Leap of Faith

This Columbus Day weekend marks THIRTY years (that’s right 3-0!) since I waved goodbye to my father and twin sister at Bradley Airport in Hartford and flew to my new home with my newly fianced fiance in California.

Nancy and Rocky Jamaica 1987

I knew that my family was only a long day on a plane ride away if I every wanted to visit – and we did, making sure we alternated visits back and forth until we moved back to Connecticut in 1995 (at which point my husband and son were making that journey of leaving the only home they every knew!)

Which made me start thinking – and how I manage to tie this into being All About Family…

How many of our grandparents….great grandparents….great aunts and uncles made that journey to a new home, by themselves with little to their name except a suitcase and a small amount of money in their pocket?  Many of them left knowing they would never see their family members again.

Charles Jakiela – Age 17 – to New York from Lubatowa Galacia – November 1906 – heading to uncle in “South Hingtown” CT

Antonia Liro (Jakiela) -age 21 to New York from Wielepole, Galacia – September 1910 – heading to sister in Thorndike MA

Konrad Posluszny – age 16 to New York from Wildenthal, Galacia – December 1905 – heading to his brother John in Yonkers NY (and brother John arrived in 1899 based on the 1910 census)

Julianna Ingram (Posluszny) – age 16 to New York from Padew Galacia – 1903 – heading to we are not really sure where because the only Julianna Ingram record we can find is way off age wise.  The 1910 census though says she arrived in 1903.

Caroline Straub Posluszny Bonk – age 50 – to New York from Wildenthal Galacia in 1907 with her second husband and two children aged 10 and 3 – heading to her son John in Yonkers NY

We know that it was not easy for them to leave, or easy for them once they got there but with the blessing of their families, they did it….and so did we. ❤

Nancy and Rocky Bay of Fundy 2017