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| A Marine's Pride |
As most of you know by now, my ancestors on my father's side were members of the Iroquois nation. To them we are all illegals. John Kelly's remarks on NPR made me wonder what the story was behind his own family history.
Here's a useful tidbit of information. File it under: "Bar the door! I'm here!" (General) John Kelly's ancestors, who arrived in America before we began classifying immigrants as documented and undocumented, included his Great Grandfather Giuseppe Pedalino and Pedalino's second wife Concetta. (Kelly's great-grandma died in 1898.)
Giuseppe Pedalino was a wagon driver. It is unlikely that he had more than a few years of schooling but we don't know this (yet) His wife was illiterate and could not speak English 10 years after arrival.
John Kelly's maternal grandmother Teresa is shown below as a child in the 1900 census. Her father, a day laborer named John DeMarco had been here for 18 years.
He had not become a citizen.
He could not read, write, or speak English.
The 1930 census shows his great-grandparents living with their daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren, one of whom was Kelly's mother.
John DeMarco had been here for 47 years and was STILL not an American citizen ("AL"). His wife Crescenza had been here for 37 years and STILL spoke no English.
pic.twitter.com/N9AfuLNvb1
These facts tell us a number of things:
1. In only 3 generations this immigrant family went from "the great unwashed" to the ancestors of the Chief of Staff to the President of the United States of America. That is nothing short of a true American success story.
2. General John Kelly is either completely ignorant of his own family's history or a hypocrite - I'm guessing the latter. This is less of a disappointment than his behavior in not having the courage to speak out against the treatment of John McCain at the hands of his own Whitehouse Staff but it's right up there.
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