Comment from Meia (MESAYERS)

Excellent

"As a second money crop, grape vines were planted and eventually the grapes became a thriving wine business. Your great grandfather was a brilliant businessman. He didn't do anything without thinking of how it would benefit his family."

The acre of vines was still standing when I was a little girl. Some early memories have me playing under the branches. I can remember my great-grandmother telling my mother, "Guarda come ella proveniva direttamente dall'Italia." She looks like she came straight from Italy. At my great-grandparents compound, I was the little darling, "La mia bellezza." My beauty. ' This reminds me of my own family history. How charming. Wonderful work my friend love Meia x

 Comment Written 24-Apr-2017

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reply by the author on 24-Apr-2017

Hi Meia; thank you for your lovely review. This was a joy to write. I had to use a translating program to get the Italian right because while I can hear the words in my mind - I had no idea how anything was spelled. Your kind words warm my heart,
~patty~xoxoxo

Comment from JW

Excellent

Thanks for sharing this story about your grandparents and how the came to America and lived on a farm. In reading this I could not help but smile.

My grandparents also had a farm, but it was in Illinios. Myself, a city-slicker during my youth, lived on a farm during my teenage years. JW

 Comment Written 24-Apr-2017

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reply by the author on 24-Apr-2017

Hi JW; thank you for your lovely review. I was lucky - I grew up in the suburbs, but every summer, I went to my Aunt's farm. I knew how to milk a cow and buck hay with the best of them. I'm glad you had a similar experience,
~patty~

Comment from judiverse

Excellent

A wonderful story of your immigrant grandparents. You were fortunate to have stories about their life after coming to America. One of my aunts traced her ancestry back quite a ways, and it is interesting. Many of the immigrants had a hard time of it. You mentioned the names the Italians were called, and so it was with the Irish and other nationalities as well. So many went on to succeed admirably at their ventures in America. The appreciated their opportunity to make good, and I think that's a quality that many immigrants today lack. Your ancestors didn't think they were owed anything. They just went to work. judi

 Comment Written 24-Apr-2017

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reply by the author on 24-Apr-2017

Hi judi; I do agree that the immigrants of the 19th and 20th centuries worked harder and expected less. They were used for the hard work and many of them were able to better their lives and those of the generations that followed. All of my great uncles, and cousins, learned trades. My husband's ancestry can be traced through Ireland, and the names for the Irish were worst than those of the Italians - but racial slurs still haven't gone away. Thank you for reading and reviewing,
~patty~

reply by judiverse on 24-Apr-2017

You're welcome. A very interesting article. My home state (Indiana) had immigrants coming from many different countries, many to work in the coal mines. judi

Comment from Thomas Bowling

Excellent

My father dreamed of the day he could find some land and start a farm

This is a different breed of immigrants than the ones coming to America today.

Thanks for this interesting story.

 Comment Written 24-Apr-2017

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reply by the author on 24-Apr-2017

Hi Thomas; thank you for stopping by to read and review. I appreciate your warm remarks,
~patty~

Comment from dovemarie

Exceptional

Dear patty, Excellent story about immigration to America! My grandparents came from Greece, and they died within eight months of each other. Good business on the part of your Nonno, too! Dove

 Comment Written 24-Apr-2017

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reply by the author on 24-Apr-2017

Hi Dove; thank you so much for your review. How long ago was it that your grandparents came over? Isn't it funny the things our relatives had in common? My Nonno was a brilliant man - in spite of his lack of formal education,
~patty~

reply by dovemarie on 25-Apr-2017

Dear patty, My grandparents might have come over from Greece in early 20th century - their first child, my aunt, was born here in 1910, so I think they came over in just at the turn of the century, or sometime in the beginning of the 1900s. I hope to go to Greece someday. Dove

Comment from nancy_e_davis

Excellent

This is a wonderful story about your ancestry,Patty. You Great Grandfather was indeed a very smart man who made a place for himself and many others in the land of opportunity. A wonderful success story and I enjoyed it very much. Nancy

 Comment Written 24-Apr-2017

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reply by the author on 24-Apr-2017

Hi Nancy; thank you so much for stopping by to read and review. I enjoyed sharing this story. Nonno was a wonderful man,
~patty~

Comment from c_lucas

Excellent

Over the years, land was used and reused. We will never know how many civilizations left evidence of their growth under modern metropolis. This is very well written with a smooth flow of words.

 Comment Written 24-Apr-2017

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reply by the author on 24-Apr-2017

thank you so much for stopping by. Your words of encouragement meant a great deal to me. I'm thankful you thought this piece was well written - it was a labor of love,
~patty~

Comment from wondertwin

Excellent

This was a very sweet story to read. You incorporated history, culture and family in this writing beautifully with good balance. Sorry to read in your author notes that corporate took over your families land...
Blessings, AmyJo

 Comment Written 24-Apr-2017

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reply by the author on 24-Apr-2017

Hi AmyJo; thank you so much for stopping by to read and review. I appreciate your kind words of encouragement. Yes, it was sad to see the land turned into a hospital, but it was a nice inheritance for my grandmother and her sisters,
~patty~

Comment from ronnie k

Exceptional

A wonderful write, I grew up in a neighbor of Italian, one just a few blacks, calarbic in facts so this write gave me joyous moment shared with a neighbor, he owned a bakery and was willing and always ready too share his coming to America, thank for some very pleasant timed.

 Comment Written 24-Apr-2017

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reply by the author on 24-Apr-2017

thank you for stopping by to read and review this latest chapter in my memoirs. I'm so glad it gave you some good memories of your neighbor. I love the smell of bakeries, and I can only imagine that your neighbor baked some of my favorite Italian pastries,
~patty~

Comment from MelB

Excellent

I'm not sure immigration is being frowned upon, it's just being changed for people to come in legally. Unless something new has happened that I don't know about. This is an interesting piece of family history. My mom's side is Italian also. So sad that the houses were knocked down.

 Comment Written 24-Apr-2017

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reply by the author on 24-Apr-2017

Hi Mel; the rules haven't been changed YET. There is talk of limiting the numbers of people from all countries to migrate to the United States. Since we aren't allowing people to come from six countries at all, and Trump has indicated that he would like to make America great again. While watching the debates and his interviews last year, he made it clear that he frowns on immigration from anywhere. Pretty amazing since he is married to an immigrant now, and has been in the past, too.

Thank you for reading my story, and your warm review,
~patty~