My Ancestors

---

Knowing where and who I come from provides a context for the ways history has placed me where I am today.  

My ancestors are Italian immigrants who came to the US as late as the 1900s, and Irish (including Scots-Irish) and Dutch settlers who arrived as early as the 1700s— possibly earlier. I also have French, English, German, Swiss, and Scandinavian ancestors. Most of my ancestors were farmers and fishers, both in their countries of origin and when they arrived to the US. Many were miners and laborers. The elders in my family of origin who I have been able to  learn from were or are skilled gardeners, artisans, and musical people. 

Places in where my ancestors lived include areas that are now called Pennsylvania and New York, Iowa and the Midwest, and the Ozark and Appalachian regions. I was raised in Texas and moved to Colorado in my lifetime. As a descendant of Western Europeans, living and working on Indigenous land where many forms of violence are present and historical means I continue to develop a sense of place here that centers reparations.