The Hoboken Public Library ran an essay contest during the spring for local high school students. The theme was, "My family history and how we got here."
The results show how diverse this community is. Students told of their families’ struggles before they left the Dominican Republic and India, the factories they worked in when they arrived, and the other ways they survived in their journey to the mile-square city.
The winning essays are printed below. The authors are Kevin Gonzales, Nimesh Kshatriya, Pamela A. Lisa, and two students who preferred to only have their first names published: Rosily and Christina.
Nimesh Kshatriya
I was born and raised in the birthplace of baseball and Frank Sinatra, in Saint Mary’s Hospital on July 26th, 1985. The only life I know is Hoboken. Both my parents know of a different one, far from here. They consider home, India, because my mother and father, Sanmukh and Purnima Kshatriya, were born there in the province of Gujarat in Northwestern India. The history of their lives is not a great story to tell and is not intertwined with any major historical events or any extraordinary achievements. Instead, the history of my family and how they got to Hoboken is the story of an American dream.
They led difficult lives and were deprived of many things that we would take for granted. Their lives were filled with penury, although my mother was more fortunate than my father. My father had seven siblings while growing up in an impoverished village. He was born in the year of independence, 1947, and India was still far from modernized. For example, bathrooms were not contained within each individual house where my father resided, but instead there was one unsanitary public bathroom outside. In addition, my father had to eat less, sleep in crowded rooms, and had to endure many hardships including the death of my paternal grandfather at an early age.
In contrast, my mother was more fortunate. She grew up in a middle class family, but still lacked many of the things possessed in America. My maternal grandfather owned and operated a successful store. My parents loved India and witnessed many things. They lived through the Prime Minister reign of Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi along with the trepidation it brought. Furthermore, they heard Nehru, over the radio, downcast during the invasion of China.
Nevertheless, the lure of the United States of America dominated the mindset of my parents. My uncle had gone to the United States of America in 1976 on a work visa, and eventually got sponsored and obtained his citizenship. He invited and sponsored my father along with my mother to come to America. My uncle was residing in Hoboken at the time and for these reasons my parents took up abode there in 1979.
It was a tough life for the newly arrived immigrants and discrimination was overwhelming. They had to live in poor housing with no heat and a terrible proprietor. However, my parents came here for their children’s future. In fact, they came here to live the American dream, to live in a modernized society with the fervent hope that my brother and I become exceedingly successful. Therefore, I came to Hoboken to receive an excellent education with many conveniences, including video games, computers, music CDs. I love Hoboken and I am glad my parents chose to reside here.
Rosily
Many years have passed since my parents first stepped foot in the Hoboken area. My father Jorge and my mother Rosa were here alone without the comfort of their friends and families. They both came in about April of 1981, from the Dominican Republic. They lived in a small one room apartment located on 1st and Adams. My father worked in a grocery store at the time, and was able to support my mother. Then on December 9th of 1985 in the Bronx NY, Rosa gave birth to a baby girl named Rosily. Although it brought joy to my parents it also brought along misfortunes to my father. I say this because around that time next year my father put my mother and I on an airplane back to the Dominican Republic, and it seemed that we weren’t coming back. I was going to be deprived of the education and opportunities that not only Hoboken but that the United States provided.
For about the next 6 years I remained in the under-developed town in Dominican Republic. I attended school over there and was able to speak the language fluently. I got to meet my grandparents and my numerous aunts and uncles. I also remember that I missed the company of my father, due to the fact that he was still living in Hoboken. He would go and visit us as many times as he could, and tried to spend the most amount of time with me. He’d send me gifts through the mail or bring them to me when he visited, but it wasn’t the same because I wanted all of us to be together. My dream finally came true in about May of 1991, because that day my mother and I returned to Hoboken with new courage and hoping to start a more united family. I then started to attend Kealy School where I was a bilingual student. I went there for about a year and then transferred to Connors School to finish the amiable years of Grammar School. Afterwards I continued my education and went on to Joseph F. Brandt Middle School. In October of 1994 my mother once again gave birth, but this time it was to a baby boy named Yoelmin. My family extended even more because by the next year both of my grandparents came to Hoboken blossoming a more unified family.
I then graduated from Brandt Middle School and moved right along to Hoboken High School. I am a member of various clubs and participate in many activities. Just by looking at me I don’t think you would be able to tell the difficulties that I encountered. The times that I wished things were different in my life or even the times that I couldn’t have been more fortunate. To this day I’m thankful that my family came to Hoboken because Hoboken has given me the education that I’ve always wanted to live the life that I’ve always dreamed.
Kevin Gonzalez
Where is the most perfect place to live? It is all according to where one lives and where one grows up. Hoboken is the place that I live, and I will explain how both sides of my family got to Hoboken. I will also explain the perfect place to live. Researching the question on how my family ventured to Hoboken has led me to some interesting information.
My ancestors from my father’s side got to Hoboken faster then the ones on my mom’s side. My grandfather Domingo Gonzales came by plane from Farjardo, Puerto Rico to Brooklyn, New York, in 1958. He traveled to his brother’s house. Six months in the United States, Domingo decided to go back to Puerto Rico. In the summer of 1960 Domingo Gonzalez went to his sister’s house on Monroe Street. He got a job in the Tootsie Roll factory. He then called for his wife and three children. The youngest of the three is my father Ruben Gonzalez. My father lived in Hoboken since he was 7 years old.
The story on my mom’s side is a little bit different. My grandfather’s parents were both born in Palermo, Sicily. Both traveled by ship, but they weren’t married they got married in America. They moved to Chicago, then settled in Hoboken. My grandfather’s side of the family’s name is Mannino. My grandmother’s maiden name is Lynch and her mother’s maiden name was McCormic. My grandmother was born in Jersey City; her mother was also born in Jersey City. One branch came by ship from Ireland. They settled directly into Hoboken. The other branch I was talking about originated from Jersey City. My mother Mary Kay Gonzalez was born in Jersey City, but lived in Hoboken on Monroe Street. When my mother was very young she lived next to where Frank Sinatra was born.
The aspect of life that makes location perfect is happiness. Being in a place that you feel comfortable in, makes that place easier and more enjoyable to live in. It adds to your happiness. The best place to live is where you have the one or ones you love, and you are living your lives together. It is just nature to want to be with your family and loved ones. We live for happiness, and when you find that place that is your house it becomes your home. It makes you more of a complete person. One day when it is all said and done, we will have a warm place in our hearts reminding us where our home is. For me that special place is Hoboken.
In conclusion, there is a world of information of everyone’s past and everyone’s history that if we don’t know, then it is truly shame on us. I found out so much great information about my family by just listening to where they came from. To each and every person that has been living in Hoboken a while, know how much of a special place Hoboken really is. What makes Hoboken so special to me, is that all my loved ones are in or near Hoboken. We all have a special place that means a lot to us that we can call home no matter where we travel. We all have our own Hoboken.
Christina
Everyone’s story is different. We all lead different lives in different areas. Even if you were born here, someone had to come here before you from another country, another place. Some stories are as simple as, ‘I was born and raised here, and I never strayed.’ Others are both interesting and complex as mine. This is my story of how I ended up in Hoboken.
Antica Bozulic, my grandmother, was born in Croatia on March 8, 1940. She lived through many wars including WWII, along with her three brothers and sisters. In 1960, she and her fiancee, Dusan Desabota, immigrated to Paris, France. There they were married, and lived for approximately a year. In 1961, they came to America. Living in Hoboken, in the Croatian area, my grandmother became pregnant with my mother.
Mary Desabota, my mother, was born in Hoboken, New Jersey, on August 1, 1963. In October of 1967, my uncle, Anthony Desabota, was born, also in Hoboken, New Jersey. When my mom was 16, my grandfather moved the family to Texas because of an opportunity in the shrimp boat business. She finished her senior year of High School in Texas. There she met my father. Claude, my father, was born in January of 1960. Already enlisted in the Marines, he and my mother fell in love. They dated, were married, and soon my mother became pregnant.
On August 19, 1985, I was born in Havana Hospital, Corpus Christi, Texas. After living in Corpus Christi for a few months, the Marines stationed us in Arkansas Pass, Texas. After that we moved to Florida. Then in 1989, we were stationed in Beaufort, South Carolina, where my sister Ariana was born, on August 25, 1990. We lived in Beaufort for a few years, trying to get settled. In 1993, we were moved to Maryland, where my parents divorced. My mother, sister, and myself, moved to Hoboken to live with my grandmother in 1994. If my parents were still married, we would have moved to Japan in 1993. Who knows what country I would be living in today!
Pamela A. Lisa
How we got here in Hoboken gives much pride throughout my family. Many times I have sat with my grandmother and talked about our family’s history and how we came to America. It is unfortunate that I did not get the chance to sit down and really talk to the one man who established our lives here, my grandfather. I was too young at the time to ask him about our foundation here in Hoboken. Generally, in this paper, I will speak on a basis of what I only know and remember being told of. Which isn’t really much compared to the imaginable stories my grandfather probably had.
It all started when my grandfather, Pierto Lisa, came into this country to better his life and the life of his family in 1960. He specifically migrated into Hoboken for the simple fact that it was like a home away from home to him. Many immigrants came to Hoboken because of the many factory jobs and the idea that other races of their own were residing in Hoboken as well. While my grandfather was here, he worked hard to support his wife and two boys in Italy. It was six years later when he decided to bring them over into America so that they can remain as a close family again. Although my grandmother, Caterina Lisa, was taking care of a business of the family in Italy, and was doing rather well, my grandfather decided they should all be together.
Finally my grandmother, my father Antonio, and my uncle Angelo all came to America on a beautiful new built ship from Genoa, Italy in 1966. The boat was called Michelangelo, which my father still tells me today how absolutely magnificent the boat was. At that time my father was 18 years old, and my uncle was 16 years old. Soon after arriving into Hoboken, my father and uncle attended Hoboken High School. Before long, while my uncle went onto college, my father got called into the Army to serve for his now new country during the wartime of Vietnam. My father finished the army and proceeded into real estate shortly after. My uncle carried on with his life on his own. Meantime, my father met a fine young girl who is my mother today. Her name is Anna Maria DeMarco. My grandmother of my mother, Aurora DeMarco, and my mother came from Italy in 1962 to also better their lives. My mother attended Brandt Middle School. She was a very intelligent and charismatic girl. She learned English extremely fast and after finishing school, my mother obtained a job as a secretary in New York City.
Meanwhile, my grandfather, Pietro, and my grandmother, Caterina, wanted to open up a business just like they had in Italy. It is called Lisa’s Italian Deli. Because my father and uncle knew how to read, write, and speak English very well, they helped and took over the business. My father and mother met in 1966 the same year my father had arrived in America, but married in 1973. They too, always lived in Hoboken. They bought a house and had three children, Aurora, Katiuscia, and myself. Since then, we’ve lived very happily in Hoboken.
Given that Hoboken has changed drastically, my family has changed as well because of the new generation that came into the town. It makes me proud to know that my family worked very hard to maintain their business and lives in this town with all of the changes that have occurred.
On April 25, 1995, my grandfather, the man who made it all happen, passed away. It took a lot out of my family to be given such a great loss and lose out on one of the greatest men anyone has ever met. However, his spirit forever trails along with each and every one from my family. For he is the one who made our lives exist in Hoboken, NJ in the USA.