----- Original Message ----- From: "Betty" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, April 26, 2005 8:07 AM Subject: Re: [CROATIA-L] family discussion What arrogance to assume that only in the US people eat. I wonder what the hungry and homless in the US today would say to that, where can they immigrate to? Not everyone stayed because they wanted to. Many immigrants (husbands and fathers who left their families behind) were enticed by stories of the good life and easy money in America. They believed that if they worked hard they would be rewarded. Reality for most of them was that they toiled from dawn to dusk for little pay and lived in terrible conditions so they could send money to support loved ones left behind. They were hungry in America and would have gone back home if they could afford to. Many stayed because they were ashamed to return home poor. So they saved for years before they could bring wives and children to join them . Just as those lucky to earn enough saved, many never saw their families again. A pesant from a village can find a potato, what can he eat in a rat infested city with thousands of other souls atempting to survive. I cannot imagine that going hungry alone in an American city would be preferable to his village. Not everyone went to America for food because not everyone in the US eats not even today. ----- Original Message ----- From: "palocat" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, April 26, 2005 11:06 AM Subject: Re: [CROATIA-L] family discussion > Our ancestors came to the US or Canada because they did not have enough to > eat -- it is as simple as that, period. No one leaves their home region > (or country) without a reason that is usually tied to economics. They were > dirt poor; they were peasants with a life so difficult that we cannot > imagine it today living in the mostly comfortable conditions of our times. > Sure, they were recruited, but because the reward was enough food to eat > and generally an absence of the Crown that made life so harsh -- we > sometime like to glamorize their difficult journey, but please always > remember those words on the Statue of Liberty -- they say it was like it > was -- miserable and oppressive in their home area. People do not leave > their home if everything is comfortable and economically well -- our > ancestors had the guts to try to better themselves!!! > > Matt > > PS -- The above does not only refer to Croatians, but to all those who > came here in the past and to those that are still coming by the thousands > each and every day -- legally and illegally. And, yes, I have been to > Croatia (I speak the language), and to most of the rest of Europe and > Asia. > > > > On Apr 25, 2005, at 1:45 PM, Karen Heiser wrote: > >> Okay , you raise a valid issue: why did our ancestors leave their homes >> to >> come to America? >> In MANY, MANY cases, the reason is not noble. Many came because they >> were >> lied to by recruiters from America who were looking for cheap labor in >> their >> mines and factories. And on top of that they had to put up with >> discrimination to boot! (Does the term BOHUNK come to mind?) >> Karen Heiser, >> Weed, Siskiyou, CA >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: "ashley tiwara" <[email protected]> >> To: <[email protected]> >> Sent: Monday, April 25, 2005 10:57 AM >> Subject: [CROATIA-L] family discussion >> >> >>> The strength of this list to my mind is the family discussion, as >>> Margaret >> said. Occasional old boy comments about golf are acceptable as long as >> the >> golf duffers consider it appropriate for women to make postings about >> matters like voting rights and union organizing. Women and men died so >> that >> we could have the right to vote, to organize, and I don't mean died only >> on >> the picket line. >>> Many of those who have fought in America's declared wars would say >> they fought for the rights guaranteed them by the Constitution and Bill >> of >> Rights. If their deaths have no meaning, it comes when free speech is >> denied their descendants. >>> Were your Croatian ancestors looking for freedom of religion? for >>> the >> right to own property and pass on an inheritance to their children? >> Serfdom >> survived in parts of Europe notably including Austria until the post WW1 >> years. Public schools were common in the USA by 1900, they were still >> rather unusual in Europe then. Maybe your grandparents or great - >> grandparents left Europe to go to New Zealand or Argentina or the USA so >> that their children's children could learn to read. >>> So that they could someday use the internet. >>> So they'd have access to the resources this mailing list represents. >> Instead of being locked into a medieval world where neither they nor >> their >> children had the right to choose their religious preferences, or the >> right >> to an education, or the right to vote for their rulers, inherit the land >> they worked, or even the right to move on if the life they lead was >> unsatisfactory to them. >>> So they would have the possibility to eat roast lamb when they >>> wanted >> to or golf when they chose to instead of lamb once a year and sports and >> games for little children only. >>> >>> Genealogy is more than dates and facts. >>> Ashley >>> ----- Original Message ----- >>> From: William F Kane >>> To: [email protected] >>> Sent: Sunday, April 24, 2005 4:06 PM >>> Subject: [CROATIA-L] Re: Girls and boys >>> >>> >>> There is another old Croatian saying that was true 100 years ago and >>> maybe even just a few years ago in some rural parts of Croatia. "a >>> woman holds down three corners of the farm and helps her husband with >> the >>> forth." I think we are all aware of how hard our mothers and >>> grandmothers worked with out much recognition. Things have changed >>> however. Lets get back to genealogy. I apologize for sending one >>> e-mail >>> in reply to the golfing inquiry. I don't even golf. >>> Bill Kane >>> >>> >> >> > > > > > -- > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. > Version: 7.0.308 / Virus Database: 266.10.3 - Release Date: 25/04/2005 > >