My Father

My Father arrived from Porcigatone Italy in 1905. He was 18 years old at the time, see Ellis Island records. He came via La Havre France as did all the Fenaroli's. For some reason they travelled via France whereas all others traveled via Genoa. Papa often described his ocean voyage to me as big party. He said he danced for 5 days. Knowing how much my father enjoyed dancing I can believe he did dance for five days. Papa was preceded by his older brother Joseph. Papa's father had visited America in 1898. We, us kids, did not know of this trip. I discovered it by searching the Ellis Island records. Hooray for Ellis Island and the Mormons that painstakingly transcribed all the ship manifests.. Upon return to to Porcigatone he told his family they were all going to America. The brothers came first to set up things and the girls followed. My grandmother returned in 1910 to join with my grandfather and bring over the remaining three girls, see Ellis Island records. However my Grandfather died just before my Grandmother arrived in Italy. My Grandfather never made it to settle in America. An interesting sidebar is the La Bourgogne the ship he took, sank two months later with a loss of 549 lives. How close we came to never happening.

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Bon Voyage...........