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as told by Pat Velez Lisnoff (mother) to Max |
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DATE OF ARRIVAL: April 22, 1960 |
| REASON FOR IMMIGRATING: My mother came to the USA because her father was afraid of the earthquakes in Mexico. The family knew enough about this country because her father's brother had been in the USA for some time. |
| LIFE GOALS: The main reason for moving to the USA was that no major earthquakes ever occurred in New York City. Life was a struggle in the beginning. Her father (my grandfather) lived in New York for a year before he brought his family to America. |
| LEVEL OF DIFFICULTY: Except for having to learn the language, life in the U.S.A. was not as difficult as it was for others. The family had the help of her uncle and his family to teach us and support us in many areas of life. It also helped that he had a well paying job. |
| AMERICAN
LIFESTYLE: The family loved the American lifestyle. It
seemed whatever you dreamed of could be achieved. A difficult
part of living in the U.S. was the need to learn the language “fast”
enough. People sometimes made fun of them if they did not speak correctly. Few people were prejudice of Hispanics. Yes, we quickly adapted to the lifestyle in America, especially in education. |
| TO STAY OR NOT: My mom's family decided to stay because of all the love and support they received, and with some adjustments, it almost seemed like Mexico. The family chose to relocate near the rest of the family which was in New York. They moved to their own three bedroom apartment four blocks away from her uncle. |
| TRANSPORTATION: My father, mother, brother, and I all arrived by plane. The trip took us five hours. It was a direct flight from Mexico to New York. |
| ARRANGEMENTS COMING TO THE USA: My uncle was living in New York and to help my father establish the family in the country, he put up a bond of $3,000 for the family to come to the USA. |
| OCCUPATION: I was only four years old when I arrived. However my father was an electrician and he could not be licensed in the US, so he worked as a mechanic for bowling alleys. He was given a reference letter from my uncle recommending him so it was not as difficult as it was for others trying to find jobs. |
| FEELINGS
OF LEAVING: Once the decision was made to leave Mexico, my parents
were very excited and welcomed the challenges.
FEELINGS OF ARRIVAL: When we arrived my mom was very sad; she left her father, a brother and a sister. My dad had left six sisters, and both of all their families. As time passed we learned we did have family in America and lots of support so we were lucky. |
| NEW
LAWS: The only new laws we had to get used to were we could not vote
or hold certain government jobs. The adjustment, however, was not
difficult.
OTHER ADJUSTMENTS: The major adjustment was finding Mexican food products. Although we ate most of the same foods as Americans, treats and tortillas we had to search for. Making new friends was hard because everyone in America seemed so busy. TREATMENT IN THE USA: The family was basically treated well. There were some signs of people not accepting Spanish people, perhaps because of our skin color, language, and eating habits. I believe the people who did not understand us were people who did not know our customs. |
| BELONGINGS:
We were only allowed to bring our clothes, one suitcase each, and a few
other pieces. We took very few things from our house in Mexico.
INCOME: Again , my dad had come here a year before moving the family and he had established himself as a mechanic, earning a basic income. TRAVELING: I traveled with my mom and brother. After my father was in America for a year, he felt he should establish himself before he brought the family so our quality of life would remain reasonable. IMMIGRATION OF FAMILY MEMBERS: Since we have been here, few of our relatives have immigrated to the USA. Only two of my cousins live in the USA, one in California and one in Indiana. |
| LEARNING
THE LANGUAGE: The whole family went to school to learn English. we
studied for six months and my mom studied for a year. It took my
brother and I one year to become 100% comfortable with speaking English.
My mom needed about another year because it was hard to understand the
slang.
EXPERIENCES IN THE USA: The good experiences in the USA were those with our family. They had their lives established here and they taught us how to survive. We learned from them all about American customs the different holidays. RETURNING TO THE MOTHER LAND: It took my mom thirteen years before she was able to return to Mexico. She had missed her family so much, that after reading letters and getting phone calls of the events happening in her family, she went back to Mexico for a month. |
| RETURN
OR NOT: My mom, dad, brother, and I would not return to Mexico to
live. After living here so long, it would be hard going back.
America has the best opportunities. We all have visited Mexico in
dreams of living there again, but the dream is just missing family, not
the lifestyle.
CLOTHES:
Our clothes were not much different, but we were looked upon as poor.
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| FAMILIES
REACTION: The family in Mexico was very sad, but understood why we
chose to try the challenge of living in America.
LIFE IN MEXICO: Life in Mexico is very similar to the USA, only because we were well off in Mexico and we lived in the capital city, so we had opportunities. My father only left because of the fear of earthquakes. |
| EDUCATION:
We all went to school in the USA. The children were put in school right
away, and my father always went to adult education classes on a multitude
of subjects and crafts. My mother also went to the local school to master
the language. My brother and I went to college.
SCHOOL EXPERIENCE: By the time all of us attended school we were accustomed to the American way of life, so we were comfortable. IMPORTANT FACTORS: The most important factors adjusting to the American way of life was family, the language and the customs. |
| RELIGION:
Religion was not hard for us since we had family who were of the same faith
and they helped us to move into that community.
ORGANIZATIONS: No, we did not join any organizations. Our lives were basically fine and so we continued our lifestyle. CITIZENSHIP:
No, I'm sorry to say I'm not a citizen. I went to Mexico when I was
nineteen years old but I got "family" and "patriotism" confused.
Now I know I must become a citizen of the USA, and it would make me so
proud, but it cost a lot of money, ($250. dollars). I have chosen
to work part-time and it's hard getting the
MISSING
MEXICO: I don't miss Mexico. I came here when I was young.
I do love the opportunities the USA gave my family. I ALWAYS keep
in touch with my relatives in Mexico. I write, call, and now email
them.
TRADITIONS: We have kept all our family traditions. We especially love "little Christmas". We bake a special cake with little plastic men inside the cake. The rules are you're allowed to cut the cake where ever you want to find the men. Who ever finds the men hosts the ritual the next year. |
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as told by Joseph Lisnoff (father) to Max |
| It all began when my great great great grandfather was born in county Roscommon, Ireland in 1845. His name was Luke Broderick. At that time in Ireland there was the great potato famine; most of the country was literally starving to death. My great great great grandfather's parents Luke Sr. and Mary decided that they wanted a better life and would head for America. In those days it wasn't as easy as today, where you could just hop on a plane and be here in five hours. They had to board a ship “Queen of the West” with just the clothes on their backs. My great great great grandfather was only four years old; he came with his mother, two brothers, and his sister named Margaret. His father came over three years prior to earn money in order to bring over the remaining family members. The ship left the port of Belfast, Ireland and headed to the port of Liverpool, England where most ships of that time during the famine always stopped before heading towards America. Conditions on the ship were very bad. There was little or no food, and there were many deaths due to starvation and diseases. The journey took several months and they finally arrived on December 17, 1849, at the port of New York. The entire family was illiterate, unable to read and write and had to rely on friends and other relatives to do all their reading and writing. They settled in the Willamsburgh (the last letter “h” was dropped in the late 1800’s) section of Brooklyn, NY and rented an apartment at 177 North 8th Street. He met and married my great great great grandmother, Margaret McIntyre in St. Vincent de Paul Roman Catholic church at 167 North 6th Street Brooklyn, NY on November 6, 1866. They gave birth to William E Broderick on December 17, 1867. |
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