I did a Lunch With Books program on this book last December. It turned out to be premature. But the book has finally been released and I wanted to let everyone know. Here's the Press Release.
New Wheeling History Book Hits Shelves
A
new book exploring Wheeling’s rich history as a favored destination for
immigrants from around the world is now available at a number of local retail
outlets. Created by researcher and author Seán
Duffy and published by James Thornton, The
Wheeling Family Volume 2: More Immigrants, Migrants & Neighborhoods, is
the highly anticipated follow up to the popular 2008 book, The Wheeling Family: A Celebration of Immigrants & Neighborhoods.
Four years in the making and, at 316 pages, nearly twice the length of the
first volume, the new book contains dozens of oral history narratives and
hundreds of stunning photographs. The book builds upon the immigration and
neighborhood stories of the first, while expanding the scope to include stories
from a variety of new groups and different river towns of the Upper Ohio
Valley.
Family
histories featured in the book include those of the Mamakos family of Louis
Hotdog fame, the Dieckmanns, Emmerths, Thomases, Javersaks, Rybecks, Canestraros,
Campetis, Courys, Fronts, Javersaks, Tius, Vargos and many more. Immigrants
from China, the Philippines, Italy, Ireland, Greece, Lebanon, Poland, Germany,
Austria, Hungary, Croatia, France and other nations are featured. All of the
old Wheeling neighborhoods are covered, from South to Center, East to North,
Warwood to Woodsdale, Edgwood to Elm Grove and beyond, plus stories from Ohio
towns like Martins Ferry, Bridgeport and Shadyside and West Virginia towns like
Weirton, Benwood and Fish Creek. Interspersed among the family histories are essays
on what it means to be an immigrant, growing up in Warwood, the impact of the
Great War on Wheeling’s large German immigrant population, as well as a history
of Jews in Wheeling by the late Rabbi Daniel Lowy and a tribute to the 119 men
who died in the Benwood Mine Disaster of 1924 based on the most current work by
researcher Joey Tellitocci.
“The
first book was inspired by my grandparents, who were the children of Italian immigrants,”
Duffy said. “I saw it is a tribute to
the courageous people who risked everything to build a better life for their
children. The new book completes the tribute and the journey, and the whole
thing was a labor of love.”
The Wheeling Family Volume
2 is
available downtown at The Wheeling Artisan Center at 14th and Main
Streets, at Words and Music Bookstore at Stratford Springs, the Mt. de Chantal
Kroger, the UPS Store on Washington Avenue, and at The Medicine Shoppe Pharmacy
in Fulton. Copies of both volumes can be purchased online at
www.cre8m.com/books.html. Duffy will be signing copies of the new book at The
Wheeling Artisan Center on Saturday, September 22 from noon until 3 pm and at
Words and Music on Saturday September 29th from noon until 2 pm.
From the back cover: “Like most
American industrial towns, Wheeling once attracted a multitude of migrants and
immigrants with the promise of plentiful jobs. In fact, between 1850 and 1950,
Wheeling's population grew by more than five hundred percent. In the years
since 1950, the town's population has dropped almost as precipitously as it
once rose. Each departure and arrival provides a story -- of families, of
neighborhoods, of Wheeling. In The
Wheeling Family: A Celebration of Immigrants and Their Neighborhoods, we
attempted to record a representative sample of those stories from those who
still remembered. But thirty-five family histories and nearly six hundred
photographs proved insufficient to fully capture Wheeling's fascinating
diversity. This second volume is an attempt to complete the mosaic. In addition
to the overflow of immigrant stories from volume one, the reader will find
stories of African American families who migrated to the region in search of
freedom and opportunity, as well as more contemporary immigrants stories from
Asia. Finally, the research was expanded to include stories from neighboring
Upper Ohio Valley river towns whose residents and cultures have always been
inextricably linked to Wheeling's. These stories, recorded as the region's
human tide ebbs, are the testimonies of the last witnesses to a bygone era. We
hope you enjoy experiencing them.”
Praise for Volume 1:
"A fascinating narrative history..." West Virginia History
"Sean Duffy's book brings Wheeling's vibrant and
diverse heritage to life again." -author George Fetherling
"The most heartwarming and fantastic book I have
ever read!" -Bob Oglinsky, Wheeling
"Wow. I felt like I had been waiting my entire
life to read some of these stories and didn’t even realize it. " -Rhonda
Early, Seymour Indiana
"A beautiful touch of nostalgia...the labor of
love you have produced is a treasure I will cherish always. Your book is a
gift!" -Joyce (Purpura) Calamia, Philadelphia, PA
Hello. If you need a copy of The Wheeling Family Volume 2, More Immigrants, Migrants & Neighborhoods as a last minute Christmas gift (very thoughtful of you!), copies are still available at The Wheeling Artisan Center Gift Shop at 14th and Main Streets on the 2nd floor above the River City Restaurant, at the UPS Store in the plaza off Washington Avenue, and at the Wheeling Hospital Gift Shop. The Ohio County Public Library has a few copies left at the circulation desk ($1 goes to the library if you buy one there), and I have some copies that I'm happy to deliver right to your door. Just send me an email at lunchwithbooks@yahoo.com. 
