American Dream (Post 2 of 5)

On a trip to Ft. Worth, Texas to sell some cattle grandpa ran into a businessman from Winchester, Tennessee by the name of Herman Alexander. On hearing grandpa’s story he offered to help them get a farm in Tennessee. He encouraged grandpa not to give up on their dream and added that all American businessmen were not dishonest. He went on to tell them of beautiful rolling farmland in southern Middle Tennessee where he had his properties.
Before this contact I would imagine they might have had thoughts about returning to Belgium?
Mr. Alexander encouraged them to travel to Tennessee to see the land for themselves. He said that he would help them to restart their new life. This seemed to be the theme in those days. Always try to help some other worthy person get their start. This was the “Golden Rule” in action.
Grandpa told the Montoye’s, who were still in Chicago, about the Tennessee farmland and they decided to go to Tennessee to see for themselves. They liked what they saw and both men obtained land there to start their dream of being farmers of the land.
Over the next few years my grandparents worked toward ownership of a nice piece of “Tennessee Hills” farmland. Mr. Alexander, through his human kindness and generosity, helped my Grandparents get a start toward their American dream. He was like a guardian angel for my grandparents.
This area of Tennessee had a high influx of immigrants during that period of history. There was a huge German settlement nearby and a few Nordic families were immigrants
there also. Hyppoliet and Leonie Brodioi eventually became citizens, learned “broken English” and became extremely proud Americans – who had no hyphen before Americans.