Welcome to Wheeling Immigration. This blog is dedicated to the creation of a new book called: The Wheeling Family: A Celebration of Immigrants and Their Neighborhoods. Through oral histories and photographs, the book will explore the history of immigrant groups in and around Wheeling, West Virginia from the mid-19th through the mid-20th centuries.The book will be published by Creative Impressions Studios and written by Sean Duffy of the Ohio County Public Library. We plan to have it ready for Christmas 2008.
We are currently conducting research and interviews. Due to overwhelming response, a second volume is planned.
The book will include stories and memories about the prominent Wheeling neighborhoods of the period: especially South Wheeling, Center Wheeling, East Wheeling, North Wheeling, Wheeling Island, Elm Grove, Woodsdale, Fulton, and Warwood.
We are hoping to hear from as many different immirgant/ethnic groups as possible.
The purpose of the book is to remember and pay tribute to the rich tradition of immigration in Wheeling’s history. We will explore the mix of nationalities drawn to Wheeling because of industry and opportunity. We will also explore how and why these groups settled in certain neighborhoods and stayed together. This will include a look at the cherished traditions and customs people brought from the old country and continued in their new Ohio Valley home.
From the back cover:
"They risked everything, leaving behind all that was comfortable and familiar to cross an ocean in pursuit of a better life. Drawn by bountiful jobs in America’s industrial heart, many came to Wheeling for some of the same reasons that — with tragic irony — would later prompt their descendants to leave town. Strangers in a strange land, they banded together with others from their home country, creating ethnic neighborhoods that blended the Old and New worlds into something unique.
Though most of the old ones have long since passed, there are still among us those who knew them well and learned their stories. But even these later generations are slipping away, and with them, the last traces of Old World traditions and wisdom. The bridge to our immigrant past is crumbling, and this book aims, in small part, to rebuild that bridge by recording those fading memories through oral histories and vintage photographs. Think of this as a “family album” for our beloved city.
Within these pages you will meet the gritty, courageous immigrants of Wheeling and learn about the neighborhoods they made their own. These are the people whose strong hands, backs and hearts built the National Road and the B&O Railroad; who labored in the steel mills, the glass factories, the coal mines, the tobacco factories, and the cut nail plants; who loaded the barges, shoveled the coke, laid the bricks and stone, and dug the graves; who built Wheeling from the ground up with skill, faith, determination and brute strength. These are our people: the Poles of South Wheeling; the Irish, and Italians of East Wheeling; the Greeks, Lebanese, and Germans of Center Wheeling; and all the other groups comprising Wheeling’s cosmopolitan mosaic.These are their stories. And this book is a celebration of their lives. "
Those interested may contact Sean Duffy at the Ohio County Public Library to make arrangements for an interview and to have vintage family photos scanned. If you have an immigrant or neighborhood story to share, please call Sean at 304-232-0244, or contact him by email at wheeling_immigrants@yahoo.com.
If you are scheduled for an interview, please bring with you the following items:
* vintage photos of family members who were immigrants
* vintage photographs of your family's house
* vintage photos of the family's neighborhood
* passports
* Ellis Island documents or artifacts
* and, if possible, a favorite family recipe
Please be prepared to discuss stories of the family history, especially those that pertain to what country your family emigrated from, why your family chose Wheeling, what neighborhood they settled in and why, what they did for a living, any memories of traditional customs practiced in the home, and your favorite family recipe from the old world.
