Grandma's Cup

This cup and saucer belonged to my Great-Grandma. She came to the United States when she was fifteen years old from Czechoslovakia. I think it was around 1920, give or take a couple of years, when she went through Ellis Island. She did this voyage on her own, at fifteen years of age. Can you imagine sailing across the Atlantic, going through Ellis Island and then taking a train to Chicago by yourself when you are fifteen? Can you imagine sending your daughter off by herself, figuring you will probably never see her again, when she is fifteen?

She came over to marry her husband, who came to the States a few years ahead of her. As far as I know, she never did see her parents again. I know at least one of her brothers came over a few years after she did, maybe more than one came over.

I remember visiting my Grandma as a young girl, then did not see her again until I was nineteen. That was the last time I saw her. We wrote a few letters from that time until the time she died, when I was twenty-four, but not as many as I should have.

When I was around seven or eight my Mom, Aunt, cousin and I went to visit her. I remember sitting on her kitchen floor with her and my cousin eating fig newtons! If I am calculating right, she would have been in her seventies at that time. Mom told me that two cookies was sufficient, Grandma waved her off and told me to eat as many as I wanted. What sweet words to a young girl!

I would ask her questions about her life before she came to the States, about her trip over here and what her first few years in the Chicago area were like. Now I wished I would have asked more questions or remembered more answers. She hated going through Ellis Island. She said those people were mean and she could not understand much of what they were saying. They made you strip down to nothing and looked you over from head to toe to make sure you were healthy and were not bringing in any diseases. How embarrassing for a fifteen year old girl. She took classes at her church once she was settled here to learn to speak English. Her husband did not think that was needed, but she did not want to live here and not know the language.

I never knew her husband; he died when my Mom was a young girl. But from what I understand she was a model wife and mother. She doted on her family, cooking them the best of meals and keeping their home immaculate. I certainly could learn a few things from her in the domestic area.

I wish this cup could talk. How did she acquire it? Did it come over the Atlantic with her? Did she buy it for herself once she was here? Was it a gift? Did she use it? Or was it for looks? I remember a cabinet with a glass front (I think in her dining room) with some fancy cups and decorated eggs. I don’t know what the deal was with the eggs. Were they real or porcelain?

My Great-Aunt, Grandma’s daughter-in-law, gave me the cup and saucer. It sits on my night stand, back in the corner. That is probably the safest place in our home to keep it from getting broke. Obviously the cup can’t answer my questions, but I love having it. It helps me remember Grandma and remember how much easier life is for me than it was for her.