¶ … family tree of the writer. The writer details his family's routes through immigration to America from Germany and the trail of building a new life based on that immigration.
To look at my family today, one might assume that my relatives traveled over on the Mayflower and broke bread at the first Thanksgiving feats, but that is not the case. The true story of my family lies in the success that we have had in acclimating to the wonders of America in only three generations.
My family was among the hundreds of thousands of families that flocked to the states years ago to seek their fortune and begin a new life in the land of opportunity. My father's family hailed from Germany, while my mother's family was of Dutch decent in Holland. When the VonNess family came through Ellis Island from Germany they were prepared to whatever it took to succeed in their newly claimed nation. Neither my great-grandmother or my great-grandfather spoke English but were undaunted in their confidence that they would figure out how to communicate once they arrived in the city of New York. The first thing they did when they arrived was to change their name to Nees, to celebrate their new beginnings and de-germanize their name. Ironically after...
They worked and saved their money until they could buy a gas station, which fulfilled their lifelong dream of being self-employed. Eventually the family did migrate to California. When my grandfather was born his desire to go west was put off until after my father and my uncle were born. Once that happened my grandfather and the woman he had married made the westward trek to California to start their family life. They too had a dream of owning a business and they worked their adult life as owners of a Santa Ana liquor store until they died.
My father was born and raised in California and his entire family as far back as the memory would serve were Catholic. The family members passed down stories of the immigration from Germany and they were instilled with the understanding that they were lucky and owed it to their families and their nation to work hard and succeed. My father was raised with the same work ethic which he has instilled in me. My college attendance is very important to my family because most of my family members had very limited educations. The language barrier and the need to…
