My paternal grandfather was put in an orphanage in Latvia, because his parents were too poor to take care of all of the children. When his uncle in America sponsored them, they did get my grandfather from the orphanage and he came over by boat with his siblings (Thank God). Mind you, the ships left from Southampton, England, I don’t know what the journey was like getting to the port. What I’ve read is sometimes people waiting to emigrate were at the ports weeks or months. My grandfather and his siblings had various types of mental illness, and my grandfather was slightly hard of hearing. He worked I a slipper factory most of his life in NYC. I feel sad for him. It almost always makes me cry. I think he was probably very lonely, even though he had people around him. My grandmother died in her 50’s. He died in his early 70’s if I remember correctly.
My grandma used to tell a story of being a very little girl and sliding down the banister of the tall stairway in her house. She told me that story again shortly before she died. She was remembering mostly her childhood near the end. The house was in The Bronx. Her dad died when she was 5, and they had to sell the house. It was sold to the Catholic church and nuns lived in it. I don’t know if that is still the case now.
She also used to tell me that her dad came over as a child from Russia with his whole family, his parents and siblings altogether. I guess that was a big deal. I think often times the men came first, ahead of the rest of the daily.
My dad famously got mad at his teacher in elementary school and threw his assignment out of the window. Lol. Out of the school window in front of her.
My dad was told by a K-12 counselor (I don’t know what year) he would never make it through college. He has a PhD and taught college for 8 years.
My dad worked in a sugar factory when he was 14, and one guy accidentally fell in the vat of hot liquid sugar and died. Can you imagine?
My aunt was the person who brought to light that some dogs could detect an oncoming seizure in their owners who had epilepsy.