My great-grandfather, John Fucci, emigrated from Florence, Italy to New Jersey, U.S. around the turn of the century (1900) when he was 19. He lived and worked in New Jersey, working in factories, trying to find jobs. He then returned to Italy to bring back his bride, Anna Olivia, who was 17 at the time. They both went to New Jersey, speaking little English, and married. Shortly thereafter, they moved to Wallingford, C.T. John and Anna worked in factories. At the time, factories were fairly unsafe; both of them lost fingers on the job during this difficult time of work. They settled down permanently in Wallingford. They had 5 children – Patrick, Lucy, Andrew, Frank, and Fredrick.
Lucy is my great-grandmother, who is now 96 and still resides in her home in Wallingford, C.T. She is a life-long Wallingford resident who grew up during the Great Depression. Lucy quit high school at 14 to go and work in the factory to help support her family. Her four brothers all went off to war (between World War II and Korea) and she continued to work in the factories to support the war (and her family) during this time. Soon after, she married, Larry Groobert. She continued to work in sewing factories and other various jobs. At the age of 60, she went back to school to get her GED, and obtained her real estate license. She worked as a real estate agent until the age of 73. Lucy and Larry had two children, Lawrene and Lyvia (named after Lucy’s mother’s maiden name, “Olivia”). Lyvia is my grandmother (my father’s mother) who also has lived in Wallingford her entire life and still continues to live there today. My family also continues to live in Wallingford, making my siblings and I fifth generation Wallingford residents.
I thought it was really nice that Josh's family had been in Wallingford for so long. Also, it must be nice to know so much about your family history, his account was so detailed! A lot of my information did not get passed down to my parents so I am not fortunate in knowing as much as he does.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was very nice to see that Josh still has his great-grandmother living today and being able to talk with her.
ReplyDeleteThat is cool that your great grandmother is still alive today and is able to talk to you and tell you about her life back then (great depression, etc.)
ReplyDeleteThat's amazing that you are fifth-generation in Wallingford and so much of your family's history resides there. My family is so spread out throughout America.
ReplyDeleteLike Josh my grandmother grew up during the tail end of the great depression and I dont know about Josh's great grandmother but my grandma does show some characteristics that have developed because of that time in her life. For instance, she likes to hang on to everything she owns, whether she needs it or not, or even food, shell make sure she has it until its completely done. Interesting how because things were so scare she learned to keep tight of her processions.
ReplyDeleteSomething I found very interesting was the fact that great-grandfather and his wife both lost fingers while working in the factories because the same thing happened to one of my grandmothers because of how unsafe the working conditions were back in time.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was very interesting to learn about your family history working in the factories. It sounds like they were working in really difficult conditions. I found it especially interesting and sad that your great-grandmother had to quit school at age 14 to go work in a factory.
ReplyDeleteWhat a nice surprise to find this in my Google travels! I will have to show Granny.
ReplyDeleteLove, Grandma