The object that I chose is a photograph of my great, great grandfather, Robert Richardson, with his wife, Ida. This photograph was taken in 1945 in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, where I assume they were visiting my grandfather’s family, who at the time, was living in that area.  To me, this photograph is used to show me who Robert Richardson was, and also made me learn about his past life and journey, and how his family was brave enough to start fresh in a foreign country to create a better life for future generations, like me.  I chose this photograph as my artifact because my family visited Ireland in 2022 and was amazed by the beauty of the country and how welcoming the people were. My dad particularly wanted to learn more about his great grandfather’s homeland and was able to find out that Robert Richardson immigrated with his parents from Donegal, Ireland to America as an infant in the year of 1879. This singular photograph teaches me a lot about my culture, like why Robert Richardson’s family had to leave their country. Around the time they immigrated, Ireland was an extremely poor country with almost nothing to offer, unlike America, which gave them more opportunities and a fresh start to give them a better life. At the time, almost everyone who lived in Ireland wanted to move away for this exact reason, except not everyone moved to America. Plenty of other families moved to places such as England and areas in Canada. 

– ET

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