A Grandfather's Journey Through Ellis Island to Farm in California

Well, the freedoms that our country have provided for those near and far have meant something to me personally. My grandfather, Giuseppe Finucchi, from Tosignano, Lucca, Italy, traveled away from his family on a ship through Ellis Island at about 1913. He was about, well maybe it was 1911, he was about 13 years old and he was coming to meet two older brothers who had already settled to farm in the southern San Joaquin Valley. He started farming, but first he drove a mule train for Miller and Lux, which was the largest landowner in the area. After a couple of years, he started farming and to this day, his sons and grandsons continue to farm in the southern San Joaquin Valley in Bakersfield, McFarland, Delano, Wasco, and Arvin. And the farming is almost 100 years of farming in the southern San Joaquin Valley. So traveling and having the freedoms that this country provided to work hard, make an established home and legacy for your family has been a true blessing for our family and America is still the land of opportunity.

Asset ID #6923