Media/Speaking
This is the speech I gave about my family history and my book, Searching for Concezio, at my New Jersey hometown’s 2022 Columbus Day celebration. When I was growing up in Scotch Plains, New Jersey, nearly half of the population there could trace their roots back to Italy. I didn’t pay much attention to that fact until recently, when I discovered that my grandfather was a migrant worker, one in a flock of more than two million other young men known as “birds of passage” who flew to America desperate for opportunity from 1880 to 1920. To learn more about my grandfather’s story—and the struggles and successes of countless “birds of passage” never given credit for their role in building modern America—read my blog, Searching for Concezio, and leave me a comment or question.
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I thought I had verified the information on the three family records I had, but there was a backstory to each one that raised new questions and uncovered more information. The first record concerned the date of my grandfather’s arrival in America. In 2002, while searching the database at the immigration center on Ellis Island,…
There weren’t any letters or diaries for me to consult when I started my search for family records. My grandfather Concezio was too busy working two jobs to record his thoughts and observations. I had only three pieces of information to rely on when I started writing my book, Searching for Concezio: …
Do you have a “bird of passage” hidden in the branches of your family tree? My grandfather, Concezio Perrucci, was un uncello di passagio. I repeated the words a few times when I first came across them while writing my book, Searching for Concezio. The words sound lovely to the ear in Italian, but they…
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