Our move to Seattle (Michi Mano's History)

After Mother passed away Father must have farmed by himself, but it was hard for him. Our Uncle Junichi Yoshitomi (Mother’s brother) lived in Seattle and he sent a letter to Father telling him to go to Seattle because there was a job for him. Father and five of us children rode on the train. And we went to Seattle in 1925 and lived next door to the Yoshitomi’s (Mother’s brother) and Father started to work at the railroad station as a red cap. Grandmother Riki Yoshitomi (Mother’s mother) was there. Grandma came to the United States for a visit and Mother died before she was able to see her. Mother came to America in 1911 so it was over ten years that they hadn’t seen each other. It must have been a big shock for Grandma to be in America and wasn’t able to see her daughter. Aunt Chiyo Sakuma was Mother’s sister and she was living in Utah but later moved to Seattle too.

After we got to Seattle, we started to go to Bailey Gatzert School. Our principal was Miss Maho. She was Irish and liked green colors a lot and made a big thing out of St. Patrick Day. She wanted everyone to wear green that day. She was very nice. I think it was much better for us to live in Seattle because we had lots of aunts and uncles. They were the Yoshitomi’s, Handa’s and Kawana’s and we had lots of cousins. I was still lonesome without a mother so I went to my aunt’s and uncle’s. We lived in the same apartment with the Yoshitomi’s so I just had to go downstairs. The Handa’s didn’t live too far away, just walking distance so I went there often too. The Kawana’s lived in Bellevue, Washington so it was far away and I had to ride on the ferryboat to get across Lake Washington. Mr. Kawana used to come and get me so I could go over for the weekend and help take care of their children because they had a large family with lots of small children. I stayed there all the time during the summer vacation. Mr. Kawana was quite a drinker and everyone was scared of him but he was always nice to me. Grandma used to go to the Buddhist Church and on Sunday one of the grandchildren would go with her. We all liked to go with her but I don’t think we understood what was going on in church.