SUGA NAGATOISHI’S STORY
(as told by my father)
Suga Nagatoishi was born Suga Maruyama on February 25 1905, in Fukuoka, Japan. She was the first born in this family. Later children in this family included 3 sisters and 4 brothers. As of this date, all of her brothers have passed away and only 1 sister is surviving, her name is Mineka.
When Suga was 19 years old, she came to America to wed Chuda Nagatoishi. Before continuing on her story, let me digress a little to discuss the name of Nagatoishi and this might explain why certain events later took place.
Chuda Nagatoishi was originally born as Chuda Nakano. His older sister had emigrated to America to marry Tanezo Nagatoishi. By the time Chuda came of age so that he could come to the U.S., immigration laws were changed such that only close relatives were admitted. Because of this, Mr. Nagatoishi adopted Chuda Nakano into his family, thus allowing his admittance. At this time then, Chuda Nakano became Chuda Nagatoishi.
Returning back to Suga’s story. After her marriage to Chuda Nagatoishi, they went to work at a flower farm in Hayward. Things were very difficult during this time. To illustrate, when they were first married, Mr. Chuda Nagatoishi had only 2 bowls from which to eat with.
After a few years of work in Hayward, they moved to the Belmont area to start their own business growing chrysanthemums on rented land. They probably moved to this area since Chuda’s older sister’s family were also farming in this region. During their years in Belmont, a daughter Chiyeko and son Ben were born. They continued the flower growing business until the beginning of World War II.
With the announcement of relocation, the Nagatoishi clan, which included Chuda, Suga and her 2 children and the Tanezo Nagatoishi family all decided to move to Sacramento. From there, they were all relocated to Amache, which was located in Colorado.
After a few years in Amache, the entire Nagatoishi clan was moved to the Tulelake relocation center. They were moved here because they all wanted to be sent back to Japan at the end of the war.
Fortunately, Mr. Chuda Nagatoishi knew a Mr. Nakano in Japan and as soon as it was possible for Japanese to relocate to the west coast, Mr. Nakano left his camp and established a farm in Redwood City. Mr. Nakano was visiting Tulelake and somehow he managed to convince Chuda to remain in the United States and relocate his family to Redwood City to work on a farm. The other members of the Nagatoishi clan had decided to return to Japan at the end of the war, which they did.
The Nagatoishi family continued working on a farm in the Redwood City for a few years. Then they heard that a Mr. Kumagai had a large farm in Palo Alto that he wanted to sell. Mr. Chuda Nagatoishi bought some of his land and this is how the Nagatoishi family came to settle in Palo Alto.
The Nagatoishi family prospered well in Palo Alto. Mrs. Suga Nagatoishi made a few trips to Japan as well as Hawaii. However, one of the greatest joys that Mrs. Suga Nagatoishi had were her trips to Reno for gambling. She loved the slot machine and would stay on one machine until it was either time to eat or leave the casino.
She passed away in Mt. View, CA on January 25, 2007 at the ripe age of 101.
