The Wong Kim Ark ruling was made in a period before the creation of immigrant and nonimmigrant visas. That legal concept didn't come into existence until the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952.
Prior to that, the only tool the Court had was domicile law and the Naturalization Act of 1795. Your relatives had no papers because there were no papers. That is an example of taking the modern legal framework and trying to apply it to an earlier world that operated under different rules.
When your ancestors arrived, they were here to establish a new domicile, leaving behind their prior domicile. They didn't come here to stay at an habitual residence while still maintaining a domicile in their home country.
That's the legal distinction that drove emigration and immigration at that period in our history.
-PJ
an earlier world that operated under different rules.
Stricti construction of the Constitution is now “different rules” ?