Immigration Project

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Immigration Project
Coming to the Melting Pot of America

• By Adrienne Masterton

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Statement on Immigration

• Ultimately, the effects of immigration depend on
  the particular circumstances of and the
  personality and adaptability of the immigrant.
  Different factors include age, gender, country of
  origin, personality, language spoken, finances
  and personal connections and affiliations. As for
  future generations, immigration has huge, but
  many times unrealized, impact because they do not
  appreciate how their ancestors move to America
  provided so much more potential and opportunity
  for them.

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Masterton Family
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Masterton Family (cont)

• Life in Ireland (1950s)
• Economically depressed
• High crime rate
• Good schooling, but
• High unemployment
• Church plays big role

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Masterton Family (cont)

• Robert Masterton, my paternal grandpa, first
  immigrated by boat to Windsor, Canada where it
  was easier to get in.

After about 9 months in an Anglo
Protestant dominated city he decided to move to
Chicago where his cousin, and sponsor, lived.
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Masterton Family (cont)

• From Chicago he sent a letter telling my grandma
  to come with the three kids. They then came to
  the States on a plane.
• The family then moved to an apartment in Evanston
  because they could actually afford it.
• Later, they were able to move to a house in
  Wilmette. They lived there into old age.

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Masterton Family

• Effects of immigration problems encountered
• Not too difficult
• Already spoke English
• New people in America
• More varied job opportunities
• However, stubbornness and unwillingness to change
  could get in the way of happiness.
• Easier for my aunt and uncles than my grandparents

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White Family
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White History

• Franklin Hardy (my maternal grandfather)
• B. 1928 in Chicago
• Childhood Chicago El Paso
• Early Teenage NM with sister
• Late Teens Drafted
• New Orleans, LA
• Back to Chicago
• Married and attended college

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White History (cont)

• Hilda Steves-White
• B. 1903 outside of El Paso, TX
• Toddler Family moved to El Paso (rural)
• 16 got married, had four kids
• 24 Leaves husband
• Chicago worked in stockyards then Sears

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White History (cont)

• Hildas mother Katherine Costelo was an Irish
  immigrant in the 1890s.
• Hildas father Edward Steves was a German
  immigrant and was a member of a wealthy merchant
  family from San Antonio, TX.

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White History (cont)

• Hardy White
• Little of his ancestry is known.
• Belonged to a family of mechanics
• Its reported his brother James discovered
  Carlsbad Caverns, but made money by selling guano
  before telling authorities.
• According to my great grandma James and other
  family members hid bank robbers and other
  notorious criminals such as Jesse James in these
  underground caverns.

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Kocsis Family
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Kocsis Family (cont)

• Manuela
• A Swiss countess
• Married a Catholic man and had a number of
  children
• Her husband died and she became a single mom
• Remarried Bela, a Hungarian man
• Bela Manuela
• Traveling musicians
• Gypsies

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Kocsis Family

• Bela Kocsis
• Married Marie Landmann
• Fathered two children
• Irma and Tibor
• Worked as a tailor in Berlin
• Killed by British air attacks during WWII

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Kocsis Family (continued)

• Irma Mary

Born 1931 in Berlin
Family killed in 1943 so moves in with mothers
half sister Elsbeth
Lives with Dutch uncle for a year
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Kocsis Family (cont.)
Lives and finds a job in Chicago

• Irma Mary (cont.)

1954 Leaves Germany for America
Meets and marries future husband Frank White
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Effects of Immigration

• On Irma
• Had to learn the language
• Did not know many people
• No one came with her or shortly after her
• Enjoyed more rights power
• Already trained to be a nurse
• Faced discrimination because of the times and the
  fact that she was German
• Fairly young
• Had been to other countries before but when she
  was young

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Conclusion

• The effects of immigration, and the trials that
  inevitably accompany such an important decision,
  are often times unnoticeable for me and other
  descendants of immigrants. But they are still
  important because had our grandparents not moved
  here, our situation would definitely be different
  and most likely worse. As for immigrants
  themselves, the impact of their journey and would
  have been felt immediately upon arrival. This
  impact differed between the circumstances and
  characteristics of each immigrant, but were,
  overall, influential and life changing.