Told by Elizabeth Ferraro
Retold by Tina Ferraro
Written by Elizabeth Ferraro
The Irish Story
The Irish Story
| My name is Elizabeth Howard. I lived in County Clare, Ireland. My family includes my four brothers, John, Thomas, Danno and Mikko, my four sisters, Lena, Margaret, Mary and Delia and my parents. My sister and brother could not live with us in our own house. My sister lived with my mother’s parents and my brother lived with my dad’s parents. Then my sister, Mary, said that she was immigrating to England. |
The England Story
| A few months after my sister left for England, my family got a telephone call. My sister had asked me to immigrate to England for a job in the same hospital. I hesitated, not knowing what to say but then I said yes. I started to pack my clothes, shoes, dresses, and "underwearable" clothing. I had to leave behind every thing like my records. In a week, I was on the plane to go to England. I was the second immigrant in my family. I was seventeen when I left and it was the year 1955. I felt happy and sad. Sad for leaving the country I have lived in all my life but happy to start a new life in another country. My sister was the only person I knew in the new country. My job in England was cooking for the doctors although my sister helped in the kitchen. I lived with other people that had a job there. My sister Lena came and immigrated here along with my brothers Danno and Thomas. |
| Two years later I was reading a newspaper with my friends and I saw ads in the newspaper for the United States. I started to read the ads and something caught my eye. I saw an ad that said about helping a family. A few days later I answered the ad and addressed it to the company. Then, one day, I got a letter saying I got the job. I went to Dublin and took tests and applications and I got a ticket to arrive. After I went home and started to pack, the same way with the same things before. A few days later I was taking a plane to the United States. |
The United States Story
| The plane ride was eleven hours long. There were one hundred people on the plane with me, all from Scotland and England. I took the plane from London to Scotland and then to New York. I was nineteen and it was the year nineteen fifty-seven when I came here. I stopped at what is now Idlewild airport but now know what is known know as Kennedy Airport. I did not arrive at Ellis Island but when I got off the plane, they served me with merchandise. The person I saw was the Agency woman. She took me to the city where the Rosenblutes lived. Then I saw them. I got home. All my life I made and shopped for their food. I lived with the family. Then I got married. |
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