A few weeks ago I wrote a post about my great grandfather John Costello who is currently a brick wall. Brick wall?! More like a steel reinforced concrete wall surrounded by razor wire. Well, maybe not really. But it feels like it somedays.
Last Saturday a copy of his Alien File arrived from the National Archives in Kansas. I was soooo excited – giddy really.
And then I opened it.
The slender, four page file had seemed like such a wonderful possibility. And as I looked at each page my giddiness slowly faded until at last it sputtered out completely.
The slender file of possibilities in fact held very little.
There was a physical description – Height – 5’9″, weight – 165 lbs., Black hair, & Brown eyes. This was new-ish. I knew some of it and could have guessed at some of it.
It does say that he arrived in Philadelphia in the winter of 1914 – different from what his children have shared with me.
I did learn that he claims he was a passenger on the ship but can’t remember the name of the ship. Okay.
He claims that he entered the US under the name John Costello and has used that name all of his life. Interesting – some of his children claim his name was Juan Castilla and that he changed his name to John Costello. The file itself has two documents that he signed. Look at these John Hancocks – what do you see?
Is it just me? Does that second signature look like it says ‘Juan’?
Well, the Alien File was not what I had hoped – not at all. I still have a few ideas I plan to try out. I hope one day to knock down, blow up, utterly demolish the brick wall that is John Costello. While of course not damaging the memory of the man or his family. 🙂
Below are the images from the four pages of his file.
