My mom sent me this e-mail, it was a response to my cousin who is doing some research project for school. Interesting stuff. Not just interesting from a personal history standpoint - which it is - but also interesting now as the nation discusses immigration intensly. It serves as a good reminder that all of our families have been in the shoes of immigrants once. Some more recent than others.

From my mom:

First, Emma was your Great-Grandmother…… mother to Yolanda (Lola) your grandmother, and grandmother to your mom and me. I loved her dearly and she took care of me when I was little because my mother worked. It was by her side that I learned to cook… she was a great cook and baker. She loved us with all her heart and would have adored you.

1. When was Great-Grandmother Emma born?

October 15, 1896 in Vas Megye, Hungary, the western side of the country near Austria. Her name was Maria Ori. (more on the name change later)

2. When did she die?

May 13, 1978 in Detroit Michigan

3. When did she get married?

April 9, 1918, Holy Cross Catholic Church, Detroit, Michigan married to Alex Ivan, also from Hungary.

4. Any pictures of her, and her family (see attachments) Photo descriptions from left to right:

a. Emma and her family in Hungary. She was about 9-10 years old (1905-1906), this was 5 years before they came to the U.S. Emma is standing.

b. Emma’s wedding picture. She was 22 years old. She is seated.

c. Emma in front of the restaurant, she is on the right. c.1925. She would be 29 years old.

d. Emma and her two daughters in front of the flower shop, Yolanda and Margaret, in the 1940’s.

e. Emma’s passport picture when when she returned to Hungary to visit for the first and only time. 1964. She was 68 years old.

5. Political beliefs..

She was a Democrat and believed in Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency and the start of the Social Security Administration.

6. Important information….

Emma almost didn’t make it to the US. Emma’s sister, Rose had pink eye and the family was not allowed to board the ship that originally was to take them to the U.S…. that ship was the Titanic.

Emma’s parents came to the US in 1902 for work, leaving her at age 6 to live with her grandmother in Hungary for several years.

7. What year did she move to the US?

The first time when she was 8 years old, she came with an uncle in 1904. Then the family moved back to Hungary to open a business in 1908. That only lasted a couple of years.

She came again on June 4, 1912. Emma, age 15, her mother and 4 sisters (Ann, Rose, Barbara and Margaret) and a brother (Frank) came to America to join their father who had emigrated in 1911. He came earlier to find work and a home. The family came to Ellis Island on board the ship Saxonia. (photo of ship attached.. from the Ellis Island website)

Emma’s birth name was Maria, but she was called Emma all her life. The family name originally was Ori, but got changed on Ellis Island to Eory. Her father’s name was Paul and mother’s was Appolonia.

8. What happened after she got to America.

The family moved around quite a bit. Emma’s father worked for a quarry and he would recruit new immigrants to work for them. The family lived in several states including Kentucky, Kansas and Missouri where more children were born, died and buried before finding a permanent home and life in Detroit Michigan.

9. What was her line of work, if any?

Emma early on took care of her many siblings, becoming a second mother to them. Later she worked in an auto factory, then after she was married to Alex Ivan, they opened a restaurant (Delray Restaurant and Cafe) that featured Hungarian cooking. When the depression came in 1929, people could not afford to eat out, so she went to school to learn floral arranging and she opened a flower shop (Ivan’s Flower Shop).

This entry was posted on Friday, May 19th, 2006 at 3:35 pm and is filed under Personal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.