General questions on boston passenger manifests

[lyn1982]

If 2 people were on the same page on a boston passenger manifest (not ellis island), but not from the same town or heading to the same place - how likely would it be that during the journey they would come to know each other and become friends? Or were people pretty wary and pretty much just stuck to themselves during the journey. I'm just wondering because on my great grandmothers passenger manifest there's a Falzone family from Aragona, Agrigento - and I've got DNA matches to Falzones from near there. The family looks to have a 16 year old daughter, same age as my great grandmother - so I'm wondering what the likelihood is that they could have formed a friendship during the journey.

What is exactly is manifest placement based on? Is based off when they booked, or is it based off accommodations? When booking - did everyone from different towns have to go to the same place to buy the ticket and to be picked up?

And another unrelated question - its the age of cellphones, ai, and the internet - most of us do not know our neighbors down the road - I only know the ones next to and across from me.

In the early 1900s though - how likely would it be 2 Sicilians living on the same block about say 1008 Grove Ave - the other living at 1016 Grove Ave - would know each other. Because I'm convinced there's an NPE with my grandma and that her father is someone from the Porto Empedocile area and the guy living at 1008 was from realmonte which is very close to PE. She lived at 1016.

[mjclayton1]

You pose some interesting questions. Just my own guess here, but there's probably no definitive answer to be had. By that I mean, from year to year and from shipping line to shipping line... and even port of departure and arrival to port of departure and arrival... these things probably varied. That said, logically, it stands to reason if, for example, a family traveled together that they would be listed together on a given manifest, whether the final U.S. destination was Boston or Ellis island, or otherwise...

As noted in some resources on the subject, it was the travel agent that would have provided the shipping lines with a name, or names, of travelers. Also, that most definitely the names were NOT changed (butchered?) at the port of arrival. Rather, any name discrepancies on the manifests would have originated at the port of departure...

The link below, although not specific to Boston, I think contains some excellent information. IMO, well worth a read...

https://avotaynuonline.com/2009/04/just ... us-editor/

Oh, one final thought: It's not a stretch to think certain immigrants from differing comuni may have befriended each other during a 2, 3 week or more voyage. Many immigration patterns to the U.S. (or Canada) from a given comune saw immigrants settle in the same cities. Even the same streets were common destinations to fellow (Italian) inhabitants. Such was the "word of mouth" (and snail-mail?) from that era. It's not a scientific conclusion, sure, but "common sense", along with anecdotal evidence can at least loosely inform us as to these sorts of things...

[lyn1982]

Thank you I'll have to check that link out, I'm interested to learn more!