IS there a free way to know about someone even though all you know is their name?

Question

i am speaking of my grandfather, whom i've never met and came to this country before i was even born.

Answer 1

Sure you can. Find out his name, date of birth and date of death. Then you can pull passenger records to find out where he came from, when he got here and where he was planning to live after he arrived. You can pull his Immigration and Naturalization file from the National Archives http://archives.gov and find out about his family. Then you pull films from the LDS Family History Center nearest you on the town back in "the old country" and start researching the family through civil and religious records. If you're a patient person and if he's from the right part of Europe (anything from Poland westward) you can probably get back to the 1400s.