The story of the family's immigration has been pieced together from ship's manifests and the recently created ELLIS ISLAND website. The first immigrant was "ZIO TOTO". According to the Ellis Island records he first came over in 1905 at the age of 27 on the ship "Citta Di Milano" out of Naples. The record showed that he was married. The next entry is February 26,1909 when "Zio Toto" and "Grandpa Joe" came over together on the "RE d Italia" (King of Italy). Zio's age was given as 30 and Grandpa's was 27, and their place of residence was given as Girgenti. In 1913 my father's cousin Salvatore came over at the age of 17. On February 14th 1920 Grandpa came over a second time on the Giuseppe Verdi. This ship was later sold to Japan and called the Yamatu Maru, which was torpedoed by a U. S. submarine in the Phillipines. He was 37 years old and sailed out of Naples. On October 5, 1923 at the age of 17 my father Salvatore came over on the Guglielmo Pierce, which also sailed from Naples. He came over to work with Grandpa to help save money to send for the rest of the family. Grandma and her children Rosario, Cologero, Giovanni, Aiftedo, and Catherina came over in 1925 on the Dante Alligheri. This was the same year that Grandpa became a naturalized citizen. This was the last year in U. S. history that members of a family were automatically naturalized through the father's individual naturalization.
According to the ship's manifests and the Ellis Island website Grandpa Diego arrived at Ellis Island on June 10, 1912 on the ship San Guglielmo from Palermo. San Guglielmo translates to Saint William. This Ship was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine in 1918. Grandma Josephine and Great Grandmother Maria Ruvio arrived at Ellis Island on August 27, 1913 on the ship San Georgio. Maria Ruvio was listed as a widow. On the ships manifests was the name of another possible relative. His name was Antonio DiBello. Antonio was Maria Ruvio's son from her first marriage and a half brother to grandpa Diego. The San Giorgio was wrecked off the coast of Italy in 1920.
