My great grandmother left Armenia, avoiding a massive genocide due to dictatorship in 1915. She travelled from Armenia in Europe to Uruguay, where she met my great grandfather, before she left, she was given a ring it was a memento of her mother. My family was poor, so in high hopes my great grandfather went to the U.S. to make a better living. He would send checks in to help support the family back in Uruguay, suddenly the checks have stopped coming. My grandfather got worried that something has happened to his father, he saved up money from doing some side jobs and bought himself a ticket but before leaving his mother gave him the ring that her mother gave her. He went to NJ in the United States where he last knew where his father was. He told me that he searched for him for a couple of weeks but finally found him, but he was with another woman and his other kids. When he found out about this, he didn’t want to tell his mother the news, so instead he stayed in the U.S. and supported his family, he didn’t know any English but he tried his best for hid family back home, he thought of giving up but every time he looked at this ring he knew that his family was counting on him. For a couple years he saved enough money and through hard work and determination he bought a house and tickets for his mother to come live in the U.S. He tells me all the time how family is the most important thing in life and how it drives you to be better, I always took it for granted but after hearing this story, hopefully one day I would get that ring so I could pass it down. 

– Sebastian Tehlikian

Relationship:  Great-grandchild of im/migrant or more Great-grandchild of im/migrant or more