They Came As Strangers

 

                               Charles D. Barton, Greece to Bradford, VT

                             Dr. Geroge Swinzow, Ukraine to Thetford, VT

                                    Roberto Alonso. Cuba to Orford, NH

Those who read this column are likely descendants of immigrants. I am the grandson of one.

 My grandmother, Jennie Lee, migrated from London in 1908, and married my grandfather Elroy Coffin in 1909. I never knew her as she died of blood poisoning in Brookfield VT, in 1922.

All my other ancestors arrived in America between 1620 and 1640 during what is known as the Great Migration. They had dreams of a better life than the one they left behind.

This column includes some examples of the history of immigration to New Hampshire and Vermont before 1970. It features the stories of three immigrants who came to the local area and became part of their respective communities. Readers could suggest others who might have been included.

Descendants of the initial British settlers of southern New England formed the first wave of local immigrants. They were white and Protestant and replaced what remained of the native population.

These Yankees built the settlements that became the villages and towns along the Connecticut River. They were possessive and proud of what they had accomplished.

The Scotish settlers of Ryegate and Barnet were the first distinctly ethnic groups to come to the area directly from overseas. The Scotch American Company arrived in 1774, “bringing with them their Presbyterian faith, stone masonry skills and cultural cohesion.”

In the 1840s, Irish immigrants were the first major non-Yankee immigrant population. Brought to the local area as railroad workers, their presents created controversy. Town leaders in Barnet asked the railroad company to guarantee that the workers would be sent away when the work was done.

Aversion and fear were the reactions of some in Newbury to the “horde of men, women, and children of that nationality” invading with “their brogue and actions.” Their Catholic faith was a red flag to the Protestant population.

French-Canadian migrants who came New Hampshire and Vermont about the same time were also Roman Catholic. They were attracted by employment as farmers and, railroad and mill workers in the two states.

They were major sources of workers for industries in cities such as Manchester, Lebanon, and the Burlington-Winooski area, as well as in St. Johnsbury and Rutland. As such they competed with established groups for jobs and businesses.

By the 1890s, the Irish and French had made Roman Catholicism the largest single religious domination in Vermont.

In the 1850s, some locals joined the anti-immigrant Know-Nothing party. In the election for state representatives in 1855, Know-Nothing candidates from Thetford, Vershire, and West Fairlee were elected. 

That attitude may have been linked to the large number of immigrants working in the Orange County copper mines.

In the Ely mines in 1860, there were 81 Cornish and 43 Irish miners. By 1880, that number had increased to 209 “Cousin Jacks” or Cornish miners and 281 Irish miners. These workers were also at the Pike Hill mine in Corinth.

At the same time, Italian and Scotch granite workers were found in the granite quarries of Groton, South Ryegate, and Barre.

Late in the 19th century, immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe began to arrive from Greece, Poland, Russia, and elsewhere. As with earlier groups, they found employment in the mills. They often took jobs as merchants or in food service. Their small ethnic neighborhoods were sometimes found in larger communities in the two states. They often faced negative attitudes from established residents.

Despite these newcomers, the Vermont population continued to dwindled in rural communities. The state estalished a commission to encourage immigrants to take over abandoned farms. One focus of the commission was to encourage Swedish migrants by placing advertisements in Sweden.

Not only were their hardworking and temperate habits appealing, but they were Protestant.

 Locally, a committee in Vershire made plans to bring up to 40 Swedes to town in 1889.

However, only 12 arrived, and the abandoned farms that were to be their new homes were unsuitable.  Within a year, the “colony” had proved a failure as the migrants had left to work at a lumber mill in Norton, VT.

One of the Greek migrants who came was Constantine Burbaros.  He was one of those who adopted the Upper Valley as their own, and left it better for having lived here.

In 1916, at age 16, he left Greece with his uncle’s admonition, “You’ll never make it in America. You’ll be back soon.” He entered Ellis Island in October 1916, unable to speak English and with few resources other than an aptitude for hard work. 

To be successful in America, he angelized his name to Charles Barton. Despite some early reversals, he invested in a small store in White River Jct.

In 1926, he purchased a restaurant in Bradford, which he renamed “The Chimes.” That same year, he met a local girl named Ruth Rogers.  They waited five year before marrying, a union that lasted for 55 years.

They had three children, MaryAnn, James and Catherine. Ruth became” his best business partner,” doing the necessary bookwork for the growing business.

In 1947, the east side of Bradford’s Main Street was gutted by fire. Within days, Barton had developed plans for rebuilding the destroyed buildings. Additionally, he built the village building that currently houses his grandson’s dentistry and purchased the lot near the post office that provides adjacent parking.

Over the year Barton owned 11 stores as well as the Bradford Inn.  In 1960, the inn was razed to make way for a new bank building.

In addition to being an extraordinary entrepreneur, Barton was always generous to others. Whether an indigent who needed a meal, a fledgling business owner who needed a boost, or to a younger who got a piece of the candy he carried in his pockets, Barton reached out to those around him. He also regularly sent money to his home village in Greece.  

When he first came to Bradford in 1926, the newspaper noted, “He comes to us as a stranger.” In 1985, the Village of Bradford, in recognition of his contributions, designated the street around which he had done so much as Barton Street. “Charlie,” as he was known to many, was no longer a stranger; he was Mr. Bradford.

Barton died in1988, and, at his request, the hearse bearing his body made one last turn around the village. Ruth died in 2007.

Thetford was the home to another migrant who during his career played a significant role in understanding frigid climates. His name as Dr. George K. Swinzow.

When, in 1957, Swinzow received his Phh from Boston University after just two years, Boston-area newspapers noted the accomplishment. When interviewed, he described himself as “proof that the United States is a land of opportunity.”

He was born in Charkow, Ukraine in 1915, and met his wife Neonila in 1937. During World War II, he and she with their little daughter, were interned in Germany separately. By chance, they were reunited after the war, and began working for the UN Resettlement Program.

They migrated to the United States in 1951. He began attending Boston University, and because of his past training in geology, taught in the college’s geology department. He was 42 when he received his doctorate.

Dr. Swinzow’s interest in the impact of winter weather on warfare, led to him making a presentation at a scientific convention. There he drew the attention of a scientist from the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory in Hanover.

This led to an employment offer, and, in 1960, the family relocated to Thetford and he began a career at CRREL.

The focus of his research was on permafrost engineering, frozen ground properties and frozen area construction techniques. He helped establish foundational knowledge in those area, especially on numerous visits to “frozen frontier areas.”

On one trip to Greenland in 1966, he rescued an abandoned Arctic blue fox pup which he brought back to Thetford, where it became a family pet.

He produced a number of notable publications and held patents in his research fields. In 1982, he wrote a discourse on the history of winter warfare, a study that was used as a reference by the military.

His efforts to coordinate Western and Soviet research led to visits by Soviet researchers to CRREL. He received a number of awards, including election to the New York Academy of Sciences.

His daughter, Ursula Austin, shared her memories with me. She said that, in addition to his scientific accomplishments, he was a linguist, painter, jeweler, magician, poet, forester, and part-time poultry farmer. He also helped his wife with her extensive vegetable gardens.

To the end of his life in 2000, he rejected totalitarianism and socialism in favor of the choices that America offered through capitalism and freedom. Neonila remained active in the Thetford community until her death in 2022 at age 104.

In January 1960, Roberto E. Alonso arrived in Miami’s Little Havana with his wife Edith, their infant daughter, and $15. They were escaping from Fidel Castro’s communist regime. I recently interviewed their daughter Vanessa, who shared her parents’ story.

Alonso was born in 1926 into a prominent Cuban family.  He grew up in an aristocratic atmosphere and, following a family tradition, received a law degree from the University of Havana in1952.

In 1956, while on a trip to Spain, he met Edith Thurau, a German resident and language major. Married, they were in Havana in 1960 when it became prudent to flee to the United States. They were not allowed to take more than a few clothes with them. 

In Florida, at the time, there were considerable anti-immigrant feelings with housing signs indicating “no dogs, no Cubans.”

In 1960, he responded to an advertisement seeking Spanish-speaking lawyers for a small firm in Orford, NH. It had been placed there by Meldrim Thomson, owner of Equity Publishing, a law book publishing company with a special interest in Spanish-speaking entities.

The family arrived in Orford in October 1960. For the next 16 years, Alonso was a senior editor for Equity.  In 1962, their family was enlarged with twin daughters. Priscilla and Cedric Harrington of Fairlee, former Equity employees, spoke admirably and warmly of Alonso and his family. 

When the firm underwent reorganization in 1978, the family moved to Texas and Georgia, where he worked for the IRS. Upon retirement in 1989, the family returned to Orford.

In his quiet way, Alonso was involved in the wider community both before and after the time away. He taught Spanish-language courses at Lebanon College, and, for many years, held weekly chess lessons for Orford youth at the local library.

Given his personal history, Alonso remained strongly anti-communist and pro-capitalist throughout his life in America.  He passed away in 2009. Edith Alonso continued to live in Orford, with family around her until she died in 2021.

 Their twin daughters, Vanessa and Patricia, continue to take an active role in the Orford Historical Society. They are a living legacy to this immigrant couple.

Bigotry against immigrant groups that came to New Hampshire and Vermont continued into the 20th century. Laborers often resented them, fearing they would accept lower wages. Those in power fearing losing control.

The rise in Vermont of the Ku Klux Klan, and the eugenics movement of the 1920s and 1930s, were indications of this xenophobia. They were, in the words of historian Jon Meacham, examples of “the most universal American inconsistency.”

Recently arrived immigrants are everywhere in Vermont and New Hampshire. They’re found at building sites, factories, medical offices, stores, and social agencies. They pick crops for grocery stores and farmers markets, and milk cows on local dairy farms.

To access some remarkable stories, I recommend Suddenly You Are Nobody, Vermont Refugees Tell Their Story by Jared Gagne. It includes the stories of 30 refugees and immigrants from Bosnia, Bhutan, Somalia and Sudan now living in the Burlington and Rutland areas.

When I taught a unit on immigration to my U.S. History students, I would play a recording of Neil Diamond’s 1980 hit “America.” The appropriate lyrics include, “They’re coming to America. Got a dream to take them there. They’re coming to America. Got a dream, they’ve come to share.”

These new immigrants may come as strangers, but those who stay become part of  the patchwork quilt that is America.