"Too eager to prove my position?" What kind of conclusion is this, Nerd? You're usually pretty savvy when it comes to reporting and understanding complex issues and delving into scholarly topics. To have worked at the place for a number of years and have studied it much longer is a good position from which to answer these questions and address the misinformation that has existed for decades. Do you need citations? I can give you an extensive reading list if you want to research this topic. I've begun pulling out some of my Ellis materials because the photos I took around the island from 1978 - 1980 are of interest for a number of reasons. I'm considering going back and reproducing a number of my photos from the same perspective and running them as before and after views in articles that discuss the renovation work. There is some quite innovative research going on with materials and techniques on Islands 2 and 3 (the hospitals and contagious disease wards, isolation wards, a brig, some public spaces, and housing for staff).

Carol, there are questions to ask regarding that name. When did Ira immigrate? What information do you have about his city of origin, the port he left from, or where he arrived? There are lots of immigration stations in the U.S., not just Ellis Island. If he arrived before 1917 he didn't need to prove that he could read and could enter the U.S. If he was an adult or large child when he arrived, was he literate? He'd have been able to keep much better track of his name as it appeared on paperwork if he could read. Perhaps the name you refer to was just a typo that stuck through the years?

Back in the period of "no Irish need apply" my father's family name changed. I find evidence of this around the turn of the last century when the family decided to drop the "O" from O'Dwyer. It came and went in the paperwork for a number of years. Who has the paperwork for that branch of the family? You might find several spellings, as I did.

SRS