I had the opportunity almost 20 years ago to visit Ellis Island. It made me think about the incredible bravery of my great grandmother Mary Bertot-Begus who was the inspiration for ‘Longing for Home’. She traveled from Slovenia to Ellis Island as a 17 year old. The hall is tremendous, I imagine her heart was pounding when she finally got there and had to pass inspection. I had the urge to fall to my knees in gratitude. Just the thought of all the hopes and dreams of the people who passed through there made it feel more like a church than an immigration processing facility. Check out the virtual tour at http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/immigration/tour/. I found the record of my great grandmother’s trip through Ellis Island. It says that she came from Sostany. A little research revealed that the town is actually Soštanj. At the end of the 19th century it was part of Austria, now it is in Slovenia, which is just east of the north part of Italy. My Aunt says that great grandma said her family was in Croatia. Perhaps they moved there after she immigrated to the US, or maybe I’m wrong about where she came from.
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Lisa – congratulations on the book and the website. I look forward to reading it when it is published. I believe your blog will be interesting with insightful observations and comments. Hi to your webmaster!
I have the best webmaster in the world – Charlie Wayman. You can check out his photography at http://waymanphoto.smugmug.com/ Oh, and he took all the photos on the website.
My grandparents came over from Italy…my grandfather entered Ellis Isle by himself at 15 years of age. I remember hearing his story & thinking how brave he must have been. Looking forward to reading your book
It is amazing to me how young people were when they immigrated by themselves. Childhood was short if you were poor. That is probably also unfortunately true even now.