I knew that my grandfather had come over from Italy when he as a young child, and that the family had settled in St. Louis. When I found him in the the passenger records, I learned that he had traveled with his mother, sister, and brother, but that his father was already waiting for the family here in the U.S. But what I did not know, until I read through the manifest in detail, was that my great-grandfather was not living in St. Louis at the time. He was living across the Mississippi River in Alton, Illinois!
My father’s family had been in Alton and the surrounding area since before the Civil War, and that is where I grew up. In fact, the address where my great-grandfather lived is only about 2½ miles from my childhood home! I have probably walked by that site many times as it was across the street from the town library. The building he lived in is not there. The library expanded in the intervening years, and built on the site. I’ve been inside without ever knowing its significance to me…..it now houses the genealogy collection! Wow!