great grand papa was a rolling stone

Well, the few remaining family sources are pretty well in agreement: my paternal paternal great-grandfather (father's father's father) almost certainly never became a US citizen. This means that he was an Italian citizen when my grandfather was born, thereby apparently passing the power of jus sanguinis of the Republic of Italy onto my grandfather, who passed it onto my father, who passed it onto me.

I'll have to verify this. Until 1906, local jurisdictions had the power to confer citizenship onto newly arrived immigrants, so if great-grandpa's citizenship records are not in New York, the probably don't exist anywhere.

What does this mean? If I can verify that my great grandpa didn't become a citizen of the US before my grandfather was born, then I should be eligible to receive an Italian (and therefore EU) passport. I don't know if I'll ever use it, but like Jason Bourne, it's nice to have more than one identity.