I have been researching my relatives, and many of you have helped me get some valuable information. But I can't find any immigration info on some of my grandparents, even though I know they were born in Italy and died in the US.

Is it possible that 3 of my 4 grandparents just appeared in the US one day? All were born in the late 1800's. I believe all came to the US in the early 1900's.

Can anyone steer me in the right direction?

If you post their names and years of birth/death we can try to help. The names may just be mis spelled or they may have come through a different port than New York.

Nuccia:

You and others have provided me information on my family in the past. If you do a search of me under Author you will see. No-one has found any information. I was just wondering why my grandparents immigration records can't be found. Is this common that there are no records of immigrants entering the US?

No its not common but yes it is common. I have still to find my great uncles records so either he came through a different port or his manifest has been destroyed. Approximately 10 per cent of manifest did go missing around the year of 1902 so this may have happened with your grandparents as well.

Thank you. Based on their ages and the dates their children were born, 1902 could be the immigration year for Giovanni Rizzo & Rose D'Angelo Rizzo. As for Giuseppe Russo, he probably came after 1902.

Ok. So we'll keep looking. Hopefully we can come up with something. Have you been able to locate a Naturalization certificate? That may have information on it. Or his WW1 Draft Cards (although my Uncle was also born in 1876 and I had problems finding his).

Here is the Naturalization Certificate and Draft Registration card for Giuseppe Russo.

Edited - Wrong Info Posted

Thank you, but this is not them.
Rosa is my grandmother on my father's side of the family. She was born in 1877 and would have been 19 in 1896, not 27. Her husband is Giovanni Rizzo.
Giuseppe is my grandfather on my mother's side. He was born in 1895 and would have been a year old, not 51. His wife is Filomena Molinaro who arrived in 1913 with her mother.

I'm sorry - I tried using the Ellis Island site because Steve Morse's site wasn't working and I got all confused so I started with what you told me and looked for the 1930 Census.


1930 United States Federal Census
about John Ritz
Name: John Ritz
Home in 1930: Glassboro, Gloucester, New Jersey
View Map
Age: 53
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1877
Birthplace: Italy
Relation to Head of House: Head
Spouse's Name: Rosa Ritz
Race: White
Occupation:
View image
Neighbors: View others on page
Household Members:
Name Age
John Ritz 53
Rosa Ritz 52
Frank Ritz 16
John Ritz 14
Tony Ritz 11

Using the info listed I had no luck with the parents so I decided to do a partial search on the first child and I finally found Rosa's ship manifest!

Rosa D'Angelo leaving her father in Italy - San Pier Niceto Messina, Italy

Traveling with:

Son Rizzo Giuseppe 11
Daughter Nicolina 7
Son Vittorio 5
Son Pietro 3

Going to see their father, Giovanni Rizzo in Elmora, PA.




Page 1


Page 2

Nuccia:

I know the census info is correct. Frank Ritz is my father, though the name is actually Rizzo. (The youngest brother, Anthony, is the only one of the seven children that kept the name of Ritz).

As for the ship manifest, they did live in Elmora. PA and my father was born in Elmora in 1913. And the ages of the children seems right. But some of the names are not right.

Son Rizzo Giuseppe 11 - Joseph was the oldest of the 7 children, From what I know, he was the only one born in Italy
Daughter Nicolina 7 - There was a daughter named Clara. Maybe she had another name that I didn't know about. Her children are still alive, though they are probably in their 80's. I may be able to get some information from them.
Son Vittorio 5 - There was a daughter named Victoria
Son Pietro 3 - There was a son named Pietro.

Thank you very much for the information. Maybe my other grandparents came into Boston, also. My one grandmother, that I have info on, came in through Phila.

Karen

Nicolina is probably Clara and Vittorio is Victoria. Manifests sometimes have mistakes on them (but they are minor ones in this case). The only way to be sure is to try and locate their birth certificates or other documents if you can. Also, by reading the manifest it says Rosa was in the USA before between 1904-1909 so this is not the first trip. That.s why the children were born in PA. but went back to Italy - possibly to visit Rosa's parents? At least the 1930 census states that they were born there. I need to be up for work early in the morning so I will look some more tomorrow for your other relatives.

Hi Nuccia:

I went to the library today to use Ancestry.com. I found something that could be Giuseppe Russo, but not sure. Arriving in Boston on Sept. 3, 1913 on the Cretic, Line 23.
It says something about a friend named Giovanni. I always remember hearing, as a child that he lived with John Retino in Phila. when he first came. I don't know if they came together or just ended up living in the same place.

Also, I tried searching to see if they came through Canada but did not have any luck.

The library only gives you 2 hours on the Internet. And the library version of Ancestry.com is not easy to navigate.

Karen