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Birth
My name is Rosaria Giraldo. I was born on March 27, 1865 in Turin, Italy. I started living with my rich family but they started to plan the move to the United States by the time I was only 5. They left me to live with my grandmother until the age of 20. -
The Fire
Several months after my 20th birthday, a fire destroyed our house from a candle that was left burning. My grandmother passed away that day along with my 2 year old daughter while I was out working. My 5 year old daughter still survived and after that we took what we had left from the fire and decided to move to the United States and re-unite with my family and husband. -
Immigration
A week after the fire, my daughter and I decided to move to the United States. We spent the whole week making as much money as we could including selling jewelry that we made. After hard work we could finally afford 1st class passes because we still managed to get most of our money from out of the fire. The journey was long and tiresome but we finally made it and met up with our family in Maine. -
Reuniting With the Family
I arrived in Maine and went to Lewston, a city where my family, my husband, my daughter, and I planned ot meet up. Before getting there I ran into some people who would try to bribe me to buy their War Bonds, everywhere I went I saw posters about it as well. I finally met up witht the rest of my family and we went to a tenament for the night. When we got up the next morning we left for their land that they owned a little past the town we were in. I stayed there for 10 years and sold jewelry. -
Chinese Exclusion Act
By this time, the Chinese Exclusion Act was happening. This was tough for me because a lot of my customers for my jewlery and clothes that I sold were bought by Chinese immigrants and without them my income went way down. It was a struggle for me at this time and with my family because they depended on some of my money to help pay taxes. -
10 Years after the Move
We celebrated our Christmas happily. It has been ten years since the move. I have reunited with my husband and family, my daughter is getting to live a better lifestyle and getting a good education. However, we are still having a hard time finding jobs and getting money. My husband, my daughter, and I then decided to move west to Nevada for land and hopefully better job opportunites. My husband will work on the railroad and I will continue to sell jewelry and clothing. -
Immigrating West
My family immigrated to Lincoln, Nevada with other people who work on the railroads. About 3 quarters of the way there they stopped the train and had all the people planning on working on the railroad get out and start building. I wasn't expecting this but my daughter and I went to go get land, he would meet us there when he was allowed to move on. -
Getting Land
A few days later my husband came back and was able to compete in the race to claim our land. Before the race we had to eliminate a lot of the things we were carrying to make the race much easier for our horses and to make sure nothing would fall off and break. My daughter would ride on the back of my horse and my husband would ride on his own. It took a lot of our savings up to buy another horse because we only had one to start with. Luckily, we got to the land we wanted first and claimed it. -
After the Move
My husband and I got our own land in the west. My husband still works on the railroad while I sell homemade jewelry and clothing. My daughter is getting and education from the local school and also reading educational books that we brought along the way. There is plenty of good land to grow crops, however the one problem is the railroad work pays minimum wage and there isn't too many people who will buy my jewelry. -
Much After Immigrating to the West/Ending
Over the years the Chinese Exculsion Act affected us because they took away a lot of my customers. My daughter grew up to be a successful teacher. After I got sick I was moved into intesive care and then died 7 months later.
