Amazing Family History

I've been working on some family history stuff for a while now, creating a family tree and scanning old photos. Today the project went into full force. Felipe and I arrived in Madison today and we'll be staying with my aunt for the next couple of days. My aunt has kind of been the official keeper of the family documents and some of the old family photos. I consider all of it to be a treasure, but today we found something truly special, a real gem.

We were going through an old tin filing box that my grandmother had kept, with old family documents dating back to 1899! My family arrived to the United states at the beginning of the 1900's through Ellis Island in New York City. I've often thought that it is so interesting that they arrived in 1906, and I came to New York City almost one hundred years later in 2005. Just knowing that I was living in the same city as them, and experiencing such a new place just like them (albeit a very different New York City than their own), was amazing.

The gem we found today was a copy of my grandfather's birth certificate. The birth certificate lists his father's place of residence, and his place of birth - the same address, at 217 West 68th Street. This is within 10 blocks of where I live in the city, and I pass it each day on my bus home from work! Here I am, a century later in the same neighborhood in New York City that my grandfather was born in! We're practically neighbors, in a time traveling sense. Of course the apartment he was born in is no longer there...it was long ago replaced by other buildings, which have now been replaced by a large luxury glass condo building. But this connection feels as if it has gone full circle.

I wonder what other treasures I will uncover during this project....