I have contacted the INS on a number of occasions in an effort to establish the maiden name of my maternal grandmother. She and her children landed at Philadelphia aboard the SS Merion on 06/23/1909. They then went to live with the family of her eldest son in South Philadelphia.
For the next 28 years, she continued to live in Philadelphia, was never naturalized and never even spoke English . The INS has repeatedly indicated that they have no records of her existence after she arrived in Philadelphia.
