We know where we are, but it is good to look back to see where we came from. I have done this page in loving tribute to those who came before me, whose sacrifices made it possible for me and my family to live in relative comfort and security. Who enabled me to be a citizen of The United States, the greatest country in the world.

This is a tribute to all of us who have followed those early pioneers. Who also value God, family, and country. Who have made this place our own and marked our stamp upon it. The seed was planted long ago, and now we can see the fullness of its growth.

Both Tom and I have immigrant and migrant roots. The Italian families came over during the last of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. In the first part of the 20th century, the Hoskins left their Georgia home and family.

They all came from small, country towns, leaving everyone behind, in order to build a better world for themselves and their children. Life was hard, but they persevered. They were courageous.

Around 1883, Rosa and Eugene Marzo, with two very young sons, came from a small alpine village in the north of Italy, called Bugliaga, up the mountains from Domodossola. You wonder how on earth the people way up there even heard of America. They traveled to Le Harve, France, where they boarded their ship. the Americ. They passed thru the Gibraltar Straits and headed into the Atlantic Ocean, landing in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. From there they traveled through Chicago to San Francisco.

In 1903, Howard Hoskins, a widower from San Francisco with 3 young boys, married Trudy Watkins in her Georgia backyard at night. Then they went in and told her parents! They moved back to San Francisco.

Around 1908, Leonardo Costantini, 16 years old, came from Canneto di Bari in southern Italy. He landed in New York, before Ellis Island was in operation, and went to live with an Uncle, Francisco, in San Diego.

In 1921, Palma Paciulli, 21 years old, came from Mondrone. a town near Canneto. She landed in Boston, Massachusetts and came to live with her sister, Vincenzella, in Los Angeles.

Tom's Parents Palma Paciulli and Leonardo Costantino

This picture was taken of Palma before she came over to the US. It was probably meant to be circulated among the Italian colony, in hopes of interesting some young man to meet and marry her.

Soon after she came over, she and Leonardo met and in about 3 months, they were married, in old St. Peter's Italian Catholic Church on North Broadway, in L.A.

Everyone liked Nonnie. We lived with them for a bit after we were married and I always felt like I "grew up" in their home.

During WW1, Daddy kept a diary and kept making entries in that diary until he died. His children were interested in it, especially in an early part that was torn out! Seems like he was writing to a girl in Italy and something happened. Then he met Mama, and he tore out several pages. The first comment after that was, "I now have a new girl and her name is Palma."

We played cards a lot and nothing pleased him more than to out-bluff his sons and son-in-law. He would laugh until the tears would run down his cheeks.

Nancy's Parents
Athleen Hoskins and Fernando Marzo

Mother's favorite memories are of when she was 9 or 10 and they lived in Cornell, way out in the country. This is now called Agoura Hills, Mother had a pet chicken, a dog and a cat. But she really loved the neighbor's donkey, Susie. One day, around 1914, her father sent her money for a coat, but she decided to buy "Susie" instead. They took the bus to Boyle Heights, where Susie's owner now lived, and then took several days to ride Susie home, sleeping along side road at night.

Daddy loved to tell us "how it used to be" He would tell us how he would sit on the docks in San Francisco, watching the sailing ships come into sight over the horizon; how frightened the horses became when the first automobiles came to town.

When the big earthquake hit, a statue of the Blessed Mother fell and conked him on the head, waking him up. They were living in Sonoma at the time, so weren't in the middle of the quake and fire, but he remembers how devastating they were.

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