Personal Narrative: Understanding My Heritage

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Coming from a single parent household, I have always felt disconnected from my ancestry and genealogy, as I do not know, nor will I ever know, half of what makes me, me. I will never know my father, his heritage, or the story of his ancestors. This would take me a very long time to come to terms with growing up as a young girl in New York, where family heritage and its richness seemed so common and so fundamental. When people ask me, “what is your nationality?”, I have always answered “half Italian, half French”. This idea of half to me was never thinking of half and half as in my mother and my father, but instead my Grandmother and my Grandfather, as they are the closest people I have to understanding my heritage. Although I will never know …show more content…
Hearing these stories growing up and rehearing them in more detail now, as I interviewed my Grandma for this assignment, I can't help but feel a similar sense of pride in my family, as my ancestors’ stories and accomplishments are truly ones mention worthy.
Let’s begin with my Grandpa’s side and the Coyer Family. The Coyer name and family originated from France, however, we do not know when the first Coyer came to New York. My Grandfather’s Grandfather we know was born in New York, but before that we are not sure of. My Grandfather’s Grandfather married an Italian immigrant by the name of Mary Louise Marshall who immigrated over in the early 1900s.Her sister wrote a letter of the story of their family in Italy. Her Grandfather, Grandfather Marshall, was of Spanish decent and the director of schools in a provinces of Salerno, Italy. He was extremely wealthy at one time and had the title Dam, and his wife Contessa. (Italian Countess and Earl). They were very wealthy people, and philanthropists, focused on helping the poor. However, the government brought them to court for crooked deeds. They …show more content…
On my Grandma’s side, the family name was Chiarelli. Anthony Chiarelli, my Grandmother's Grandfather was the first to come to America from the Chiarelli family in 1912. Living in dire poverty in Calabria, Southern Italy, Anthony came, leaving his children and wife behind in order to establish a better life for himself in America, which his family could later join. Anthony, like my Grandfather's ancestors, came to Fulton, a town in Oswego, NY. Fulton was a center for immigrants, as many Italian and Polish people settled here, and it became a community of mostly immigrants. Anthony worked in the masonry business (working with bricks) when he first arrived in an attempt to make some decent money. 4 years later, he eventually was able to have his family immigrate to the US as well, and in 1916, his wife Felicia (my middle name) and their 2 sons made the journey. One of those sons is my great Grandfather Victor Salvatore Chiarelli, who made the journey to the US from Italy with his mom and brother at the age of 8. Victor Salvatore is my favorite person to talk about in my entire family because to me, he embodies everything that his parents made the difficult trip for: the opportunity for success. When Victor and his parents arrived in the US, their biggest challenge was language. Despite settling in a town where many other Italians lived, the schools
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