This simple gold wedding band, which belongs to my paternal grandmother, carries an amazing story about my family’s immigration journey from Italy to New York. Before it was hers, it originally belonged to my great-great grandmother on my grandfather’s side, who immigrated through Ellis Island from Naples in 1906. Both my grandmother and grandfather’s sides of the family immigrated from different regions of Italy and settled in Brooklyn for generations. My grandparents met each other as teenagers in the neighborhood they grew up in, Gravesend, Brooklyn. My grandfather decided to give his grandmother’s ring to my grandmother when they married because of a special coincidence: My great-great grandmother passed away on the same day my grandmother was born: Christmas, 1947. The family portrait attached is my grandfather’s side, and the woman on the left is my great-great grandmother, the original owner of the ring. 

Although my family has now scattered throughout the tri-state area, we all remain close to where our relatives landed and keep our culture and history alive. This ring signifies our family’s journey and history, and tells a story of how we all came to be. 

– Zoe La Senna

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