I know I have seen this somewhere: when immigrants came from Ellis Island, sometimes everyone from the same town put down the same address on the manifest, but they did not all actually live there. I guess they just needed something to put down. I can't find a source for this info. Does anyone have a source or more of this practice to flesh out this idea. Someone on our facebook group was asking about it re: Celenza immigrants.

You know, that is a good question, I was wondering the same thing. My Great grandfather came to America with his father Giovanni and two other men (whom I believe, but am not sure are uncles) in 1913. They were all going to a Giuseppe Termini at 3 Mulberry St.

Giovanni came to America at least twice before, as did the other men on the manifest. I have found manifests for these men, and they are listed as going to " My Brother Mr. Savoca Giovanni by the bank Giuseppe Termini & sons 3 Mulberry St". Several others list this Giuseppe.

It is my guess in this case anyway, that Giuseppe was maybe a go between the Bank and the Immigrants? or a small private bank himself? I am not exactly sure, but it is my best guess. I can't wait to see what others have to say.

On the ship manifests for many Italians (mostly Calabrese) who emigrated to my hometown Carbondale PA, the address "96 Dundaff Street" is listed as their destination with a variety of names.

"96 Dundaff Street" was the address of the home and business of Gabriele Pugliano who was from Cosenza and was one of the first Italians to settle in Carbondale. Gabe's office served as the mailing address for the receipt of letters from the old country and he translated incoming and outgoing mail for the Italian community. He also offered banking services although he wasn't an official bank. In addition, he was a notary and his name and address appear on many naturalization and passport documents.

Gabe also ran a saloon located next door to 96 Dundaff.

Biff

Thanks for the info. I knew that this was a common practice, but could not put my finger on it!

Some other random exciting news! I found a woman on ancestry who I think extracted my maternal line's birth records. I believe she is writing a book on Pizzo, Italy, where they are from. She is from Brazil and our common language is Italian (LOL- not that I can write more than the bare bones in Italian with plenty of mistakes). Anyhow, I made an inquiry with her as to whether I should write to the comune or archives for my 3d great grandmother's atto di nascita and she shot back an e-mail tracing my family back to the 1700s, with birth dates, death dates, marriage dates, names!!!! Now it is going to be easy to order the atti with the exact dates.

That's fantastic news Lori!!!

Awesome news Lori! It's always great to have that jump start on a branch, isn't it? Keep us posted.

Oh, sometimes these common addresses were also used when immigrants from the same towns were coming to the US for work. It was a first stop for them as they went there for "help" in getting started -

Awesome news Poipu!!
As for the common address, my great grandmother was an active member of a Chicago group that sponsored many Italians to come to Chicago. Societa Italiano I think it was called. She owned an apartment building that she made into a boarding house so she could provide them with housing. On the first floor was a butcher shop and I know my grandmother had a peanut shelling business there as a child. They sold the shelled nuts to many local bakeries. I know she employed some of the immigrants there. I have never checked but I am sure many immigrants to Chicago used her address on Loomis Street. I know the 1910 and 1920 censuses had a lot of people at their address. Natalina only allowed them to stay there until they got a job and on their feet, then she would rent their space out to new immigrants. She was not the only one in Chicago to do this so I am sure there were many places like this in New York too.