Pat Gowdy, Boston, Massachusetts: My Italian grandparents were farmers in a rural part of northern Italy before they migrated to the San Francisco Bay area. They settled first in the city of Oakland and then in suburban Lafayette.

Amanda Madden, Arlington, Massachusetts: My great-grandfather was brought from Cork, Ireland, to Boston as an infant in 1880. The family lived in Boston’s West End neighborhood until 1910, when they moved to Bunker Hill Street, just steps away from the monument. Massachusetts General Hospital, where I have worked for 22 years, is located in the West End—most of which was razed in the 1960s as part of an ill-fated urban renewal plan.

Joy Metcalf, Northport, Maine: In 1940, my grandparents moved from the (very) small town of Sharon, Massachusetts, to a 160+ acre farm in coastal Maine. There they raised their own livestock and gardens and farmed with horse-drawn equipment. I have many fond memories of bringing the hay in on a wagon and filling the hay mows, helping to make butter from the fresh milk, and weeding the huge gardens.

Elizabeth Ekström Richards, Durham, North Carolina: In 1925, my grandparents Oliver and Ruth (McFarlane) Ekstrom left the bustling city of Chicago, where they grew up, to become missionaries in Guatemala. They worked first in Guatemala City and later moved on to smaller cities. In 1935, Oliver went on a mission trip in the backcountry. He chose to drink river water against the advice of his guide. It was a fatal decision.

Madeleine Fischer, New Orleans, Louisiana: My paternal great-grandfather, John Fischer, headed a bank in the small town of Kewanee, Illinois. The family lived in a stately mansion with beautifully landscaped grounds. When my grandfather Lyle Fischer and my grandmother Anne Clark married in 1922, the young couple moved into the mansion. It has since been converted into a funeral home, which I have toured.