Her Grandchildren Honor Matsu Ito

Born in 1893, Matsu came from a hardy peasant family in Japan. At eighteen, Matsu took a boat to Seattle with thirty-nine other picture brides and met her husband, an immigrant to the United States who had bought land in Hood River, Oregon. Matsu gave birth to eight children, all at home in the Hood River farmhouse and all but one of them delivered by her husband. She worked in the orchards throughout each pregnancy, went home to bear the child, then returned to work the next day with the child strapped to her back. Two of Matsu’s sons fought in the Pacific in the U.S. Army while their mother and the rest of the family were taken to Japanese-American internment camps. After the war, the family returned home and despite facing considerable prejudice, not only stayed but prevailed. Read her full biography.

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