Ellis Island

Ellis Island was the gate through which thousands of foreigners, the forebears of millions of Americans, passed between the 1890s and the 1950s. Many of Marta and Anna's ancestors passed through Ellis Island as well -- all of them from Italy, and all of them between 1900 and 1920.

The Ellis Island Foundation offers a free search of its records including original images of the ships' manifests. The manifests contain information such as from where the passenger originated, how much money they had, if they had any visible scars, how tall they were, et cetera.

After doing some quick searchers, I produced some interesting information on some of Marta and Anna's ancestors. For example, my great grandfather, Salvatore Petrone, arrived in New York in May 5, 1910 aboard the ship Neckar out of Naples. He was 16 years old, in possession of $44, and described as 5'3", with black hair and blue eyes. He gave his address as the home of his cousin, Raffaele Chinigo of Pennsylvania. He gave his birth place as San Giorgio Albanese.

His brother, Giorgio Petrone, arrived on Sept. 12, 1911. He had $15, and is described as being 4'11" (!), 16 years old, and having brown hair and brown eyes. He gave his address as his father' Gennaro Petrone's in Piffard, New York -- which is near Rochester. Clearly I did not inherit my height from this side of the family.

My maternal great grandfather Domenico Abbatecola came through Ellis Island several times. In 1911, he was listed as being 6 feet tall, which compared to the other Italians on the manifest, most of them around 5'3", made him something of a giant. His wife, Maria Panza, arrived in New York on Feb. 26, 1920, out of Naples. Maria is described as being 5'5", of "natural" complexion, with brown hair and brown eyes. She had with her $50.

Finally, my paternal great grandmother, Rosaria Petrellis, arrived at the age of 8 with her family on Nov. 26, 1900, out of Naples. She was traveling with her father Carmine Petrellis (age 40) and mother Anna (age 29). She also immigrated with her brother Francesco (aged 11) and her younger sisters Rosina and Teresa. Carmine, also from San Giorgio Albanese (hence Rose's marriage later to Salvatore) had $11 on his person.

As you can see we've borrowed a few of these names for our own children. If you had relatives that passed through Ellis Island, by all means go poke around on their website and see what you can dig up.