Finding the place of origin via neighbors of the family

[freeb1893]

So I have a line of my family, checked all the record sources available in America (vital, church, civil, immigration/naturalization, ship, etc) and haven't been able to find the place of origin for my family.

I've heard that seeing where the neighbors of the family were from, can help give hints as too where the family came from. And need some feedback from others familiar with this method of research.

Basically with my family, the son came over in 1880, and then the mother and daughter came over and settled in Greenwich Village NYC in 1888. The 2 census records I have at my disposal for this family are in 1890 (10 and 2 years after immigration) and 1905 respectively (25 and 17 years after immigration.

Would the neighbors origins still be indicative of where my family originated? Even that many years after immigration?

On the 1890 census, my family's fellow Italians who were living with them were from everywhere as far south as Naples, and as far north as Cuneo.

However on the 1905 census, there is a significant concentration of they fellow Italians being from Genoa and Piedmont. Could I still rely on this info as further implied evidence as origins of northwestern Italy.

The only information I have for their origin is that it was northern Italy, from the mountains, closer to France. So finding those origins for some of the neighbors on the 1905 census seems to help point in that direction.

Any feedback? Much appreciated!

[justinfrombklyn]

it depends on where in the village they were living, because my family is from naples and they lived on west 3rd street and sullivan, now most early italians in the village were from the north, piedmont, genoa, etc. but then the other concentration was from potenza, basilicata. so start by telling what census names you found and what streets they lived on. what is the family first and last names and i can help determine where they are from. because most families from bleecker street were from palermo, sicily where as people across 6th ave on bank and jane and barrow streets were from potenza