Our American Immigrants
Jack Freulich, Helene Spinak Freulich, Katia Merkin Freulich and Roman Freulich – all immigrants – in Los Angeles in 1932. Helene holds Roman and Katia's oldest child, Judy, Katia holds youngest child, Joan. Jack and Helene's son Henry is missing from the photo. All three Freulich children -- Henry, Judy and Joan -- were born in the United States.
The Halborn extended family in the United States today lives across the country, from the East Coast and across the Mid West to the West Coast. In this photo series we honor those immigrants who made the journey from Eastern Europe and who are no longer among us. They planted roots in this country and have left several hundred first, second, third and fourth generations of American born descendants.
We do not have photographs of all the early Halborn immigrants and the immigrants they married. Families like the Cibulsky's, who were the first four Halborn descendants we know of to come to the United States, are missing from our gallery as are many more we have yet to trace and document.
We have gathered, below, a few photographs of some of our ancestors who immigrated in the last years of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. For some we have only a single, low resolution photograph. Others appear more than once, in groups with siblings or spouses and children. These are the people who braved the trip and the entry process and made it possible for us to grow up as native born Americans along with our many cousins, and our children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and great great grandchildren.
Those of us who are first and second generation descendants remember the worries and joys of growing up in immigrant households or close to immigrant grandparents. Some of us remember growing up in extended immigrant communities.
Our memories and the understanding they brought us are only available to younger generations through our photographs and stories if we choose to preserve them.
