Domino Danzero's journey, which began in Italy in 1890, led him penniless to New York. The young immigrant came to the Midwest and found work in the coal mines of Illinois and the restaurants of Chicago. Through his travels and his work he gained employment with the Frisco railroad, where he became the overseer of Harvey Houses and Frisco dining cars throughout the central United States. Photography was his hobby and he was commissioned to take photographs for the Frisco railroad. The turn-of-the-century photographs featured in The Early Ozarks: A Family's Journey portray the humanness of people living in the Ozarks. They provide a glimpse of the better things in life—food, family, and friends—reflecting fundamental human compassion and the way of living at the early part of the twentieth century.