American Dream (Post 1 of 4)

My grandparents, Hyppoliet August (1872) and Leonie Marie Brodioi (1884), came to this country in 1909. Kamile, my Uncle, was around one year old when they made the voyage.
My cousin who lives just outside of Paris, France has traced the surname Brodioi, back to the 1750’s as Broudihaux.
They came to America from their native Belgium because of the “American Dream.” They spoke no English, basically did not know anyone, but they came anyway.
Grandpa was twelve years my Grandma’s senior which made him probably 36-37 years old when they came to America. Friends and close family members told them that they would be killed by Indians in the wild new world of America but they had already made up their minds to make the journey. Imagine the courage and the singleness of purpose it took to uproot your life and embark on a journey to a strange new land with not much more than love for each other and steerage, third class, boat ticket?
On April 23, 1909 they arrived at Ellis Island on the Lusitania. If you remember your history the Lusitania was made famous by it’s sinking in 1915 by a German submarine to bring America into WWI.
After looking with awe at New York City they took a train out west to Chicago. There they met up with Oscar Montoye who was married to Grandpa’s sister, Eugenia. The Montoye’s had come to the US two years earlier. In Chicago they both found work and on one occasion for entertainment they attended a “Wild West Show” where they saw Buffalo Bill and Annie Oakley. Imagine as a child my hearing of this? It was just about more than a farm kid from the “Tennessee Hills” could comprehend. My Grandpa and Grandma actually saw real life western folk heroes. Amazing!
They worked hard and saved their money for about three years and decided to buy some land and start their new life as tillers of the soil. This was their plan before they came to
America. Based on a newspaper ad or a flyer they became interested in some farmland in Louisiana. In those days you couldn’t just drive or fly to view a piece of property. In most cases if you were an immigrant you just hoped that you were dealing with someone honest. Sadly, with the influx of immigrants in the early 1900’s scam artist were very active in large city areas where immigrants lived. So, on a faith equal to their dream they bought the land and set off with their two young sons for Raceland, Louisiana. My dad, Henry, was born during their time in Chicago.
More than likely they took a riverboat down the Mississippi to what they hoped was a good piece of farmland on which to start their new lives and to chase their version of the “American Dream.”
On their arrival they were literally crushed when they saw the rough piece of land that was a swampy snake infested property that was not really suitable farmland. For this, they had risked their entire savings.
They worked hard on their piece of land and raised cattle and fought the natural elements as best they could. Their thoughts were on what would they do and where would they turn next? Sadly many other immigrants met this same fate during this period in American history. They were so overwhelmed with the American Dream that they were to trusting of others.