Erminio Viola????

OK. So I am going out on a limb here - but want to propose a possibility. I have always been told that our last name was changed when great-grandpa arrived here.  No one could ever say for sure what the original name was. I always was under the impression it was some sort of mis-spelling of Mannino - like Manina.

I have been searching for hours and hours on end for a ship record for Viola Gregorio Mannino using many variations of the last name Mannino.

From two documents that belonged to Viola Gregorio Mannino - both immigration documents - I learned that he arrived in 1913. One document stated Nov 30, 1913 aboard a ship named "Prince". I have tried unsuccessfully to find a ship on this date that resembles that name.  Another document I recently came across, stated he arrived on Oct 30, 1913. I went to Ellis Island's website and did a ship search for the Italian name for Prince, Principe and found a ship named Principe di Piemonte that arrived on Ellis Island on October 30, 1913.  I tried to search for any variation of the name Mannino unsuccessfully.

Today, I decided to scroll through every single name - which is no small feat.  There were 2,049 passengers aboard. I got about halfway through and saw this name:

Could it be that our last name should be Viola?  As a first name - it doesn't seem like a very common one for men.  As a last name - however - maybe.  Erminio kind of sounds like Mannino.  So a few possibilities come to mind.

1. This is our great-grandfather. His name was really Erminio Viola and once he got here he changed his identity.

2. This is our great-grandfather and whoever wrote his information down incorrectly wrote Viola as the last name and thought he said Erminio when he said Mannino.

3. This is not our great-grandfather.

Some things that would suggest it is not him is the age. This person is 29 which would put his birth year at around 1884.  From all other documents, his birth year is approximately 1893. Only 9 years off - so in my opinion - pretty close.

The last place of residence is Cepagatti, Italy - this is a new location that has not come up before. Also when I looked at the actual image of the record it states that this person has a wife in Cepagatti, Italy. So - is it possible that our great grandfather left a wife behind and started a new life?

Curious to hear your thoughts....


PS. Melissa Mannino generously setup a gofundme account to assist me with family research costs. I want to say THANK YOU!! I appreciate any support - whether financial or simply reading and sharing your thoughts. There are quite a few costs that come up so the gofundme is very helpful and will be used for purchasing documents, ancestry world membership upgrade (if possible), memberships in various organizations like New York Genealogical Society, etc.