Roots

I visited EllisIsland.org today. Probably one of the more meaninful things that I've done with the internet in a while. I looked up my grandfather. I easily found that he arrived at Ellis Island on December 3, 1903 at the age of 14. He was traveling alone. (Think of this the next time you put your kid on the school bus). Grandpa had some older brothers here at the time. This is a drawing of the ship that took grandpa to New York.
It was called Citta Di Napoli. It was also previously known by three other names during its history. It was built in 1871 by Harland & Wolfe Ltd. of Belfast, Northern Ireland - the same folks who later constructed the Titanic. A little info about the Citta Di Napoli - it's cruising speed was 15 knots, it measured 420' in length and only 40' wide. It carried 1,166 passengers. (166 first class and 1,000 third class).
Grandma arrived 7 years later, as a young lady - on a much nicer ship, the Madonna.
It's funny, I don't remember them ever talking about this.