227 years later... I have always been a patriot. My grandparents came to America from Poland and Russia over one hundred years ago, enduring the rigors of Ellis Island and settling in New Jersey. All were hardworking immigrants working to the day they died, providing for their families. My grandmother told the story of how during the Depression, in order to save their house from foreclosure, she moved her family and my disabled grandfather into the basement and rented out the rooms.