Books in Early American Family series

"My grandparents valued freedom, but even more they valued opportunity. They appreciated America for that gift."--Bill Eckhardt, a third-generation German American. Descendants of German immigrants form the largest single ethnic group among the United States population today. They came to this country as farmers and craftspeople, students, teachers, and laborers, and today they count among their descendants Presidents of the United States, sports stars, entertainers, scientists, writers, and businessmen. In fact, German American influences are so deeply embedded in the culture of the United States that many people are unaware of their origins. Hamburgers and hotdogs, American kindergarten ("children's garden" in German), most of the customs we associate with Christmas, and even the Easter bunny and his eggs all spring from the German American community. The German American Family Album traces the growth of that community from the first German to reach the New World in the year 1000 (his name was Tyrker and he was a companion of the Scandinavian seafarer Leif Eriksson) to the 7 million German Americans in this country today. In their own words--from diary entries, letters, interviews, and personal reflections--and with photographs and clippings culled from family archives and the press of the day, we learn of their life in the old country, of the decision to leave home, the often wretched trip to America, and the new life they found once they got here. Their three-centuries-long history of achievement in the United States is a moving and inspirational story. To see it and hear it through the eyes of the immigrant is an experience that makes history personal and immediate.

Long before there was such a thing as "women's liberation" and females serving in the military; long before women had the right to vote and had a say in the policies of government; long before they were permitted to hold political office, there was a small group of pilgrim women whose strength of character and boldness of heart formed the backbone of America.One such woman was Constance Hopkins, my eleventh generation great grandmother who came to America in 1620 on the ship Mayflower. Many books have been written about her, mostly about her childhood growing up in the little town of Plymouth, Massachusetts, that don't describe her as having particularly extraordinary intelligence or of possessing breathtaking beauty but when Nick Snow first set eyes on her it was the beginning of a lifelong love affair that spanned over fifty years, produced twelve children, endured many hardships and suffered countless heartbreaks. Yet,they survived and Plymouth thrived, largely in part to their iron will and determination. She was a remarkable woman, my grandmother, and I wanted to write the story of Constance as a wife, as a mother and grandmother, and as a driving force in the building of this great country of ours.

The first volume in the An American Family series takes the reader back to fifteenth century England and the tiny fishing village of Porlock where the Snow family had its roots. It is the amazing story of how they defied the greedy king and his tax men, how they smuggled their goods up and down the Bristol Channel facing murderous pirates and how they formed the first town guild in an effort to protect themselves from greedy overlords. It has undying love affairs, grief beyond measure and bonds of friendship that last a lifetime.

One of the first Europeans to discover North America, Leif Eriksson landed on its shores around the year 1000. His expedition was part of a great era of exploration and migration for the Nordic people and the beginning of a long history of Scandinavian involvement in the New World. By the middle of the nineteenth century, huge waves of America fever had spread through the Scandinavian countries and by 1907 an official of the Swedish government reported that it was difficult to find a farm where none of the immediate family was in America. Today, approximately 11.5 million Americans describe themselves as being of Norwegian, Swedish, Icelandic, Finnish, or Danish descent, a number that equals half the population of the five countries from which they and their ancestors came. The Scandinavian American Family Album tells the history of this tremendous wave of immigration and of the contribution of Scandinavian people to the growth and development of the United States. Through their own diaries, letters, and through interviews, rare photographs, and songs, we are treated to a firsthand account of the hardships, challenges, and triumphs that awaited the generations of Scandinavian immigrants who made their way across the ocean to start new lives in America. We learn about their day-to-day life before emigration, the factors--such as social inequality, financial hardship, and overpopulation--that contributed to their decisions to leave, of their experience upon landing at Ellis Island, and the various occupations that they settled into as they began to establish homes and communities. We discover that the Danes were the first European settlers in the Bronx and Harlem in New York City and that Swedes and Finns built the first log cabins. Personal accounts describe homesteads and early colonies set up all over the country, from Maine to Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Kansas, and as far west as Utah and Nebraska. These early immigrants and their descendants tell us about pioneering farming ventures, the dangers and hardships of logging and mining, the thrill of the gold rush, and the struggle of early labor movements. All across the country, Scandinavian Americans played a key role in building the institutions and communities that still exist today. Among those who made distinguished contributions to American life and culture are Jacob Riis, the founder of modern photojournalism; Thorstein Veblen, renowned economist; sports legends Knute Rockne and Babe Didrikson Zaharias; aviator Charles Lindbergh; and Knute Nelson, the first Scandinavian American governor of Minnesota. Others profiled include actress Candice Bergen, dancer Peter Martins, Norman Borlaug, the first agricultural scientist to win the Nobel Peace Prize, novelist Ole Rölvaag and Gutzon Borglum, the sculptor who created the giant heads of four presidents on Mt. Rushmore. The stories and memories contained in this album, illustrated with vivid photographs drawn from a vast array of archives, make this volume a valuable window into the past of Scandinavian Americans and the country they now call home.

Erin go bragh. Ireland forever. The popular Celtic saying is heard in the United States from New York to San Francisco because there are more than 39 million Americans who list their ancestry as Irish. Nearly 800,000 Irish arrived here between 1841 and 1850, and 900,000 followed over the next decade. In other words, more than one out of every five people in Ireland left for the United States in that 20-year period. The Irish American Family Album is a remarkable history and memoir. In their own words--from diary entries, letters, interviews, and personal reflections--and with photographs and clippings pulled from family archives and the press of the day, the rich and colorful history of the Irish immigration to this country is told with a passion and wit that is uniquely Irish. Life on the "ould sod" and the hardships of the great potato famine and British rule, the decision to leave, the arduous Atlantic journey, first impressions of their new home, settling in and building a new life--all are made immediate and real through the words and snapshots of the participants. But not all are happy memories. Most of the immigrants were young people and left Ireland with a heavy heart, believing that they would never again see those they left behind. They faced prejudice in this country--"No Irish Need Apply" was a familiar sign in shop windows and in newspaper advertisements--and living conditions in the tenements they could afford were a far cry from life on the farm back home. Many immigrants found their first jobs here as laborers. They were among the workers who built the Erie Canal, the transcontinental railroad, and the Statue of Liberty. In the west, Irish laborers found work as miners during the gold rush. Irish women often worked as servants in the houses of the upper class, or worked in the cloth mills of New England. Though prejudice tried to keep the majority at the bottom of society, the very size of the Irish American community made them a powerful political force, and in cities such as Boston, New York, and Chicago, the Irish took control of local political organizations and were soon a force to be reckoned with. There are many success stories in The Irish American Family Album. The Kennedy family, film actor John Wayne, artist Georgia O'Keeffe, novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman justice of the Supreme Court--all bear witness to the strength and endurance of the Irish spirit. These and other famous Irish Americans are profiled throughout the book. But the real joy comes in seeing the multitude of faces in the rare and fascinating photographs, and reading memories of Irish grandmothers, of boys who grew up in "Hell's Kitchen" at the turn of the century, of an early union organizer, and the thousand of other voices that make up the proud and diverse Irish American community. Their stories add an important chapter to the multicultural portrait of America.The titles in the American Family Albums series tell the multicolored and often heroic stories of American immigrant groups, largely through their own words and pictures. Like any family album or scrapbook, the pages contain many period photographs and other memorabilia. These join with original documents--including selections from diaries, letters, memoirs, and newspapers--to bring the immigrant experience vividly to life.

The Chinese American Family Album is a scrapbook of family letters and diary entries, official documents, newspaper articles, and excerpts from literature of the past and present--a personal remembrance of an extended family of Chinese immigrants and their descendants. As we read, we begin to know this family almost as well as our own. The letters written by the new immigrants to the folks left behind in China allow us to feel the ache of leaving home and family behind. Clippings from newspapers and personal memories tell of the pain and fear and prejudice in the new country. We learn about the building of the transcontinental railroad and how Chinese immigrants were the backbone of the work force, tailing long hours under the worst conditions. We see Chinatowns spring up wherever the immigrants landed, and we see how the traditions and culture of China were both preserved and altered as the immigrants became Americanized.But we also share the joy of first sighting the new homeland. We follow families through the generations and see how they are living now and what they have brought to our country. We read about famous Chinese Americans who have risen to the top of their fields, such as athlete Michael Chang, author Amy Tan, musician Yo-Yo Ma, and Senator Hiram Fong. And we see wonderful faces--husbands alone in the new world, families reunited, new babies, grandparents. The unique, carefully researched photographs make the participants in the Chinese American experience real people who have an impact on our lives.Thomas and Dorothy Hoobler's The Chinese American Family Album makes the past experiences of these immigrants--and those of their sons and daughters in all the generations since--as real and immediate as the stories told by a favorite grandmother. They bring us in, like an embrace, to the all-encompassing, ever-growing, multicultural family of Americans.The titles in the American Family Albums series tell the multicolored and often heroic stories of American immigrant groups, largely through their own words and pictures. Like any family album or scrapbook, the pages contain many period photographs and other memorabilia. These join with original documents--including selections from diaries, letters, memoirs, and newspapers--to bring the immigrant experience vividly to life.