Thanks so much, Emma! I know. Can you imagine? I'm going to research how and when the families learned one member was being sent back and how long they had to make decisions, plan and say goodby. They would see the chalk mark and Mike being put into a different line...
Wonderfully done, Rita! I don’t think I managed to comment on last week’s post BUT this was the perfect follow-up to it. For anyone who missed it, but read this, I recommend finding it and catching all the interesting information on the living folks you met, the furniture, china, and so on. It really connects the ‘generations’ of the family. Bravo!
I DO have loads of genealogy and history myself; I inherited a near-10,000 Ancestry database from my mother (her life’s work) and added hundreds of hours of oral history with others to add to a lot of it. Some things I am desperately sad about and others that make me equally proud, even though most of history simply seems to be where one ended up and what came along, or didn’t. Our ancestry is quite different, though there is some Italian immigrant heritage on my father’s side.
The Filgo folk ended up in Michigan and, in fact, are how my father came to be born in Detroit. I shall have to learn more of them and see what Mom found, where the hailed from, when they immigrated, etc. I know I have dozens of old Filgo B/W photos from the early 20th century (waiting with thousands of others to be scanned for posterity) but I know little of them. Stories, eh? Hmmmm, keep it coming, please! I look forward to more.
Thanks, Cyntia! That's a huge database you inherited. I gathered some of my geneology before the advent of ancestry.com or at least before the leaf hints popping up that makes it so much easier. Even if it was much more difficult earlier, there was always the thrill of the treasure hunt. How wonderful that you have so much oral history as well!
I'm learning more by doing this writing. Partly, I want to have it all down for the next generation. It's so easy for much of the information to be lost-photographs without names and dates on the back or fading ones, or just lack of time to devote to these pursuits. Thanks again, Cynthia!
Thank you for sharing these gems from your family history. I don’t think I quite grasped what Italian immigrants to US had to go through even though I heard bits and pieces but I think reading personal narratives helps more.
I noticed how not many Americans are connected to their immigrant family history (either due to genuine lack of access to it or lack of interest) that may make it partly difficult for them to empathize with modern-day immigrants especially those who were forced to move due to economic reasons or natural or man-made disasters. While certain things have changed, I still notice how the gap between wealthy versus poor migrants exists not just in US but elsewhere too.
Since tribalism is big in the GCC (sort have lessening with millennial and younger generations), the idea of not knowing one’s ancestry is taboo. While there are parts of this I can appreciate, what I don’t appreciate is when it gets linked to classism as you said to the point people talk about the need to marry into “good” families (with “good” being linked to powerful tribal names or how “pure” their Arab ancestry is or wealthy families or those whose members dominantly have “good” standard education depending on which family you talk to). We unfortunately have a segment of society whose origins are unknown (some who don’t know their biological parents) and as you can imagine they can have a hard time with such mainstream ideas. I am privileged to have had access to some ancestry records but often they focus on how successful/important they were and I have to dig deeper to understand more facets of them which I have not been able to outside of my immediate grandparents (1 pass before I was born, 2 died in recent years). Our family trees are also often are patrilineal so women names are not mentioned. I once asked mom where are the women and she joked “Glory to Allah. Men just sprouted from the earth” 😂 . Nut still learning about them did give me glimpses into histories of family values and how I too have been impacted by them even without me knowing full names and histories.
Thank you so much, Reema! I'm glad you enjoyed the read and appreciate you sharing some of your story and about family histories in another part of the world. You are right that many Americans are disconnected from their ancestry. Part of that is that their ancestors came to the U.S. so long ago. They've lost the food, traditions and stories and didn't know any of their immigrant ancestors. I am only second generation American, and my parents both spoke Italian.
Other people, whose ancestors were enslaved, often cannot trace their histories due to the horrible practice of only listing enslaved people by gender and age, not name, like they were objects instead of human beings. First nation people can have difficulty due to government policies that only allowed the option of Black or White on official documents.
Another factor was that everyday people didn't have last names for centuries. I'm always interested in name origins and what they might mean about an ancestor's personality, physical characteristic or place of origin. Have you seen the show, Finding Your Roots on PBS? I find it fascinating.
I have read about Arab countries that only list the names of men, extending back centuries, erasing women and their histories.
"Good family," as you probably know, has the same connotation here. All they need is money and status to be considered "good," and historically also above reproach, when money and status in no way correlate to good human beings.
People are learning so much about their ancestry, including many surprises, through DNA now.
I totally agree that knowing your own family's immigrant history brings more compassion for people immigrating today. So many are fleeing war and danger, and that is different from leaving one's country due to poverty or lack of opportunity. Some of my people fled after multiple earthquakes, but many Italian immigrants returned to Italy since it was safe to do so.
I’m loving reading about your family’s history, Rita. That moment of Mike getting the mark of rejection chalked on his back! Oh God.
Thanks so much, Emma! I know. Can you imagine? I'm going to research how and when the families learned one member was being sent back and how long they had to make decisions, plan and say goodby. They would see the chalk mark and Mike being put into a different line...
Wonderfully done, Rita! I don’t think I managed to comment on last week’s post BUT this was the perfect follow-up to it. For anyone who missed it, but read this, I recommend finding it and catching all the interesting information on the living folks you met, the furniture, china, and so on. It really connects the ‘generations’ of the family. Bravo!
I DO have loads of genealogy and history myself; I inherited a near-10,000 Ancestry database from my mother (her life’s work) and added hundreds of hours of oral history with others to add to a lot of it. Some things I am desperately sad about and others that make me equally proud, even though most of history simply seems to be where one ended up and what came along, or didn’t. Our ancestry is quite different, though there is some Italian immigrant heritage on my father’s side.
The Filgo folk ended up in Michigan and, in fact, are how my father came to be born in Detroit. I shall have to learn more of them and see what Mom found, where the hailed from, when they immigrated, etc. I know I have dozens of old Filgo B/W photos from the early 20th century (waiting with thousands of others to be scanned for posterity) but I know little of them. Stories, eh? Hmmmm, keep it coming, please! I look forward to more.
Thanks, Cyntia! That's a huge database you inherited. I gathered some of my geneology before the advent of ancestry.com or at least before the leaf hints popping up that makes it so much easier. Even if it was much more difficult earlier, there was always the thrill of the treasure hunt. How wonderful that you have so much oral history as well!
I'm learning more by doing this writing. Partly, I want to have it all down for the next generation. It's so easy for much of the information to be lost-photographs without names and dates on the back or fading ones, or just lack of time to devote to these pursuits. Thanks again, Cynthia!
Thank you for sharing these gems from your family history. I don’t think I quite grasped what Italian immigrants to US had to go through even though I heard bits and pieces but I think reading personal narratives helps more.
I noticed how not many Americans are connected to their immigrant family history (either due to genuine lack of access to it or lack of interest) that may make it partly difficult for them to empathize with modern-day immigrants especially those who were forced to move due to economic reasons or natural or man-made disasters. While certain things have changed, I still notice how the gap between wealthy versus poor migrants exists not just in US but elsewhere too.
Since tribalism is big in the GCC (sort have lessening with millennial and younger generations), the idea of not knowing one’s ancestry is taboo. While there are parts of this I can appreciate, what I don’t appreciate is when it gets linked to classism as you said to the point people talk about the need to marry into “good” families (with “good” being linked to powerful tribal names or how “pure” their Arab ancestry is or wealthy families or those whose members dominantly have “good” standard education depending on which family you talk to). We unfortunately have a segment of society whose origins are unknown (some who don’t know their biological parents) and as you can imagine they can have a hard time with such mainstream ideas. I am privileged to have had access to some ancestry records but often they focus on how successful/important they were and I have to dig deeper to understand more facets of them which I have not been able to outside of my immediate grandparents (1 pass before I was born, 2 died in recent years). Our family trees are also often are patrilineal so women names are not mentioned. I once asked mom where are the women and she joked “Glory to Allah. Men just sprouted from the earth” 😂 . Nut still learning about them did give me glimpses into histories of family values and how I too have been impacted by them even without me knowing full names and histories.
Thank you so much, Reema! I'm glad you enjoyed the read and appreciate you sharing some of your story and about family histories in another part of the world. You are right that many Americans are disconnected from their ancestry. Part of that is that their ancestors came to the U.S. so long ago. They've lost the food, traditions and stories and didn't know any of their immigrant ancestors. I am only second generation American, and my parents both spoke Italian.
Other people, whose ancestors were enslaved, often cannot trace their histories due to the horrible practice of only listing enslaved people by gender and age, not name, like they were objects instead of human beings. First nation people can have difficulty due to government policies that only allowed the option of Black or White on official documents.
Another factor was that everyday people didn't have last names for centuries. I'm always interested in name origins and what they might mean about an ancestor's personality, physical characteristic or place of origin. Have you seen the show, Finding Your Roots on PBS? I find it fascinating.
I have read about Arab countries that only list the names of men, extending back centuries, erasing women and their histories.
"Good family," as you probably know, has the same connotation here. All they need is money and status to be considered "good," and historically also above reproach, when money and status in no way correlate to good human beings.
People are learning so much about their ancestry, including many surprises, through DNA now.
I totally agree that knowing your own family's immigrant history brings more compassion for people immigrating today. So many are fleeing war and danger, and that is different from leaving one's country due to poverty or lack of opportunity. Some of my people fled after multiple earthquakes, but many Italian immigrants returned to Italy since it was safe to do so.