Eboli to Brooklyn - One Way

Each family has a unique story. Yet common threads hold them together - tenacity, faith, courage and loyalty. This story has been gleaned from truths and half-truths that were part of family lore. There is a love story at its basis - outwardly flawed but privately of great significance. Wealth was lost; social status abandoned. A trans-Atlantic voyage reunited a family after years of mysterious yet deliberate separation. Many times it was necessary to scrutinize much beloved stories of courage and grit to uncover the real driver to be one of raw survival. As unique as each story is, subtle variations of the same story appear time and again and aspects of the universality of the immigrant experience in the early 1900’s are revealed. Those immigrants survived the lows of being transplanted from their native land, a worldwide influenza epidemic, a great economic depression, two World Wars and countless personal trials. Many details of particular circumstances could not be retrieved. As many as could be are revealed here. They have neither been exaggerated nor sanitized, and are accurate to the best of the authors’ recollections. Many blessings were and continue to be bestowed upon the family. Dio benedica la nostra famiglia.

Francis J. Lodato Ph.D., is a Professor Emeritus at Manhattan College, where he was a professor and administrator. He is the author or co-author of four books and was a contributor to the New York Times and a columnist for the Fairfield County Catholic, a monthly newspaper. He lives in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida with his wife Patricia.