This is the fictional story of three generations of a family. It details the reasons the grandparents left their home county, their journey to America, and how they ended up in a small town in Missouri. It is told from the point of view of one of their grandsons. The title comes from the determination of the grandfather, an immigrant, to be what he considers to be a good American. Some of the ways he does this is by becoming a small business owner, and by signing up to serve in the First World War. While all of the descendants are American by birth, they strive to continue his legacy. A couple of the things the grandfather passes down is a love of music, and a good singing voice.
The family survives the aftermath of WWI, the Depression, World War II, and on into the current day. It is not always easy or pleasant, but they carry on. One way the narrator demonstrates the changes in the town and the country as a whole is by how their business changes over time. It started out as a bar, but Prohibition caused them to turn it into a restaurant. As the children and grandchildren grow old enough to help and eventually take over, the menu changes, the hours of operation change, the name changes, and the building eventually gets remodeled. Another constant, at least into the third generation, is the musical talent, at least for the males of the family. Of course, like the restaurant, the type of music changes with the era as well.
Although the narrator is supposedly one of the grandsons, he is more omniscient than most family historians could possibly be. Yes, you would know that your grandparents immigrated to the US, but he describes conversations and details of the journey that probably would not be part of a story that got passed down. It does show the benefits of talking with the older members of your family; however, as this story indicates, not every story will get told.
If this was your family, how would you research them? This is classic genealogy research. Ships logs, naturalization paperwork, army records, censuses, birth, marriage, and death certificates. The grandparents did not go through New York, which is a good reminder that there are records at other ports. The family in the story owned a restaurant, so there would be property records, possibly licensing records. Newspapers, especially for a small town, might be a rich source of “color”, and a family that had been in town for a couple of generations would be well enough known to be newsworthy.