My mother, Marigold Suico (née Villaroya), was born on November 7, 1968 in a small town called Cagayan de Oro in the Philippines. Her father was an attorney and her mother was a stay at home. My mother’s story was slightly unconventional compared to the other immigrant stories I’ve heard about. By comparison to her life in the United States, ... Read More »
As communism spread like wildfire across the vast land of China, my great grandfather made a decision. As soon as his father passed away he would pack up his family and take them to America. It was hard for his first son, George, to leave Chung Sar, a small village he had been raised in outside of Hong Kong. Things ... Read More »
Having a big dream is hard for anyone especially when you are living in a poor hopeless place and where you would have to end up leaving your family and the place you were born. Living in Haiti was hard. It was scary. It was very dangerous. Anyone can die or get robbed or get hurt by the environment in ... Read More »
Editor’s note: Slavery is an integral part of the American story and those who were forced to come to the US in chains, are no less immigrants than any other group. Not only was their freedom taken, but in many cases, their personal family history was lost. On this web site of immigration stories, we pick up their descendants’ story ... Read More »
Anna Fiorina immigrated to California in 1962 from Scotland. She was born in 1941 to an Italian/Scots couple named Armando(Andy) and Kathy Bertellotti. They had married in 1936 against their parents wishes ,partly because he was Italian and she a Scot and partly because of religion, Catholic and Protestant. They ran a small fish and chip shop in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire ... Read More »
I Am Poem I am from Guatemala and I want to be a nurse I wonder why the beach is very big I hear birds singing in the rainbow I see beautiful landscapes I want a very fun life I am from Guatemala and I want to be a nurse I pretend to be a very intelligent student I feel ... Read More »
A day came when an informant betrayed their subterfuge to Nazi soldiers and the family had to run to the foothills and take refuge in a cave for weeks or months. Giovanna Belforti lived on an affluent estate in Piacenza, Italy near Milan. In one of life’s ironies, Giovanna’s father designed weapons that were used by the Italian army in ... Read More »
Doris Stoddart McDonald was born in 1907 in the small town of Colchester, Ontario, just outside of London. Her maternal grandparents were from Devon and her father was the first in his family to emigrate from England to Canada. She always – from the time she was a little girl – wanted to be a nurse. After high school she ... Read More »