Upon asking my grandparents about my heritage I came across a lot of interesting information. My grandmother on my Helinski side actually plotted out our ancestors since they immigrated to America. My grandmother before she married my grandfather was Donahue which originates in Ireland. She is considered 4th generation Donahue in America thus making me 6th generation. According to her records she assumes that they had come to America in the middle 1800s. They had moved to Southold, NY on Long Island, where they established a farm consisting of livestock, potatoes, and a various barns one of which was a potato barn (goes underground to keep a cool climate to store potatoes after harvesting).Were not exactly sure why they came here but they were not documented at Ellis Island which I found very interesting. She had a lot of old pictures of the Donahue’s but sadly I couldn’t get my hands on any of them. My grandmother had about 20 or more pictures but the sad thing was we didn’t know who they were. I remember 3 pictures she had collected- one of a young child, an adult man and an older gentleman of which she believed to be the same person. Had we known who exactly they were we could have learned a little more about our family.
Following more of her information, she told me a little about the Helinski’s as well. My grandfather’s parents were first generation Helinski’s in America, but upon coming here changed their name from Chelinski to Helinski. My grandfather’s father, Valentino Helinski, was a Polish indentured farmer in the neighboring town. When my grandfather was about 4 months old, Valentino Helinski had disappeared on his way to work and sadly was discovered murdered. It has been told by my grandfather and grandmother that Valentino was murdered by the Klu Klux Klan which was very prominent in the area of Orient, NY at this time believe it or not. They would have killed him not only because he was a Polish immigrant but the fact that he was Catholic didn’t help matters either.
Following this KKK story further, my mothers father had lived in the town that Valentino Helinski was murdered in but for safety reasons had moved to another town to keep his family safe.
It's amazing how many details she knew about her family's stories and all the information about the KKK. This reminds me a lot of Takaki and especially Gran Torino -- with all the of racial tension, especially wehn ealing with the gang members.
ReplyDeleteIt's absurd to think about the KKK and how they have been spewing hate forever. It is so interesting to think that groups that are so widely accepted today like catholics or polish, were so hated and discriminated against back then.
ReplyDeleteI find it very interesting how families like Kristen's, Jordan's, and Zach's changed their last names because it seems like it wasa more and more common occurence that when families came to America.
ReplyDeleteIt was interesting to read because of all the detail that was given, it told a story.
ReplyDeleteIt was scary that during this time people could disappear on their way to work and be unsure about their whereabouts. This true story makes the violence that we read about in Tataki much more real.
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting how your family overcame a hate crime such as the murder of your great grandfather.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it is very interesting that there was no documents of your ancestors coming through Ellis Island. I also agree with everyone about your family changing their last name for their own purposes, which is similar to my great-grandfathers family.
ReplyDeleteI also found it really interesting that there are no documents of your family coming through Ellis Island. I think it would be really interesting to figure out why that is and whether they were able to sneak through or came through a different area.
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