Discovering U.S. Passenger Lists on Ancestry

Juliana Szucs, Social Community Manager, Ancestry

Eras of Immigration: Pre-1820 Passenger Lists

• No laws required captains to maintain passenger lists

• No central repository holds manifests created prior to 1820

• Bad news: some have been lost or destroyed

• Good news: some survived

Brig Friendship, of Shields, England, 1814

From Philadelphia Passenger

Lists, 1800-1945 on

Ancestry.com

Washington, May 1800

Eras of Immigration: Pre-1820 Passenger Lists

• No laws required captains to maintain passenger lists

• No central repository holds manifests created prior to 1820

• Bad news: some have been lost or destroyed

• Good news: some survived

• More good news: Some were published

Brig Friendship, of Shields, England, 1814

From Emigrants from England to the

American Colonies, 1773-1776

on Ancestry.com

Eras of Immigration: Pre-1820 Passenger Lists Sometimes immigration information was included in other

biographical publications.

From Directory of Scots in

the Carolinas, 1680-1830

on Ancestry.com

From Great Migration

Begins Index:

Immigrants to New

England, 1620-33 on

Ancestry.com

Finding What’s Available on Ancestry.com

Eras of Immigration: 1820s to 1890s

• Steerage Act of 1819, aimed at regulating overcrowding on

ships, required a list be submitted to the customs collector at

the port of arrival.

• “Customs Manifests” or “Customs Passenger Lists” required:

o Ship and captain’s name

o Ports of departure and arrival

o Date of arrival

o Passenger name

o Age

o Gender

o Occupation

o Nationality

Eras of Immigration: 1820s to 1890s

From the lists of passengers arriving in Charleston, South Carolina, January-March 1825,

Atlantic Ports Passenger Lists, 1820-1873 and 1893-1959

Unlike most passenger arrival records, this list was compiled at the port of arrival. Ships are listed in order of arrival.

Births and Deaths on Board

• You may find births noted on manifests.

• Sometimes with the parents’ listing.

From the Highland Mary, arrived Port of New York, 01 June 1852

• Sometimes at the end of the manifest.

From the Science, arrived Port of New York, 07 November 1831

Deaths on Board

• Deaths were typically noted with a date.

Eras of Immigration: 1890s to 1957 In 1891 responsibility for passenger lists was transferred to the U.S. Office of Immigration. Additional information was

required throughout 1890s-1900s. Forms were standardized in 1893. Changes to the form in 1903, 1906, and 1907.

Marital status

Last residence–town names!

Final destination

If they have been in the U.S. and when, where, and how long

Where they going to join a relative, who and where

Whether they could read and write

If they have a train ticket to their final destination

Who paid for the passage

How much money were they carrying

If they had ever been in prison, an almshouse, institution for the insane

Whether they polygamists

If they had a contract to work in the U.S.

Whether they were healthy

Ethnic background

Name/address of relative in the old country

Immigration Records on Ancestry

• Ancestry immigrant arrival records include more than 132 collections with 140 million+ records.

• Collections span every state along every coast, plus border states.

• Because the records are in so many collections, it’s best to search on the category (Immigration & Travel) or sub-category (Passenger Lists or Border Crossings & Passports) levels.

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Searching Immigration Collections

Searching Immigration Collections

Search the entire category or narrow to just Passenger Lists or Border Crossings & Passports

What Do You Need to Know to Search?

• Age of the immigrant (You can estimate from

census, vital records, etc.)

• Family structure, including extended family who

may be traveling with your ancestor

• Nationality

• Estimated date of arrival

Narrowing the Arrival Date

Narrowing the Arrival Date

Narrowing the Arrival Date

• Check censuses for 1900-1930; they list arrival dates

Narrowing the Arrival Date

• State censuses

1925 Iowa State Census from the Iowa State

Census Collection, 1836-1925 on Ancestry.com

Davenport, Scott County, Image 4

Narrowing the Arrival Date

• Vital records may

include number of

years in this

country

Other Considerations

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• Ethnic given names

• Jan=John, etc.

• BehindtheName.com is a good starting point.

• Learn about ethnic pronunciation of surnames

• Mekalski, Mekala, Menkalski, Menkala, Menkalska

• ę = “en” sound

• Place names may be spelled phonetically

• Wyszków, Wiszkow, Vyszkov, Wischkow

• An ancestor may have given a county or province.

• Look for evidence of aliases and name changes in

passports, naturalization records and other documents.

Wishing you the best of luck with your search!