to the Dunigan Family |
Coal Mines of WV |
Victor Navarro
Told by: Victor Navarro
I am from Panama, a small country in CentralAmerica. Panama has nine provinces, or states and one Indian reservation. They include: Panama, Colon, Darien, Cocle, Herrera, Los Santos, Veraguas, Bocas del Toro, Chririqui and the Indian reservation Cormarca of San Blas. Chiriqui is my province or state. My county is Bugaba. I live in a small incorporated town called Volcan.
Volcan is a very beautiful place. It is situated in from a Volcano named Volcan Baru. My whole family lives there. My mother and three brothers are: My mother, Miriam, is 42 years old and works for a government office. Roberto is 20 years old and works for a coffee plantation. Carlos is 18 years old and works for the same plantation. Juan Carlo is 16 years old and is student and part time worker for the coffee plantation.
I have an older sister, Miriam, who lives in the United STates of America. She and her husband Joseph Bishop dwell in Ikes Fork, West Virginia. She married him while he was in the military and stationed in Panama. Miriam is a home maker and Joseph works for a railroad company.
One day my mom received a invitation from my sister, to come visit at Christmas time. My mom and I left Volcan one day early because the airport is in Panama City and we don't want to miss our flight. The flight left the airport at 8:00 a.m., December 4 of 1999. It was very good, I watched TV, ate, and slept. After four hours, the airplane arrived in the airport of Atlanta, Georgia. There, my sister and her husband waited for us.
The ride was too long. We passed through Tennessee, Virginia, and finally arrived in West Virginia. I arrived in Ikes Fork on December 5, 1999 at 12:30 a.m. The days passed and Cristmas and New Years came and went.
My family decided it was time to enroll me in school. However, I had a problem. I don't speak english. My sister know that could be a problem. She decided to go to the school and ask all about it. That day, they told her that I need to take a vaccine to enroll in school. THey gave me an appointment to take a vaccine and a test for tuberculosis. However, the test for tuberculosis did not come back right because of sensitive skin and I had to wait to take X-rays before the county would allow me to come to school.
After a week, I was allowed to come to school. I met many wonderful people. I have very many friends and the people here are very good to me, even though I am different from them. I have a good life now and want to stay here in Ikes Fork and go to school here until I graduate. After that, I want to attend the Air Force Academy and learn to be a cargo pilot for the United States.
WV Family Histories
Told by: Joseph E. Bishop
This story takes place in the late 1800's or early 1900's at Premier in McDowell County, West Virginia.
Being from a country far older than the United States, but with a similar history, i was eager to see if West Virginia had famous peoples such as Reuben Blades(a famous panamanian actor and singer) and Roberto Duran (a famous panamanian boxer).
I learned that people such as colonel Chuck Yeager, Don Knotts(actor), Martin Delany(highest ranking African American in the Cival War), General"Stonewall" Jackson(Cival War General), Nick Nolte(actor), John F. Nash(N(Nobel Proze Winner), and Pearl S. Buck(famous author) all came from this great state. They all would have made interesting subjects for this story, but i didn't seem to indentify with them.
Idid indentify with Michael Antonio Fresca. He was not famous at all. Other than family records and stories, we would not even know of his existence. He left home at the age of thirteen seeking a better life. To get here, he obtained passage of a passenger liner which left the port of Genoa, Italy in exchange fro working as a cabin boy( a very low position equal to that of a servant). After months at sea, young Miguel arrived at New York Harbor where he was quarantined for a number of weeks to see if he was healthy. Finally,when he came through the gates leaveing Elllis island, New York he had a new name due to immigration inspectors and a new problem."Where do i go from here?"
Young Michael Anthony Facello (speaking no english)wandered the streets of Helll's Kitchen in New York until he found a Italian family whot took him in until he was sixteen years old. Gradualy young Michaelbegan to speak a few words of english and decided to work his way south, looking for a place of his own,
Eventually he came to McDowell County, West Virginia. Here ,he and another Italian mansons constructed stone which line the roads from Ieager to Welch. they also built many stone houses in Southwood in Welch.
When he saw that he could earn more as a coal miner than a mason,he switched careers and became a miner in Premier, West Virginia. There, he met and married Ebbie Armeda Blevins Facello and 9 children. he died at age of 62 from black lung.
He was not rich,nor powerful,nor famous. Micheal was a simple man who spoke little Enlish, but through hard work and determination he managed to make a place for himself and gives me hope that through hard work and determination i might make mor of myself than a miner like Mike Facello. i hope to do something great one day.
One New Branch to the Dunigan Family
Told by: Diana Dunigan
Jima Dunigun is my mother-in-law, and we will be moving back to West Virginiain the very near future, to live near our relatives. When I married her son,Roy, she gained a whole new branch to her family.
My name is Diana Lynn Jacobson Dunigan, I am the daughter of a Dutch Jew and a NASA Scientist's child. My father, Herb Jacobson was born in 1932,in a small town called Gronigen, Netherlands. His father, Mau, was a Mining Engineer, and his mother, Annie, was a Pharmacist. They met in Holland around 1929 at a Jewish Activists' rally to promote the re-formation of Israel as a Jewiash nation. They married and moved to Bolivia, where Mau managed a mine. Annie loved fashion, and all elegant things so much that she dressed up in fashonable clothes and drove a brand-new Chevrolet Convetible, even though the famly lived in a poor Bolivian village. Herb, my father, was cared for by a maid, and so learned to speak Spanish fluently, as well as his family's native language, Dutch. In 1940, they moved to New York, and Herb learned English, as well. His father, Mau, was working on an Indonesian mining project, and his mother, Annie, having lost interest in being a Pharmacist, worked as a fashion Writer for a Dutch newspaper, all from New York. When World War II broke out,they were still living safely in New York,but Annie's parents,still in holland, were forced to hide in the attic, and lost most of their business (sausagecasings), and their lives, after the war, though they were forever changed by the experience.
Another branch of my Father's family in Isreal. Mau's brother and father both left Holland in 1929, to become pioneers in Isreal. His brother was married, and had two childdren, a boy and a girl. the boy was killed in battle, but the girl, but the girl, Ettie, still lives there. she has three grown children, and many grandchildren. I have only met one of them, her youngest son, Itai, who is about 10 years older than i am. He is married now, with a baby daughter named Omer. Herb's father, Mau, passed away in 1975, and his mother,Annie continued a very active life, and retired to California(living with Herb) until April 3, 2000 when she suddenly died at the age of 97. Last week, my father brought me some of Annie's furniture, which is beautiful and rich in history. I feel honored to have these pieces in my home.
My mother, Jackelaine Peek Jacobson is the daughter of a NASA Scientist, Jack Peek,and a schoolteacher Elaine Peek. Jack invented many things for the space program, including the waste system in the spacesuit. Elaine's father was a kind man, but his job was managing a "Chang Gang" of working prisoners. Jckeiain is related distantly to Francis Scott Key, who wrote "The Star Spangled Banner". Jacklaine has two sisters...Becky, who lives in Flordia and is retired from managing computer systems for 7-11 stores nationwide;
