Eric Taylor

Period 4-5

Immigration Project
Ive always been interested in learning about immigration. Its a topic in which I
enjoy because it shows the roots of this country that we have now. I try and think every
once in a while how did we get to the point at which we are today? Its amazing to see how
far weve come after reading about and learning about all of the struggles our ancestors
had to go through to get us here. Some though didnt live in the U.S.A for a while and to
think most of them came over only 100 years ago is mind boggling.
In my family I have to huge sides to pick from. I started off by asking my
grandmother where her family came from. Back in the early 1900s her mother came over
from Ireland when she was only 24 years old. The reason that they had decided to come
over was for new opportunities and more money. After coming over with her husband they
spent most of their time in New York and Philadelphia. When growing up she talked about
her mother always doing things around the house, and didnt have a job. Her dad on the
other hand worked in a printing business. She couldnt recall exactly what he did though.
When she was 24 though she permanently moved over to Pennsylvania and worked in the
medical field as a nurse. My grandfather though I dont have the most information on him
as he passed away 10 years ago from today on memorial day. All I could get about him is
that he was German and either his grandfather or great grandfather moved over here from
Germany in the late 1800s. After they came Im not sure of the profession they were in,
where they lived, or why he came here. My grandfather and grandmother lived in
Philadelphia, and they had 13 children. My grandmother worked as a nurse, and my
grandfather was in the army for a while, and served in the Vietnam War. He then had to
find different work to help take care of his children. For the rest of his life he owned his own
telephone company where my dad worked with him while he went to college. My
grandmother currently lives in Ship Bottom, and in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania.
Doing this project I really learned what I wanted to know and the curiosity that I had
before this project was now lifted. It was cool learning about all the different places that my
grandmother had been and all the cool stories that she was able to tell me while asking her
these questions. I was able to spend some quality time on a pretty important day.
Immigration is such an awesome topic because it really does show the roots of this country
and the foundation of the people that it was built on. We live in such a diverse country and
we dont even realize that 20 people sitting the classroom could all be from a different
country. This project taught me a lot and Im glad that I got to do this.