Our German friends are deceased now, but they vacationed well. They would go to Spain and rent a beach cottage or a camper. They came to visit us when we lived in Turkey. They would buy their cigarettes in Spain as they were cheaper. Then they started coming to American and went all over and took a trip to Mexico City. They spent lots of money and didn't seem to be afraid of anything. Margaret ----- Original Message ----- From: "Gayle Riordan" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, April 28, 2005 7:54 PM Subject: [CROATIA-L] vacation time on the family discussion > Margaret, > You forgot to mention the German cousins get a paid month's vacation every > year. Even if they are younger generation, un - arthritic, and well paid, > I do envy them, and have done so since college, the paid extensive > vacation time. Remember that most of France closes down in August? > Everybody has 3 or 4 weeks off. England sort of shuts down during the > Christmas and New Year holiday, despite the masses of EU shoppers. Italy > has paid 3 week minimum vacations too, but I never noticed any hot spots: > maybe they spread them out across the year? Maybe they take them in > winter to avoid the summer tourists, like me? > > Ashley > > > On Apr 27, 2005, at 1:55 PM, Jerome Buza wrote: > >> Andy, that was a wonderful story. God bless our ancestors and those that >> still struggle in Croatia and the other countries over there. My mom's >> cousins that went to Germany are doing very well now and one went to >> Portugal and married a doctor. The younger generation of those in >> Germany travel the world, backpacking, and they are not afraid and are >> very strong people. They will save for a year and then go for a month >> and have a wonderful time. >> Margaret >> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dr. Andrew Nixon" >> <[email protected]> >> To: <[email protected]> >> Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2005 9:53 AM >> Subject: RE: [CROATIA-L] family discussion >> >> >>> Ah, yes, immigrants' actual stories instead of judgmental diatribe. Here >>> is >>> a brief synopsis of mine: Paternal Grandfather: Shortly after the turn >>> of >>> the 20th century Marion Nikolich, age 19, was drafted into the army, >>> trained >>> as a medic and as a soldier, placed on loan to the German army. The >>> kingdom >>> of Serbs Croats, and Slovenes was about the only ally Germany had at >>> that >>> time and things were getting a bit dicey - war was brewing. The >>> European >>> economy was depressed. While on duty he was approached by a steel mill >>> recruiter and left for Chicago - later to settle in the Pittsburgh area. >>> (AWOL? Probably did not translate well ;-)). When he returned to his >>> village >>> near Imotski five years later to see his wife and by then, 6-year old >>> child, >>> the village elders told him he was about to be arrested for desertion so >>> that night he high tailed it to Trieste and back to the US, sending for >>> his >>> wife later. >>> >>> Paternal grandmother Mara Nikolich: Brother accompanied her and her son >>> on a >>> donkey down the mountain to Split where she boarded a ship to the US. >>> But >>> when she arrived in NYC she did not have the required $ 10 to disembark >>> so >>> she and her child were held in detention five days until Grandpa could >>> be >>> located and send the cash. >>> >>> Maternal grandfather: Peter Vucinovich - born and reared in the Bosnian >>> (next to Croatia) border village of Stabandja. Left home at age 8 >>> (that's >>> right, age 8) to work as a groom on a horse farm in Germany. Never saw >>> parents or siblings again. At age 15 left the horse farm and worked at >>> various labor jobs until age 21 when he was recruited by a steel company >>> to >>> work in a mill near Pittsburgh. >>> >>> Maternal grandmother: Kata Brezovic, born in Sislavic, a village on the >>> Kupa >>> River near Karlovac. Her parents had gone to the US to make their >>> fortune >>> and owned a boarding house for mostly single, male, Slavic millworkers. >>> They >>> left Kata with her Grandma. When she was 14 and becoming a handful for >>> her >>> grandma, her parents arranged a marriage and had her sent in 1915 alone >>> to >>> the US. Since she could not travel alone unless she was 18, that is what >>> she >>> "became" when she was asked her age at the port. Since she needed to be >>> 21 >>> to get married, that is what she "became" on the marriage certificate. >>> Although her 15th birthday actually occurred enroute, on paper poor >>> Katie >>> aged six years in as many weeks. >>> >>> Opportunity abounded in the US that simply was not available in the "old >>> country." Yes, there were problems - my maternal great grandfather was >>> injured (crippled) in a coal mine accident and with no workers >>> compensation, >>> they found an old railroad boxcar and started a boarding house in it. >>> They >>> thrived. Their children thrived - one uncle, Pete Nikolich became a >>> prominent person in waste removal on Long Island. Tatiana, if you are >>> near >>> Bay shore you might have seen his trucks. >>> >>> From those humble beginnings their grandchildren yielded three doctors, >>> several very successful businesspeople, a noted research librarian, a >>> counselor, musicians, an Army General, a nun, an investment counselor, >>> an >>> engineer, and many other success stories. In fairness, visits to the >>> "Old >>> Country" shows a modicum of success as well by those who stayed - >>> engineers, >>> construction company owners, and others, but the success pales in >>> comparison >>> with that available in a country that experienced phenomenal post-WWII >>> growth, is so huge, and has so many natural resources. >>> >>> One final note, while those whose predecessors settled in America in the >>> late 19th or early 20th century hit the lottery simply by making the >>> move, >>> many Croatians migrated to other areas of the world - Australia, New >>> Zealand, South America, and other parts of Europe (by posting on a >>> bulletin >>> board I found a cousin whose parents moved to the Czech Republic during >>> the >>> 90s war in Croatia, and he's done 200 years of family genealogy that he >>> shared with me). So I think we must keep a couple of things in mind: >>> first, >>> our heritage is comprised of people who are risk takers and willing to >>> relocate for opportunity, and second, that America (we are so arrogant >>> that >>> when we say America we mean the US, but there are other parts of >>> America - >>> namely Canada, Central and South America) provided a bonanza of >>> opportunity >>> despite the long workdays, little compensation, and often horrible >>> working >>> conditions. Our people simply dealt with those and other issues as >>> obstacles >>> that needed to be overcome - so they were overcome. >>> >>> I also thoroughly enjoy reading other success stories from fellow >>> descendents of Croatia. I've learned much from this site and am a better >>> informed person as the result. >>> >>> Andy from Vegas. >>> >>> >>> >>> -----Original Message----- >>> From: William F Kane [mailto:[email protected]] >>> Sent: Tuesday, April 26, 2005 8:31 PM >>> To: [email protected] >>> Subject: Re: [CROATIA-L] family discussion >>> >>> Margaret, I love your stories. >>> My own ancestors came to the US from French Canada and Ireland and they >>> came for economic reasons. Life working in the N.E. shoe factories and >>> the mills for low wages was better than trying to keep a failing farm >>> going in Canada and the Irish, well it was the potato famine and yes >>> they >>> were starving while the Brits kept exporting the Irish grains to >>> England. >>> They lived in crowded tenements at first but when friends or relatives >>> followed them they took them in until they got jobs and were settled. >>> Yes, there was discrimination but life was better than the old country >>> and they advanced and their children got a better life and their >>> children's children went to college and enjoyed the good life in >>> America. >>> They never looked back except tor an occasional visit to Quebec to see >>> relatives who stayed. >>> My wife's family came from an agricultural area near the >>> Austrian/Hungarian border. Most of the families had only a 6 acre plot >>> of >>> land to farm, not enough to sustain them. Life was hard for both the men >>> and the women. Yes there were lines drawn as to what work was done by >>> the >>> men and what was done by the women. And yes the women got a raw deal. >>> Her >>> father's family were not farmers. They were the rope makers in town. All >>> winter they made the ropes in their long narrow back yard and in the >>> summer her g.grandfather went to the town fairs in the area selling his >>> wares. >>> There is a picture of my father in law at 10 years old. It is a group >>> picture of his class, so yes he and his brother went to school. The >>> picture is all boys (the girls were separated in another class), They >>> all >>> have jackets but only two have shoes the rest are all in bare feet. >>> They came to the US for economic reasons. He grandfather and his brother >>> got the rope making business when their father died. It could not >>> support >>> two families so it was decided that one of them would go to America. >>> Frank, Sylvia's grandfather, left leaving his wife and three boys behind >>> until he was settled. >>> Her mothers family had a small farm just outside of town. With the >>> family >>> getting larger and land getting scarce they had to do something to >>> survive. About 1900 the immigration began and many of the young men, >>> married and single, left for America. The early immigrants found work >>> and >>> then the followers went to stay with them after they went through Ellis >>> Island. Both of Sylvia's grandfathers settled in Kenosha WI. and then >>> they sent for their wives, >>> Her father was 13 when he arrived in 1914 with his mother and brother >>> and >>> all their belongings in a wicker basket. Life was hard but grandma no >>> longer had to make a trip to the town well twice a day, winter or >>> summer, >>> to get water. Their apartment had a faucet in the kitchen and all she >>> had >>> to do was turn they spigot. It even had two bare bulbs hanging from the >>> living room and main bedroom ceiling. Both grandfathers worked in the >>> mattress factory. Her father, George Jambrek, left school to work there >>> for the next 50 years. But he saw that his kids were educated. Books and >>> the library were instilled in them from and early age. (two of them >>> became librarians). And they all went to school and if possible on to >>> college. >>> I have written two books, one on the history of French Canards based on >>> the lives of my ancestors going back to 1605 when one of them came on >>> the >>> expedition of Samuel de Chaplain. >>> >>> The second one is called THE BROT HERS AND THE SISTERS and it is the >>> story of my wife's Croatian family. The first few chapters tell of life >>> in Croatia in the late nineteenth century and then tells of the exodus >>> from their village to America and their trials and triumphs in the US. >>> Some of you might want to read it if you want some insight into life in >>> Croatia at the turn of the century and their journey to America and >>> their >>> early adventures in this country. A few libraries have copies including >>> the Wisconsin Historical Society Library, The Kenosha Public Library, >>> The >>> Southern California Genealogical Society Library. I also sent a copy to >>> the CFU headquarters. I will also be glad to send a copy to the Croatian >>> Heritage library is you want Robert. If any one wants a copy of either >>> book I will sell them to people on this list for $15 postage paid. (very >>> close to my costs). I promised myself I would never push my books on >>> this >>> site but after all this talk I thought I should. You might try getting >>> a >>> copy on interlibrary loan The title again is THE BROTHERS AND THE >>> SISTERS A Story of Two Immigrant Families. by William F. Kane. The >>> ISBN >>> is 0-9715463-1-2 and the Library of Congress Control Number is >>> 2003093335. which may help your library locate it. >>> Bill Kane >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> -- >>> No virus found in this incoming message. >>> Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. >>> Version: 7.0.308 / Virus Database: 266.10.4 - Release Date: 4/27/2005 >>> >> > > > > -- > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. > Version: 7.0.308 / Virus Database: 266.10.4 - Release Date: 4/27/2005 > >