Aunt Jennie

After my paternal grandmother's death, it left just my aunt Jennie alone in that big old house. She was the oldest of nine children. The only one born in Italy who came with my grandmother to Ellis Island, New York at the age of four in 1911. She was originally named Vincenta, but like a …

My Grandfather Carmelo

I never knew my paternal grandfather. He died 9 years before I was born at the age of 65. Never sick a day until a blood clot situated itself on his lung and took him quickly. He was alone in his bed. What I know about him were the stories I heard and the research …

Searching For My Family

my paternal grandparents My paternal grandmother died when I was 6 years old. I don't have any photos of her, but her face is permanently etched in my memory. (my sister did find this one photo) A careworn, very strong Sicilian face. She came to America on the ship: "Mendoza" from Realmonte, Grgenti, Italy with …

First Cousin Marriages

In Italy during the 1800s marriages were often arranged by the parents. The couple to be wed would go to a notary to write down a record of what each would be bringing into the marriage. Such things as houses, lands, furniture, pots, pans, dishes, even sheets and pillows. This assured that the new couple …

Old Photos

(Agrigento, Italy) I'm in the process of clearing out one of the spare rooms upstairs. It mostly has bookcases, old tables, childhood toys and just miscellaneous stuff. I was going through some old photographs which were stacked among the books. It left me feeling very nostalgic and sentimental and longing for "home." Although I live …

The Light In Her Hand

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” Emma Lazarus Ellis island, the "golden door" to America. Some 12 million immigrants between 1892 and 1954 poured into New …