What puzzled me was that they had no record of my great-grandmother. This could have been lost or destroyed in some manner. The spelling of the name was also incorrect. It was spelled with an “a” instead of an “o” as we always expected. When you are looking for those relatives who were processed through Ellis Island in the late 1800s, you should know that the amount of immigrants was overwhelming, most of them did not speak English although there were interpreters, and many of those who processed them got their names spelled wrong.
It was my mother’s maternal grandfather who came to the United States in 1898. Her paternal grandparents came to the United States in 1900 and had their name spelled wrong. Two brothers and their wives arrived. I was able to find out the maiden name of my great-grandmother who I remember vaguely, through this search. I was also able to find out that they, too, came from Palermo. They arrived already married, so there is no information about their marriage in this country, although I have managed to find their death certificates as they both died after the 1930s.Through this information, my mother found that her maiden name, which she used until she married my father, was spelled wrong. We were also able to find many cousins who moved to Chicago as well and connect with them. My mother was able to find second and third cousins in this way.
If you want to go back further than immigration, you have to write to cities and regions where the relatives were born and hope that they have good records.
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