Anyway, I've been researching my family tree and I haven't had trouble with anyone except my great-grandfather.
Here's what I know:
His name was Luigi Bianchini.
He was born on February 18, 1891.
He died in February of 1971 in Steubenville, Ohio.
His wife's name was Mary Mastros.
His children were:
Gemma Tokarchik
John Bianchini, Sr. (this is my grandpa)
Claudia Clevenger
Bill Bianchini
Minnie Maragos
Nancy Bianchini
Louis Bianchini
To my knowledge they all lived in the Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia-area and were all born in the United States, because I've found information on their mother and she was born here to immigrant parents. Luigi and Mary must've married in the US, but I can't find their marriage records.
I found what I believe to be Luigi's record of passing through Ellis Island here:
http://www.ellisisland.org/search/passR ... 0980100081
It says he came from Spoltore, Italy but I know nothing about what happened in his life before he came to America so I can't be sure, but it's the only Luigi Bianchini that passed through Ellis Island with the correct birth year. (He could've come through another port though, I don't know..)
I did get in contact with my great-Aunt Claudia and she gave me a bit of information I'm not sure about... She said she didn't ask her parents many questions so knows as much as I do, but she said Luigi may have been his middle name back in Italy and his first name could've been listed as William or Guglielmo in Italian records. This hasn't turned up anything for me though...
If the Ellis Island record is indeed my great-grandfather then the ship manifest states his joining his Uncle Neri Guglielmo and cousin Giuseppina (Josephina?) It gives the same information for the three people listed after him as well... so I tried to find out who those three people were and only came up with one name: Tommaso Ricci. So if this Luigi Bianchini is my grandfather he traveled here with Tommaso Ricci and two other people to join this Neri and Giuseppina I've never heard of... I couldn't really make out Neri and Giuseppina's last name but I'm pretty positive it was Buteoni or Zuteoni... I can't find anything on that surname though.
As you can see, I have quite a bit of information, but I'm not sure if any of it is really what I'm looking for. I'd just really like to figure out where my great-grandfather actually came from in Italy and I really, really want to find the names of his parents so I can complete the last section of my tree.
Thank you so much in advanced for ANY help you can give me! I'll really appreciate it!!
