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Tragedy Strikes
Hi I am Marilyn Gallo from Sicily, Italy. It was a new year and I thought everything was going great. Until one teribble day, not even a week after I realized I was pregnant, my husband died of cholera. By now at least 50,000 people had died of cholera and I began to worry I would be one of these people. Once my husband died the thought of moving to America began to form in my head. -
Tragedy Strikes Again
It had been about a month since I had given birth to my daughter Anna. Things were going well, my bakery was very busy and I was staying with my parents. Then it all fell apart when I went to my bakery one day and it was totally wrecked. My bakery had been raided. There was no way to revover it, so I decided it was time to move to America. I wrote my older brother a letter that day and waited for his response. -
An Important Message
It took a long time, but I finally got a letter from my brother. It had the money I needed to go to America, and all the information I needed to know. I tried to convince my parents to come, but they were set on staying in Italy, even though the economy was failing. I began packing immediately. -
Packed Tight
The time had finally come for me to go to America. Bording the boat to quite some time, and once we were finally on it was very tight. I held my daughter tight to my chest to keep her safe and sat down on my one suit case, trying to stay out of everyone's way. -
A Close Call
The boat began slowing as we got closer to the island. My eyes were filled with tears at the sight of the statue. She looked as though she was beckoning for us to join this magnificant country. When we got inside Anna began coughing. My heart stopped, would they let us through? I held her close to my chest to muffle her coughs. I went through a series of tests, all of which were very confusing. When I was told i could go it felt like a miracle. -
The Kissing Post
When I walked through I saw my brother and his family standing at what they called "The Kissing Post". I ran to him and was wrapped up in a giant hug. My brother looked muh different then when I last saw him when he was 18. My neices and nephews held Anna giving her lots of kisses. Once we were all caught up we left to go to the building that my brother lived in. When we got there it was much more cramped and dirtier than I had imagined. -
Free Land/ Homestead Act
I first learned about the homestead act from a woman that worked in the same sweat shop as me. So at dinner one night I told everyone my idea. We would move to the west to get this land and we could all start over. I told them how we would get 160 acres of land for free. I also told them all about how there would lots of jobs due to urbanization. But unfortuanately my brother didn't like my idea and said that he wanted to stay in New York with his family because there was no guarantee. -
Little Italy
I had been living with my brother for over a year and it was clear that he didn't want to move. Unfortunately I couldn't move to the West by myself, so I settled with Little Italy. It was perfect, I would be with people just like me and I practice Italian culture without being judged. I would also be close to my older brother. So on May 4th I left my brother and his family to start a life for myself and Anna. -
True Love
I had been living in Little Italy for over a year. I stayed with my other brother and his family. It wasn't exactly what I imagined but it felt good knowing that I was bringing in money that helped pay for our rent. Then in one day it all changed. I met Antonio Gallo, my first true love. We wanted to get married but my parents didn't approve and I was forced into an arranged marriage. Once we began tallking I fell right back into love with him and we moved into his building with him. -
Marriage Bells
I had been courting Antonio for about 5 months, but since we had been together for so long back in Italy we decided to get married. It was a relativelly small wedding with just a few friends, but it was very nice. Anna was the flower girl and my nephew was the ring bearer. After the wedding we had a small reception back at our house, where I got a lot of compliments on the cake I had made. -
Opening a Bakery
It had been about 4 months after our wedding when Antonio brought up the idea of me opening a small bakery. He said he kept thinking about how people had loved the cake I made at our wedding and he thought it would be a very good idea. At first I was unsure but I finally decided to give it a try. At first people weren't buying from me since I was a woman. But when Antonio was with me I got more customers, and by then end of the day I made two dollars. -
Happily Ever After
My bakery was going great and I even had an investor thanks to Antonio. Anna was even old enough to help me bake the food for the bakery. Antonio and I had been married for 4 years and on our marriage anniversary we had our first child, Thomas Gallo, things were great. Even though the space we lived in was small and not the best living conditions I was happy with my life. I was glad that I chose to live move to Little Italy instead of imigrating to the west.
