Many people did not come through Ellis Island. My family arrived before that existed.
Foreign ships came to Boston, New Haven-and other ports. Sailors jumped ship or overstayed leave and melded into the population. They didn’t bother becoming citizen, they married a citizen and kids born here were citizens. Prior to 1980 it was easy to get a SS card. You could look at death notices in the newspaper archives and pick a baby or toddler of your sex who died. File for a SS card just by getting a birth certificate at town hall for 59 cents, didn’t have to show IF, get card, assume identity, use C and SS card to get license and even a passport.
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