, mostly one small town. Farmers, the lot of them. I'm the first one that's really flown the coop overseas.

Posted: 4/19/2015 9:35:07 PM EDT

[#34]

Great, great, great grand father immigrated from Hamburg in 1850; served in the Confederate Calvary.

Posted: 4/19/2015 9:36:29 PM EDT

[#35]

Two Wingnut brothers were found guilty of killing a buck in 1765 in East Sussex England and sentenced to a 10 Pound fine and deportation to America. One brother went to Maryland, the other to GA. I'm from the GA one.

Posted: 4/19/2015 9:46:36 PM EDT

[#36]

My Grandfather came here from Northern Ireland when he was 18, joined the Navy and killed Nazis. Spends his days drinking whiskey and Guinness at 94 years old in sunny Arizona.

Dads side came from Germany in the late 1800s and survived the Jamestown floods and worked in the mines. His sons worked in the mines, and his grandsons worked in the mines. Then they worked the steel mills until they closed the doors.

Maternal lines on both sides were German on mothers and English/Scottish on fathers. Lots of history on those sides.

Posted: 4/19/2015 9:59:34 PM EDT

[#37]

My dad was in the USAF and was stationed in England in the 1960's. He met a young English Girl, fell in love and married her. They both moved back to USA after his tour where me and my brother were born. A few years and a divorce later my mum, brother and me were back in England.

When I turned 18 I got on a plane and came back to the USA, I haven't been back to England since. I used to visit my dad every year and always said I would live here,

my brother still lives in England

.

Posted: 4/19/2015 10:06:50 PM EDT

[#38]

Two brothers from Wales were sentenced to 10 years indentured service in the New World for poaching a deer, which in 1665 was pretty much a death sentence. Their line is now about 5500 people spread over the whole country.

Posted: 4/20/2015 1:20:01 AM EDT

[#39]

My mother was born in a rural area of Germany in 1942 (I'm not sure we ever figured out where). Her father was of Ukrainian descent, although everyone always thought they looked Swiss, apparently. They lived on a farm, until just after the war, when they were relocated to an old interment camp that had been re-purposed to hold refugees. This was somewhere near Biberach, although I don't remember which camp we think it was. She also spent about six months in a sanatorium run by a French religious order. It seems, she had grown quite ill after running away from the camp, and eventually was diagnosed with tuberculosis. Eventually, they decided to head to the US, where some of her father's family had been living. As Europeans, particularly from Germany, were looked upon with great disdain at the time, my mother quickly lost her accent, and did her best to assimilate. Her father was a contractor, mainly working as a carpenter, and electrician. He also worked as a cobbler at one point.

My father's side has been in the US since the mid-to-late 1800s. His maternal grandparents were from near Budapest, Hungary, and on his father's side, they were German and Alsatian. His paternal grandmother actually came from Dublin, Ireland, but her family name was Herbert, and they most likely came from western Germany (or possibly Alsace). I haven't been able to do enough digging to get into their records. I don't know why any of them came to the US, specifically, but there were a lot of engineers, a couple of local politicians, a sheriff, and a couple of civil-servants.

Posted: 4/20/2015 1:42:55 AM EDT

[#40]

Great great granddad came over from Poland and Elis island messed up his name so we have no idea about anything previous.

Posted: 4/20/2015 2:03:29 AM EDT

[#41]

Paternal great-great grandfather came from Lucca, Italy probably around 1870. Ran a butcher shop and raised cattle in what is now part of the 'wine country' in Northern Ca. Great-grandfather and grandfather married into English and Irish families, respectively.

Maternal family arived from the Azores probably just before the 1920s and settled in Marin co, CA (what is now Muir Woods). They ran a dairy until that land became worth something, sold it and got into livestock auctioning.

Posted: 4/20/2015 2:10:42 AM EDT

[#42]

Wife's grandfather was from Gap, France. He and a brother came here in early 1900's. Brother got money for transit from working in Tahiti. One came through Panama, no canal at the time. The other came through Canada. They worked on the LA-SF rail line but quit because it was dangerous. Wife's grandfather worked briefly for milkman but felt he was not going anywhere....guy was Knudsen...Knudsen Dairy.

. Came to Orange County and started farming.

Posted: 4/20/2015 7:35:42 AM EDT

[#43]

Maternal grandparents came from Italy in 1927 and bought a grocery store.
They worked six days a week from 6:00 AM until 6:00 PM for 42 years.
They never became millionaires, but they never wanted for anything, either.

Paternal grandparents came from Italy in 1917.
Grandfather worked as a tailor and started buying property.
Again, he never became a millionaire, but he provided for his family.

They believed in the American Dream and made it a reality.

Posted: 4/20/2015 1:24:10 PM EDT

[#44]

OP, your people are probably from Campobasso, Molise, Italy. The town is about 143 miles ESE of Rome.

I knew a guy with that surname way back, Campobasso. He was a real good guy.

BTW, go to Italy sometime if you have the chance. It's a terrific place to visit.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - My father came from Italy when he was 18: Tell the story of your European family in a blurb. (Page 2 of 2)

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