Of the twelve million immigrants who arrived at Ellis Island between 1892 and 1954 four million were Italian and my grandmother, Colomba Cordani, was one of them. She left her small Northern Italian village of Ponte del Olio near Piacenza and arrived in New York on April 27, 1909 aboard the French Line steamship Chicago.

The ship departed from LeHarvre two weeks earlier and the spring passage was rough. There were 1,250 steerage passengers and many, including my grandmother, were sea sick the entire voyage. When the Chicago arrived in New York I can only imagine the thrill she and the other passengers felt when they sailed past the Statue of liberty. Steerage passengers were only allowed on deck once a day when the upper class passengers were eating lunch but that day the captain gave them special permission to come on deck to see Miss Liberty welcoming them to the United States.