My great grandmother was a Gottscheer
my great grandfather (only one I new, he was her second husband) was
from Hamburg, Germany as best I can recall. My great grandmother, got a job, soon
after arriving in the USA as a house servant for a Mrs. Whistler (I
always wondered if she was related to the famous subject of the portrait
Whistler's mother, Anna Matilda (née McNeill) Whistler).
In her very early days there, my great grandmother was brought before
Mrs.Whistler, she was young and scared. Luckily even though she spoke
little to no English, Mrs. Whistler spoke to her in fluent German. She
told my great grandmother: 'from this moment forward, you will speak no
other language in my house other than English'. From then on, while she
did speak covertly to other servants in German to help her learn
English, she never did so in front of Mrs. Whistler and she learned to
speak English as fast as she could learn. In no time she had mastered
her new language, then it was English only. She became one of Mrs.
Whistler's favorite servants if not her actual favorite. She wound up
working for Mrs. Whistler for many years until Mrs. Whistler died. Much
to my great grandmother's surprise she was left a small fortune by Mrs.
Whistler. When she told me this story, many times, I could see that she
would well up with pride and honor to have done so.
After she got married, her husband supposedly told her he was going to
California to seek his fortune. He never returned. My great grandmother
would tell all who asked, that she was informed he died out there. Years
later the rumor was he had abandoned her and went back to Gottschee,
but that came from some of her grandchildren. No one knows for sure but
I tended to believe my great grandmother because she then remarried the
great grandfather, whom I came to know, and she was quite moral. As I
said he was from Hamburg, Germany and was the son of the headmaster of a
school. His dad wanted him to follow in his footsteps but he had other
plans. He ran away from home in his later teens and became a merchant
seaman. He sailed around the world, saw shipmates attacked and eaten by
sharks, saw other shipmates killed by Nile crocodiles and was arrested
in Havana, Cuba with another shipmate when their ship sailed without
them because they were too drunk to make it back aboard in time on the
morning after a night of carousing. They were promptly deported aboard
another ship that was headed to the same port as was their ship.
Luckily, or not, they were reunited in the next port and immediately put
in the brig on bread and water. That did not last too long, at least
for my great grandfather as he was the head chef aboard that ship. He
always told me that it was well worth it because Havana was the best
port city of them all prior to Castro, lots of good cigars, excellent
casinos, beautiful women and just lots of fun. Well, much the same as my
great grandmother, when he immigrated to the USA he quickly learned to
speak English, he had also learned some Spanish when a merchant seaman.
They both became U.S. Citizens by way of naturalization. When I was
about to go into the Border Patrol, to begin my career in federal law
enforcement in 1979, she took out their naturalization certificates, and
showed them to me for not the first time. If I remember right, they
both were naturalized at the same naturalization service. The date was
July 4th, cannot recall the year, I believe it was in Yankee stadium but
I''ll be damned if I swear to that, it is a vague memory. As she told
me how wonderful it was to become a .S. citizen tears rolled down her
cheeks - she was immensely prouder than even her time with Mrs. Whistler
about them becoming citizens. She told me it had been the proudest day
of her life.
The aliens who illegally enter our country now, or at least during the
time years of my career from 1979 to 2011, who are/were from Central
& South America, for the most part do not strive to become citizens
in my experience. Many only want to make money and send it home to their
families, then depart, spend their earnings, then return illegally
again. I am guessing, based on my experience and on interviews of
literally thousands of illegals, that at least 60 to 75% of the illegal
aliens from south of the border fit that description as do many from
other parts of the world. My other guess is that it is the same
currently but that is pretty much pure guesswork based upon what I see
of them on the news when they exhibit total disregard for our laws and
customs). Of course, many illegal aliens hope to do right (after the
fact they they entered against the law) and hope to earn citizenship
sooner or later but I am convinced not most. Instead, of deportations,
this country has catered to them from countries south of the southern
border, making Spanish a second U.S. Language and allowing, even
encouraging millions of criminals (every illegal alien has committed a
crime when entering this country illegally or overstaying a visa - that
is an absolute fact that only democrats, RINOs & other leftists try
to dispute as far as I am aware) to enter illegally and stay here
without any negative consequences. Joe Biden obviously did it for
political reasons, to gain future voters whom he and other democrats
believed would vote in more liberals and they did not care if those
millions included the scum of the earth like murderers, rapists, child
molesters, gang members and so on. Biden made my blood boil when he did
so. If I was prone to committing illegal acts, I may have tried to
attend one of his rallies to punch him in his ugly face but I most
certainly do not do stuff like that nor do I want to go to jail. So I
just voted for Trump - again, this last time being the third time.
Coincidentally, my wife just sent me a picture, less than 30 seconds ago, as I write this last part:
It is of my grandson. My wife as born in Germany, came here legally,
naturalized and of course learned to speak fluently in English. She sent
our daughter to German language school. Well my daughter did likewise
with our grandson. The picture my wife just sent me shows my grandson
(my step-daughter's son for clarification) wearing a bronze medal. Of
course he speaks English and that will always be his first language but
it is okay to learn another one, especially that of your ancestors to
honor them, or even that of the country you entered illegally if you
really want to acclimate. My grandson was awarded that medal today for
being the most improved student in German grammar at a German language
school on Long Island in NY. Das ist sehr gut!
All The Best,
Glenn B
