Midnight Special to West Virginia

Berwind, WV  "Melting Pot" for Hungarian, Polish, Italians

My uncle, who was in his 20's,  was also on board the ship but he was suppose to go back to Italy after my father picked us up on Ellis Island.  An emergency came up in the family so my father could not come to get us and my uncle had to return to Italy as scheduled and left us alone on the island.  It took ten days to get the legal papers ready for us to be released without a parent from Ellis Island.  We stayed there alone.  We did not speak any English. We stayed on Ellis Island until the papers were ready.  We were well cared for while we were there.  I remember on weekends, rich New Yorkers coming to the Island to pass coins to the immigrants (especially the children).  My brother, Vincent, and my sister, Aminta, were angry with me because my coin was larger than theirs and they thought I had more money.  Later, they learned that a dime, (what they had) was worth more than the nickel I had.  So, once they understood their coin was worth more than mine, they got over being mad.

The legal papers finally arrived.  My brother, sister and I were put on a train to Welch, McDowell County, West Virginia.  We had to change trains in Washington, D.C.  My brother, my sister, nor I spoke or understood a word of English.  A conductor on the train was in charge of us in helping us change trains in DC.
The train trip to West Virginia was during the cold, bleak month of November, 1913.  As we got closer to the McDowell County line we saw the ground covered in snow, something we had never seen before.  The coke ovens on the steep mountainsides near Elkhorn were  a frightening sight with fire spewing out of the tops of the ovens.  We wondered what our life was going to be like in America.
My father, whom I had not seen since I was 18 months old, met us in Welch.  We spent the night there before going on to Berwind, our home.  I kept looking at the picture of my parents that I had in the locket around my neck, to be sure this was my father!

We didn't go to school right away because of the language barrier and the adjustment to these "new parents" and 3 smaller brothers and sister, we had never met. 
My mother kept several boarders and my father worked in the Berwind coal mine, when the railroad was completed.
We kept busy caring for the smaller children and doing household chores.
Berwind became the "melting pot" for Hungarian, Polish and Italian immigrants.
We moved to War, McDowell County, West Virginia, in 1914.
Again, my mother kept boarders in a house located next door to the War Creek tipple.  As you can imagine, keeping the place clean was a 24 hour a day job with all the coal dust!
Finally, in 1914 we enrolled in school in War, West Virginia.  We were very happy to meet other children our  age.  Fortunately, we had teachers who were understanding in assisting us to complete assignments, doing homework, etc.
I was excused from school for 30 minutes each day to deliver lunches to the boarders who worked at William Poca Mine. 
life in War continued
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